Macy’s vs Gimbels - Fathers, Sons, and Civil War | 2

Business Wars

Wondery

History, Business, David Brown, Management

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 4 December 2019

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

As R.H. Macy’s Manhattan emporium and reputation grow during the Civil War, his teenage son rebels and runs away to join the Union army. When the boy goes AWOL, the future of Macy’s burgeoning department store faces jeopardy. But salvation arrives in the form of another recent immigrant from war-torn Germany, Lazarus Straus. His family will lead Macy’s into the next century and a golden age of the department store.

But Adam Gimbel has been busy in Indiana; he now has a prosperous business and 11 children. His seven sons spur their father on to open a bigger and better store in booming Milwaukee. Their ambition and Macy’s growing fame in New York will soon lure the Gimbel Brothers east to challenge him on his home turf.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, prime members, you can listen to business wars ad-free on Amazon music. Download the app today.
0:14.0	It's 1864 in a tavern on the outskirts of Washington, D.C.
0:18.9	The Civil War is in its third year.
0:21.6	Roland Macy Jr. barely 17 sits in a dark corner of a bar. He hasn't bathed for weeks.
0:29.2	He peers up from under the brim of his tweed cap, pulled low on his forehead,
0:33.8	and notices two men in dark suits talking to the barkeep.
0:37.9	They don't look like they're there to drink. One of them scans the room as the other talks.
0:43.7	His gaze passes quickly over Roland, but then it swings back. Before Roland can look away,
0:50.4	their eyes meet. They're onto him.
0:53.8	Roland leaps up out of his seat, knocking over his beer and bolts for the door.
0:58.1	The men rush for him. Roland's frantic. He shoves people out of his way on the crowded street and runs toward an alley.
1:05.0	As he glances back to see if the men are gaining on it,
1:07.6	he collides with a group of revelers spilling out from another watering hole,
1:11.8	an irritated patron shouts after him.
1:14.1	Hey, watch it! What the... you little louts?
1:17.8	Roland keeps running, but the two men in dark suits are closing in.
1:22.2	One of them yells out,
1:23.5	grab him! He's a deserter, a wanted man!
1:26.6	A couple of guys tackle Roland, a fist catches him square on the nose.
1:31.2	As he tumbles to the ground, his mouth fills with a metallic taste of blood.
1:35.8	It pours onto his shirt. His pursuers push aside the crowd and roughly yank him to his feet.
1:42.2	That's it, boys. Nice work. We'll take it from here. Thanks.
	...

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