Macy's Herald Square May Add Roof Deck To Attract Customers

Rendering of what a rooftop deck and green space at Macy's Herald Square could look like

Faced with slumping sales and store closures, department store behemoth Macy's is trying to innovate (or die). In an analyst meeting on Tuesday, the chain's top real estate executive said they might add a rooftop garden at its landmark Herald Square flagship.

Doug Sesler, Macy's executive vice president of real estate, told analysts that they might, as The Street reports, "densify" the Herald Square location by reconfiguring the layout and possibly building out the rooftop to "activate the store's upper levels."

He called the store "the largest, most complex piece of real estate that we have" and pointed out at the flagship is "already the fourth most visited tourist attraction in New York City," but "as a retailer you can never have enough traffic."

The plan would include "adding restaurants and open green space, including trees and benches," according to the Post. Sesler also said, "That store is getting more valuable by the day as the center of gravity in Manhattan shifts southwest to Hudson Yards."

Ellen Dunham-Jones, an Atlanta-based architect and professor at Georgia Tech School of Architecture, told The Street, "Roof gardens have long been a highly valued amenity in dense cities like New York, for restaurants and bars, but especially for residents. While it's unusual to combine them with retail, it's not entirely unheard of." She added, "Food halls are very popular today, and Macy's seems to have a great opportunity to create a combo open-air food hall roof garden that, like the milk at the back of the grocery store, can lure customers past impulse merchandise on their way to the garden experience."

Sesler stressed this plan was "only one concept we're considering... it's not a go plan." However, he and other Macy's brass realize how valuable the store is—real estate executive apparently approach them constantly, "We love this piece of real estate, how do we get a piece of it?"

In London, department store Selfridges recently opened a seasonal rooftop restaurant called The Roof Deck while the Galeries Lafayette and Printemps department stores in Paris have publicly accessible rooftops.