The Macy's Visitor Center Experience: Making the Most of Your Trip
With over 800 stores around the country selling both stylish fashion and home goods, Macy’s is one of the premier retail destinations in America. But a visit to Macy’s offers up many kinds of opportunities that extend far beyond shopping.
Macy’s stores located in 10 of the nation’s largest and most visited cities serve as one-stop tourist destinations offering fabulous dining, engaging group tours and an in-store visitor center that caters to a wide range of traveler needs. These centers provide everything from discount passes to city attractions and itinerary planning assistance to multi-lingual maps and directions, tickets to hot attractions and Macy’s tours, and free 10%-off Visitors Shopping Passes to use in Macy’s stores.
Though visitor center offerings vary from city to city, all of the centers are staffed by highly trained specialists who provide concierge-level service to visitors from the U.S. and abroad. The types of tickets they sell are geared to the location city’s main attractions, for example Broadway tickets in New York and theme park tickets in Orlando. The city passes include Go City Cards and CityPASS booklets that offer discounted admission to multiple tourist attractions. Explorer Pass is available in the Macy’s Herald Square visitor center in New York City.
The 10% Visitor Savings Pass
One savings opportunity that any Macy’s store visitor can take advantage of is the free 10% Visitor Savings Pass. It’s available in all 800+ Macy’s stores across the U.S., good for 10% off thousands of items (with limited exclusions). Domestic visitors can enjoy the pass for a three-day period while international visitors can use it for 30 days. Macy’s stores with visitor centers also provide access to an expanded assortment of brands, so shopping in them is especially rewarding.
Group Tours at Macy’s Stores
The visitor centers in the New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston and Philadelphia stores sell tickets for special guided group tours that highlight the store’s historical architecture and other unique attributes. The most popular tours take place in the New York, Chicago and Philadelphia stores where a deep sense of history and unrivalled craftsmanship infuse the structures. The New York City building that Macy’s Herald Square occupies is a National Historic Landmark and the fun, fact-filled Macy’s Historic Tour covers its illustrious history (you’ll see wooden escalators!), marketing concepts, merchandising and visual techniques.
Macy’s State Street in Chicago is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the Historic Store Tour, which can be booked through the store’s visitor center, focuses on the distinctive Walnut Room restaurant (opened in 1907) with its beautiful Circassian Walnut paneling; the colorful, iridescent Tiffany vaulted ceiling; and the flowing Burnham Fountain.
In Philadelphia’s Macy’s Center City store, the Daily Guided Historic Store Tour can be customized to emphasize architecture, merchandising, marketing or fashion. However, no participant can help but notice the grand features of the 1911 Wanamaker Building, like the bronze Grand Court Eagle statue and the 28,500-pipe Wannamaker Grand Court Organ.
Macy’s Union Square in San Francisco offers an hour-long Tech Connect Tour that gives customers insight into Omnichannel shopping innovations. Participants learn about the history of Macy’s and macys.com, and the latest tech-based tools and channels for Macy’s shoppers. Student groups can take a tour in the macys.com office and see firsthand how proximity to Silicon Valley—the nation’s technological hub—fuels invention.
The intriguing knowledge gained through guided tours greatly enhances the shopping experience in these stores.
Dining Options at Macy’s
There are few things that delight tourists more than great food. The array of fine and casual dining options available in Macy’s visitor center stores makes it easy for guests to make a delicious day of their shopping forays, whether they sit down to a gourmet meal in Macy’s on State Street’s iconic Walnut Room or Macy’s Herald Square’s Stella 34 Trattoria, or just grab a quick lunch or snack at an in-store Starbucks or McDonalds.
Store visitor centers can provide information about the various dining destinations available in the store and also let visitors know about special Macy’s events.
Macy’s Shopping Packages
All 12 Macy’s visitor center stores offer an enticing Shopping Package, which makes an ideal gift for you or someone else. Typical packages include a $25 Macy’s Gift Card, a 10% Visitor Savings Pass, a Frango Mint Chocolate sampler, an assortment of special offers and discounts from local restaurants and attractions, a gift voucher and an exclusive Macy’s tote bag. All sell for $35 except the Macy’s Herald Square package, which is priced at $50.
Special Attraction Tickets at Macy’s Herald Square and State Street
The visitor centers in New York City’s flagship Herald Square store and Chicago’s State Street store are official city information centers by virtue of their partnership with their city’s Convention and Visitors Bureau (NYC & Company in New York and Choose Chicago in Chicago).
At these centers, visitors can purchase tickets to a host of exciting city attractions, from museum, Broadway and Circle Line tickets in Manhattan to dance performances, art exhibits and architectural river tours in Chicago. City Concierges in these centers can help plan customized itineraries that guide first-time visitors to classic attractions or steer repeat visitors to off-the beaten-track neighborhoods and restaurants.
Touch-screen information kiosks in these locations enable a complete self-service experience by allowing visitors to research various attractions, buy tickets to them and print out both Google map directions and the 10% Visitor Savings Pass.
With the kind of support Macy’s visitor centers offer, it’s easy to make the most of your trip. Once you’ve selected a city to visit, we hope you’ll head to a Macy’s visitor center to plan and arrange things to see and do both in the store and the surrounding city. We’ll give you all the tools you need to explore and enjoy your destination.
