Macy's hopes GP-made signs turn shoppers into believers.
TIMOTHY BULLARD/Daily Courier
This is one of four signs Fiberoptic Lighting of Grants Pass made for Macy's flagship store on Herald Square in New York City.
Daily Courier Front Page News
Friday, November 27, 2009
By Susan Goracke of the Daily Courier
The "top-secret" image on four fiber-optics signs sent last week from Grants Pass to Macy's flagship department store on Herald Square in New York City can finally be revealed.
Ta-da: It's "Believe."
Sparkling on a ruby-red background and surrounded by twinkling stars, this altruistic message of faith — rather than one of unbridled materialism — is what Macy's is pinning its hopes on for a better bottom line this holiday season.
Anyone who has noticed the department store's ads might have guessed that "Believe" would figure prominently in the hush-hush signs.
"Believe" nostalgically connects folks to the famous 1897 New York Sun editorial, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus," points out Hyla Lipson, an owner of Fiberoptic Lighting, which produced the flat, round panels. "Believe" could remind them that Macy's makes an appearance in the classic Christmas film, "Miracle on 34th Street."
"Because of the economy being the way it is, they're going back to Santa Claus and believing," Lipson says. "It's a nice word."
Lipson can imagine the enjoyment New York City shoppers will get from the lighted displays. She's been there herself.
"I used to go every year the first week in December for trade shows, and I always looked at the downtown store's window displays," Lipson explains. "Macy's Christmas windows are always old-fashioned, like comfort food. Other stores may have more contemporary displays, but Macy's always stays hometown."
Lipson points to the fiber-optic holiday murals her company produced for Evergreen Federal Bank President Brady Adams six years ago.
"Christmas in New York is kind of like Brady in Grants Pass," she adds. "When you're across from Rockefeller Center, you always have crowds going past, looking at the store windows.
"With those murals, Brady gave us the same thing. They're like the wonderful New York storefront windows without the windows."
Lipson believes the fiber-optic "Believe" signs are now hanging from Macy's cavernous ceiling like giant ornaments delighting Thanksgiving weekend shoppers.
Whether those signs induce shoppers to part with their paychecks in the belief that an economic rebound is just around the corner won't be known until after the New Year.
Lipson does know this: Building Macy's signs helped bolster Fiberoptic Lighting's bottom line this fall.
