Dive Brief:

• Macy's is contemplating how to put on its signature Thanksgiving Day Parade in light of ongoing social distancing requirements forced by the pandemic, the department store said on Monday.

• "We are working closely with our partners in the City of New York to reimagine the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in a similar fashion to our safe and successful production of this year's Macy's 4th of July Fireworks," Orlando Veras, Macy's national media relations director, said in an email. "We expect to share details of the holiday production in early fall."

• The department store scaled back its Fourth of July fireworks celebration this year in order to accommodate restrictions imposed by public health officials in light of the COVID-19 outbreak and with sensitivity toward Black Lives Matter protests nationwide. 

Dive Insight:

Macy's began the year in a full throttle, unleashing a turnaround plan in February that entailed a complicated new brick-and-mortar scheme and mass store closures; a supply chain overhaul; e-commerce and loyalty upgrades; and a new merchandising strategy, all the while emphasizing cost restructuring designed to return to profitable growth.

But by March that was placed on hold as the COVID-19 pandemic forced all stores to temporarily shut and sent the company scrambling to preserve cash. Macy's announced a massive out-of-court restructuring in June.

CEO Jeff Gennette has said that Macy's existing e-commerce strength has helped garner sales with stores temporarily closed, and helped ensure that those store reopenings went better than expected. The cost cutting remains in focus, however. As stores reopened, for example, the company slashed its corporate workforce by nearly 4,000 jobs. 

Now, after nearly a hundred years helping to usher in the holiday season with a parade that attracts not just crowds to New York City but also viewers worldwide, the department store must also recast its signature event.