Trailblazers: Black Leadership in Dire Circumstances

Few industries have had more struggles in recent years than mall-based retail stores. That goes double for the big box anchor stores that are staples in malls across America. Macy’s is one of the oldest and most iconic of these anchor stores and without strong leadership the future of the brand could have been in doubt. One of the leaders behind the push to put Macy’s back in front is Adrian V. Mitchell, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Macy’s.

Mitchell began his career in consulting at McKinsey & Company. He spent ten years at the company and founded the North American Lean Operations Retail Practice. He continued to gain retail and leadership experience when he moved to Target and held several director roles. He achieved his first executive role when he took over as Crate and Barrel’s CFO in 2010. He later served as interim CEO in 2011 and moved on to Arhaus where he served as CEO for a year.

Mitchell brought all of this experience to Macy’s in November 2020 as CFO. The beginning of Mitchell’s tenure was a difficult time for the retail company. The pandemic had slowed traffic to a crawl and malls struggled most of all as people avoided crowds. As Mitchell was dealing with this crisis, two more challenges were on the horizon with inflation and supply chain disruptions. Mitchell approached this problem with a unique solution, putting the focus on stores outside of the traditional Macy’s anchor stores. This is not to say that traditional Macy’s locations are a lost cause, yet Mitchell has seen the transformation taking place in retail and he is attempting to stay ahead of it. Mitchell has spearheaded the initiative to focus and develop smaller footprint stores that decrease overhead and avoid the high rent of mall areas while reaching new customers. Mitchell is aiming for this data and analytics-based change to begin fueling long-term sales growth in 2024.

Mitchell has been rewarded for his leadership at Macy’s by being named as Chief Operating Officer in March 2023. Mitchell has continued to look outside of Macy’s traditional department stores for growth. Mitchell is also putting a focus on the higher-end stores under their banner, Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury. Both chains are planning to open new locations this year after they performed better than Macy’s in 2023. Focusing on smaller format and higher end stores has left their main stores in limbo. The company recently announced that they will be closing one hundred and fifty stores, yet they will be investing in three hundred other stores that are performing better. Despite Mitchell’s steady hand, Macy’s has still struggled in recent years and the company was facing issues before the pandemic. By investing in stores that are performing well and focusing on their other successful brands, Macy’s will likely have to close more stores in the future and become more stable as they do.

Adrian Mitchell has taken an unconventional approach to help salvage the longstanding Macy’s brand. There is still a considerable amount of work left to do for the brand to return to their heyday. Mitchell has given every indication that he will continue to expand the brand and use any means necessary to drive growth. He already has an extensive resume with many decades left in his career. With companies still struggling to recover his methods and service will be in high demand for years to come.