The news that Federated Department Stores is changing the Kaufmann's name to Macy's and closing three stores in regional malls evoked a mixture of disappointment and hope among Pittsburghers yesterday.

	Associated Press Pedestrians cross Fifth Avenue yesterday in front of the clock outside Kaufmann's, Downtown. Click photo for larger image.

Herb Burger, head of the task force seeking a new plan for redeveloping the Fifth and Forbes corridor Downtown, said, "Kaufmann's is a traditional, well-beloved name in Pittsburgh, but if you were going to change the name to anything, I think Macy's would be an excellent choice.

"Macy's has an upper-tier image and is widely known to be a quality store," Burger said.

Michael Edwards, executive director of the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, said the group had sent Federated a letter asking them to keep the Kaufmann's name, if only for the Downtown store. But with the decision made, he found room for optimism.

"In a lot of ways, the Macy's name may have more market relevance in the world outside of Pittsburgh, so there may be some advantages that we have yet to realize," he said.

Despite Kaufmann's iconic status, Downtown shoppers seemed largely unperturbed by the name change.

"I would think the older people who are very loyal to Kaufmann's and its name might be disappointed," said Lisa Searight, 39, of Avalon. "But people my age, we're just used to things changing."

However, an older shopper who said that she has shopped at Kaufmann's "forever," and still visits the store almost every week, expressed no disappointment.

	Shoppers make their way past the Kaufmann's Downtown store in this 1912 photo. Click photo for larger image.

"It makes no difference to me," said Blanche Dunok of the South Side. "If they have good sales, then I'm OK with it.

"We just need more department stores," she said. "I don't care what they are calling them, as long as they're good."

At Ross Park Mall, where shoppers have had both a Macy's and a Kaufmann's to chose from, reactions to the news of Macy's closing varied with shopping habits.

"I generally don't do department stores that much," said Butler Township resident Amanda McCafferty, "and I'm an hour away, so I don't get down here much. So for me personally it wont change much."

On the other hand, Linda Weston, of Cranberry, said, "I hate to see them do it ... we're not that close to one otherwise, and I like Macy's."

Asked what she would do in its absence, she added, "We'll probably find another mall with a Macy's."

At the South Hills Village Kaufmann's, shoppers expressed little surprise about the store's closing, even though "now hiring" signs are posted on the glass front doors -- perhaps because the mall also has a Macy's and the merger has been a matter of public knowledge for months.

But the village store clearly holds a place in shoppers' hearts.

"I think it's been a landmark," said Carol Pape, of Bethel Park, as she got ready to go in the store's main entrance.

She said she thought most shoppers had a loyalty to store names and counted herself as one of those, having been a Kaufmann's fan since coming to the region in 1977. At that time Kaufmann's was located in what is now the Galleria mall, at Washington and Connor roads, Mt. Lebanon.

Mary Pat Tozzi, of Upper St. Clair, who was heading into Kaufmann's with her son, Ron, 13, also said she liked Kaufmann's.

"I would really hate to see it go," she said, adding that she thought its sale prices were good. "It's what you're used to -- I'm a creature of habit," Tozzi said.

The stores that Federated is closing occupy some of the largest retail spaces in the area. The Kaufmann's at Monroeville Mall is 262,000 square feet, the South Hills Village Kaufmann's is 258,000, and the Macy's at Ross Park Mall is 201,000. Local brokers see opportunity in the pending vacancies.

"Retail is really the place to be now," said Laura Lee Bishop, commercial broker with Colliers Penn Commercial Real Estate Services. Citing the newly opened Pittsburgh Mills as an example, she added, "There is a tremendous amount of growth. There's a tremendous potential now for retail companies to come into the area, and certainly an opportunity for landlords."

Herky Pollock, executive vice president of CB Richard Ellis Pittsburgh, agreed.

"I think it's a bittersweet day for Pittsburgh," he said. "On the one hand, you lose a brand that's been around Pittsburgh for almost a whole century. On the other hand, this presents an opportunity for other anchors to enter the Pittsburgh market who have not yet established a presence here." He mentioned Nordstrom as an example.

Michael Westover, who specializes in retail leasing with Grubb & Ellis, noted that both South Hills Village and Ross Park Mall are owned by Simon Property Group, the largest mall developer in the country. He said they "probably have plans already" for what to do with the spaces to be vacated.

The changes will have an impact on another kind of space as well -- advertising space. In both print and electronic media, Kaufmann's has long been one of the city's largest advertisers. Jack O'Brien, president of advertising agency LarsonO'Brien, said that Federated will face two challenges in marketing the Macy's brand.

"One is the expense of changing all the signs and whatever else they might do to change the decor to suit the Macy's brand," he said. "The other aspect is the brand itself. The Kaufmann's brand is so richly woven into this market that it's going to be missed.

"Even with the same people, the same locations and the same merchandise, it may not have the same cachet," O'Brien said.

If he were marketing the name change, O'Brien said he would "spend a lot of time with the new owners finding out beyond a shadow of a doubt what makes them different, and I would put every penny of my advertising budget into telling the world what makes Macy's different.

"And I bet they've got a good story to tell," he added. "They've been around a long time and in order to do that, they've got to be among the very best."