A Macy's Outlet Might Be in the Works

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Macy's is thinking about getting into the outlet game, Fortune reports. The department store announced on Tuesday that a Macy's discount chain might be in the works. With this move, Macy's would follow other department stores who already have similar "off-price" stores like Nordstrom Rack, Neiman Marcus Last Call, Saks Off Fifth, and Bloomingdale's The Outlet.

These competitors are aggressively growing their outlet business. In the past five years alone, Nordstrom tripled the number of Nordstrom Rack stores while keeping the count of its department stores steady. There are risks for Macy's, though, should the retailer open outlets. Fortune asserts that the products in the outlet stores shouldn't have too much overlap with the products in the department stores. And Macy's would need to compete with off-price kingpin T.J.Maxx, which boasts 2,000 stores and is well known in the industry for its speed in selling merchandise and paying vendors.
· Macy's mulls taking on T.J. Maxx, Nordstrom Rack in "off-price" wars [Fortune]
· Buyer Beware: What You're Actually Getting at Outlet Stores [Racked]
· Macy's Will Suck Two More Hours Out of Thanksgiving This Year [Racked]