Macy’s to create TV show based on women in retail 

Macy’s will develop a scripted TV show featuring women executives who were instrumental in the founding of American department stores based on the best-selling novel ‘When Women Ran Fifth Avenue.’  

Department store Macy’s just announced it plans to develop a scripted TV series based on the best-selling novel, “When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion,” By Julie Satow.  

Macy’s chief marketing officer Sharon Otterman will help adapt the nonfiction story of women who helped build the American department store into a fictionalized TV series. The book includes women from Lord & Taylor, Bonwit Teller and Henri Bendel. Macy’s will add its own female executive Margaret Getchell to the storyline.  

“These are stories of resilience, ambition and creativity — women who understood the power of storytelling and branding long before it was a business strategy,” Otterman said in the press release announcement. 

This is a smart marketing move for Macy’s, as it reminds consumers how the department store started, how it evolved and why it is a good thing, said Paula Rosenblum, co-founder and managing partner at retail consulting firm RSR Research. 

“It’s a great marketing idea, especially at a time when people — like me, I confess — talk about the department store as a dinosaur,” Rosenblum said. “It’s almost a real-life Mad Men.  But with women.” 

Macy’s is currently in the process of securing a showrunner and attaching talent for the lead roles. Macy’s acquired the exclusive rights to the story in a “competitive bidding situation,” according to the press release.  

The department store is no stranger to producing large scale televised content, including the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks. The 2024 Thanksgiving Day Parade drew 31.7 million viewers, a record, according to Macy’s.

Those events may even cost more than running producing a TV show, Rosenblum said. The return on investment for the show is murky, as it is more about brand building, she said. Macy’s declined to comment.