Macy's To Open Discount Outlet In Monroeville
MONROEVILLE (KDKA) -- Adjacent to Macy's at the Monroeville Mall is a new discount store called Macy's Backstage, where workers are moving quickly to finish up 25,000 square feet set to open over the Labor Day weekend.
With 22 Macy's Backstage stores already open across the nation, it's a direct appeal for shoppers in a changing and super competitive retail market.
"It's always new merchandise. It's very stylish, very trendy. And it's that kind of merchandise that if you see something you love, get it now because it won't be there the next day," says Andrea Schwartz, Macy's vice president of media.
Schwartz says this is the first Macy's Backstage in Pittsburgh where prices are discounted 20 to 80 percent off original prices.
"It's a store that's an outlet store. You will be finding everything from men's, women's, kid's apparel to shoes, even kids' shoes, handbags, cosmetics, home furnishings and furniture," she says.
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It's all part of a national trend, symbolized by the highly successful Nordstrom Rack, a Nordstrom discount spin-off soon to open at the Block at Northway off McKnight Road.
"It's the regular clothes from Nordstrom, only they move it over there and it can be like 50, 60, 70 or 80 percent discount," says Prof. Elaine Luther, of Point Park University.
But unlike the Nordstrom model, Macy's Backstage features merchandise never sold at Macy's.
"You will not find Macy's merchandise in the Backstage store," says Schwartz. "It is a full-on new store. But the difference is the store will be right next store to Macy's Monroeville, so we hope the customer that shops Backstage will also want to shop Macy's too."
Macy's is betting it's a model that will attract shoppers to both.