Macy’s McKinley

One Christmas season back a few years I took a job part time seasonally at Kaufmanns at the McKinley Mall in Blasdell,NY. Within a few months I was hooked and loving my job. I cannot say enough nice things about the team at McKinley. From my first days as a trainee at McKinley to my last days as Office Manager at Macy’s there everyone was fantastic. My co-workers were family. And so were our customers. We had many who would just stop in to say hi. Or show off their grandchildren. Or pictures of events they had gone to. We knew our customers not just by name also their spouses, kids, best friends and cousins. I think that is something that Macy’s forgot when they took us over and tried to force McKinley into the square peg that wasn’t us.

At Macy’s McKinley, the people always came first. Always the relationship was more important than the sale. When I became Office Manager (or whatever the title was then) I was in charge of the CRL system. I received all the postcards customers filled out to give feedback as well as the online feedback. I loved it. I remember one Christmas at my sisters three hours away logging into the system to respond to customers. Good or bad, complaint or complement, I contacted them all. I loved sharing the good stories with whichever associate helped that customer and I really loved being able to turn an unhappy customer into a happy one. Usually they just wanted someone to listen. We were ALWAYS one of the top ranked stores in the country for customer service. The managers, associates, dock associates, visual associates, housekeeping, everyone there has a story to share about how they made someone’s day better. And a lot of the time a customer or two brightened our days also.

It was sad to see Macy’s McKinley close. I am sure it was even harder for a lot of our customers who relied on us for friendship as well as service. I think with this digital world we live in we are losing that personal touch that we had once. I hope I bring the lessons I learned from my co-workers/friends at Macy’s McKinley on how to connect with customers to our business. To listen to our customers, find out what brings them to us and help them find what they need. And hopefully leave with a smile and a promise to come back.