Still Missed: The Flatbush Macy's

On the eve of capitalism's golden age, November 1, 1948, Macy's Flatbush opened to a welcoming post-war community. Located at the corner of Flatbush and Tilden Aves, right around the corner from the iconic Art Deco Sears, it was a post-war marvel, with an all-glass front and 84,000 square feet of beautifully designed selling space.

The first floor of the new Macy’s reportedly contained an impressive "music store" that had its own sound-proofing. The photo below shows furniture facing Flatbush Ave, and a commenter on Pinterest remembered the hat department being right as you walked in. The children's department was on the second floor.

There was an ingenious space between the first and second floor that served as a stockroom. It stocked the floors above and below it using elevators, instead of the usual handcarts, which further maximized selling space. According to the New York Times, it was the first Macy’s to track sales per square foot of space, a common metric used in retailing today.

The store survived for 44 years—at first, it was a rousing success that the Times reported far exceeded expectations, but soon, many of their most loyal customers had moved to the suburbs, and the Macys stores went with them. When the company declared bankruptcy in the early ’90s, it off-loaded several of its poorly performing urban stores, including this one, which the Times now derided as "rinky-dink" compared to the grandeur of the Kings Plaza Mall, which had a Macy’s and a Spencer's Gifts to boot. Many later criticized the company for pulling out of Black communities during the time period.

After Macy’s left the spot, it was a Caldor (discount department store) and then a Staples (office supply store). In 2021, it became a Burlington [Coat Factory], adding to the growing number of chain retail outlets on that corner including an Old Navy Outlet and a Gap Outlet.

When I posted about the Flatbush Ave Macy’s on my Instagram, many locals and former locals posted with their remembrances and it became one of my most popular posts of all time. This Macy’s is still missed!

Macy’s on Flatbush and Tilden Aves when it opened in 1948. Awnings were soon added to the front to deal with the sunlight pouring in. (Photo: Library of Congress)

Who’s excited?! This full-page ad appeared in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle’s Sunday edition the day before Flatbush Macy’s opened.

You can see the corner of the Flatbush Macy’s in this old photo of the Lowe’s Kings Theater.

The New York Daily News ran this photo of a cornerstone-laying at the Flatbush Macy’s, which was attended by the mayor, borough president, and Macy’s president. See a clearer view of this image at Getty Images.

More Flatbush businesses, now gone…