MACY'S NEW INITIATIVE FOCUS PLACED ON GOODS AND SERVICE.

Byline: Brent Hopkins Staff Writer

SHERMAN OAKS - Macy's is introducing a new campaign that the company says will boost merchandise selection, speed up and improve customer service and show the department store chain is more lively than its traditional image.

``Macy's. More You.'' is the name of a well-defined path that the chain says is designed to help it through these tough economic times.

``It's a challenge for anybody,'' said Sheila Field, senior vice president of sales promotion and marketing for Macy's West. ``In today's environment, you can't rest on what you've done, you have to do more to deliver a fabulous shopping experience.''

Macy's began investigating how to reinvigorate itself in 1999, surveying shoppers on what they liked - and what they didn't - about its stores. The West branch of the chain operates 101 stores throughout California, Arizona, Nevada, Minnesota, New Mexico and Texas. Twenty-three stores are in Los Angeles County.

Through their research, Field and her team settled on boosting merchandise selection, speeding up and improving customer service and marketing the chain as being more exciting.

To aid in bringing in more desirable wares, buyers have been directed to look more toward the leading edge of fashion.

``We encourage risk-taking for our buying organization to find us new products,'' Field said. ``The biggest category we bring in is private-label merchandise you can't find anywhere else.''

Though the campaign is still in its dawning stages, customers seem to be warming to it. A sampling of shoppers at one of Macy's local stores, at the Sherman Oaks Fashion Square, showed praise for the chain's dedication to customer service.

For instance, Debra Eden, a Studio City resident who works as a casting director, was warm with her compliments. Though she already likes the chain's merchandise, the improved attention to customer service, especially with returns and exchanges, has completely won her over.

``I come to Macy's 90 percent of the time,'' she said. ``They're good with returns and exchanges, which is very important.''

This is exactly what Field wants to hear, that the campaign is hitting its target squarely.

``The whole premise of this isn't that we just have more things, but that we have more understanding of you, our customers,'' she said. ``We know what you want us to carry and have in our stores. That's what Macy's is all about.''

Jerry Sullivan, Macy's West chairman and chief executive officer, said the new tagline ``reflects our devotion to fashion and brands, making them very accessible to the public. 'More You' unequivocally puts the customer first.''

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Photo:

(color) North Hollywood residents Derakhshandeh Tajalli, left, and her daughter, Azadeh Ghazinia, get a hand cream demonstration from makeup artist Ana Fonseca in Macy's at Sherman Oaks Fashion Square.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer