Dying Is Easy. Retail Is Hard. (Update)

生死易,零售难。(更新)

Freakonomics Radio

2025-11-28

1 小时 2 分钟
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Macy’s wants to recapture its glorious past. The author of the Wimpy Kid books wants to rebuild his dilapidated hometown. We just want to listen in. (Part two of a two-part series, first published in 2024)   SOURCES:Mark Cohen, former professor and director of retail studies at Columbia Business School.Will Coss, vice president and executive producer of Macy’s Studios.Jeff Kinney, author, cartoonist, and owner of An Unlikely Story Bookstore and Café.Tony Spring, chairman and C.E.O. of Macy’s Inc.  RESOURCES:"How Macy’s CEO Tony Spring Is Turning the Retailer Around," by Suzanne Kapner (The Wall Street Journal, 2025).“NBC Ready to Pay Triple to Gobble Up Thanksgiving Parade Broadcast Rights,” by Joe Flint (The Wall Street Journal, 2024).“How Macy’s Set Out to Conquer the Department Store Business — and Lost,” by Daphne Howland (Retail Dive, 2022).An Unlikely Story Bookstore and Café.  EXTRAS:“Can the Macy’s Parade Save Macy’s?” series by Freakonomics Radio (2024). Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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  • Hey there, Steven Dubner.

  • Today,

  • we're playing the second and final part of our series on the economics of the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade,

  • which we first published in 2024.

  • We have updated facts and figures we're needed.

  • As always, thanks for listening.

  • On Thanksgiving morning,

  • roughly 30 million people watch at least some of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV.

  • For a lot of them, It wouldn't feel like Thanksgiving without the parade.

  • In the first episode of the series, we spoke with the parade's executive producer, Will Koss.

  • I asked him why it is so popular.

  • His answer was pure tevia.

  • I'd say tradition.

  • Tradition, tradition, tradition is at the core.

  • It's really about having this thing.

  • This giant thing that shows up for you,

  • everything's giving morning and it's going to be a little bit of spectacle,

  • a little bit of kitsch, a little bit of art.

  • It's become a moment in time for all of us to drive back to.

  • But even our favorite traditions are not guaranteed their place in the future.