I often describe things as Mallory-Everest, and along those same lines I also use the descriptor Macy’s-Gimbels. Feel free to follow the link back to my explanation of Mallory-Everest … or continue reading to better understand what I am referring to when I say something is Macy’s-Gimbels.
This all started after my umpteenth watching of one of my all-time favorite Christmas movies: Miracle on 34th Street, (the original 1947 release in black and white … the colorized version is nice but I digress). There is a wonderful scene in the movie where Kris Kringle (portrayed by Edmund Gwenn) recommends a lady shopper go to the competition (Gimbels) for a gift the store (Macy’s) did not have in stock … and thus providing the impetus to coin the phrase, “The Macy’s-Gimbels Approach”; and in this case how it applies to real customer service.
Here is a link to the movie online (although noted on the site you can download the DivX Plus Web Player for Windows or for Mac from these links).
The scene I noted above can be found at … um, well … I’m going to watch the movie (again); I’ll try to remember to note the time and add it later 🙂
