Macy’s is an American based chain founded in mid-1850’s-1858 to be precise. The company is headquartered in New York City, USA. The organization consists of three retail brands. These brands include Macy’s, Bluemercury and Bloomingdale’s. As of the year 2015, the company was the leading US store by sales from retail. In the year 2017, Macy’s had approximately 130,000 associates and made a revenue of up to 24 billion US dollars. The company has conducted its own Thanksgiving parade since the early 1920’s and also sponsored New York City’s 4th of July fireworks display. Let’s learn ‘Does Macy’s make money off the Parade?’.
Thanksgiving parade by Macy’s
Macy’s has been conducting an annual thanksgiving parade known by the civilians as Macy’s thanksgiving parade. The parade costs just over 11 million US dollars and is the world’s greatest and most known parade. It is seen by many as a kick start to the holidays. Many American citizens have participated in this parade- in the form of volunteering, attending and seeing it in person or even at home watching from live TV. The parade is usually up to 3 hours and is held in Manhattan and ends just outside Macy’s Herald Square. The event normally takes place on Thanksgiving Day and is normally aired on NBC for ages. The parade generates around 20 million US dollars.
The Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade budget
The parade is not cheap considering its spectacular nature and status in the US. The cost goes over 11 million US dollars and ranges between $11 million USD- $13.5 million USD. Annual expenses for the floating decorations and supplies and associated salaries takes up to $4.5 million of the budget for the whole organization. On top of this, the company owns a studio space and costumes supply; these assets are estimated at roughly 9 million US dollars. The whole budget reaches a range of $11 million to $13 million.
Does Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade generate any money?
The parade generates an estimated $12 million from food, transit and spending of the retail. The parade also has sponsors who generate around $5 million in direct activities via expenditures on marketing. Visitors and sponsors combined generate an estimate of $6 million dollars and roughly $1million from city tax revenues.
Mayor Giuliani said that the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade is a beautiful tradition that brings American citizens together across the whole nation. He added that the visitors go to the parade expecting to enjoy the whole event and have a splendid time there. Consequently, New York City receives a large economic boost from this famous parade. Based on the ratings from previous Thanksgiving parades, the parade attracts a large viewership. The parade attracts around 4o million viewers from live TV and manhattans famous websites.
The president of New York City Economic Development Corporation, Charles Millard stated that the attendance for the parade isn’t surprising as more than 350,000 people come to the city for the parade hosted by Macy’s. According to him, the attendance is massive because the city will never let down the visitors as it has a variety of entertaining options. He added that the accumulated $24 million form the parade is put back into the city and that means good news for the restaurants, hotels, transit services and retail stores based in New York City.
More interesting facts about Macy’s Thanksgiving parade
Some fun facts to note about the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade is that it was first started in 1924 where the employees marched all the way to Macy’s Herald square dressed in colorful costumes. The employees were accompanied by floating supplies, bands and animals straight from the Central Park Zoo. The first parade was called Macy’s Christmas parade where Santa was welcomed at the end of the Thanksgiving parade. With an audience of about 30,000 people the parade was seen as a success such that the company made it a yearly event to be conducted during Thanksgiving.
The parade was then conducted on a yearly basis up to date. The parade was only canceled during the World War 2 period from 1942-1944.
Conclusion
The Macy’s Thanksgiving parade makes money at an estimated range of $20 million to $24.1 million. With more than 50 million viewers and 3.5 million individuals attending the event in person, the whole parade is deemed to be successful and beneficial for the city of New York.
Frequently asked questions
What does the company do with the balloons after the event?
Macy’s is transforming some of its balloons that appear in the parades into non-fungible tokens. Some of these NFTs might be auctioned to come as a benefit for the ‘Make a Wish foundation.’
What is the budget for the balloons?
The balloons cost a minimum of $500,000 to fill up as the balloons use 250,000 to roughly 700,000 cubic feet of helium which is costly.
How many times has the parade been canceled/postponed?
During the World War 2 period, Macy’s Thanksgiving was canceled-1942, 1943, 1944. The event was also conducted in 2020 during the pandemic but this time without the millions of people attending.
What distance is covered in the parade?
The floats and bands cover around 4km from the upper west side to Macy’s Herald Square with an estimated audience of 3 million people enjoying the parade.
