Macy's (officially R.H. Macy's) is a chain of mid-to-high range American department stores. Its selection of merchandise can vary significantly from location to location, resulting in the exclusive availability of certain brands in only higher-end stores. Its flagship store in Herald Square, New York City was recognized as the world's largest department store from 1924 until June 2009 when it was surpassed by Shinsegae Centum City in South Korea. The company has designated additional regional flagships in major urban centers and operates a total of 810 U.S. stores (as of September 2008).

Macy's was founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. On the company's first day of business which was October 28, 1858 the sales totaled $11.06 (Approximately $287.37 in 2007 USD). Macy had established a dry goods store in downtown Haverhill, Massachusetts in 1851 that initially served the mill industry employees of the area. Macy moved to New York City and established a new store named "R. H. Macy & Company" on the corner of 14th Street and 6th Avenue, later expanding to 18th Street and Broadway, on the "Ladies' Mile", the 19th century elite shopping district, where it remained for nearly forty years.

In 1875, Macy took on two partners: Robert M. Valentine; and Abiel T. La Forge, and Macy died just two years later in 1877 from Bright's disease.

In 1893, R. H. Macy & Co. was acquired by Isidor Straus and his brother, Nathan Straus, who had previously held a license to sell china and other goods in the Macy's store. Isidor Straus later perished in the sinking of the RMS Titanic. In 1902, the flagship store moved uptown to Herald Square at 34th Street and Broadway. Although the Herald Square store initially consisted of just one building, it expanded through new construction, eventually occupying almost the entire block bounded by 7th Avenue on the west, Broadway on the east, 34th Street on the south and 35th Street on the north. Exceptions are the small, pre-existing building on the corner of 34th and Broadway, which carries Macy's famous shopping bag sign under an agreement allowing the Macy's sign, and small pre-existing building on the corner of 35th and 7th.

J. C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE: JCP; most commonly known today by the name JCPenney or simply Penney's) is a mid-range chain of American department stores based in Plano, Texas, a suburb north of Dallas. The company operates 1,106 department stores in 49 of the 50 U.S. states (all except Hawaii) and Puerto Rico. J. C. Penney also operates catalog sales merchant offices nationwide in many small markets.
In addition to selling conventional merchandise, J. C. Penney stores often house several leased departments such as Sephora, Optical, Portrait Studios, Jewelry & Watch repair, etc.

J. C. Penney was founded by James Cash Penney and William Henry McManus. The original name for the store that started Penney in the dry goods business was The Golden Rule Store, owned by T. M. Callahan in Longmont, Colorado. It was later changed to J. C. Penney Company when it was sold in 1912 by T. M. Callahan to his protege, J. C. Penney. The mother store is located in Kemmerer, Wyoming, and still operates, as of 2009, albeit with hours shorter than many of its other store locations.

J. C. Penney relocated its headquarters in 1909 to Salt Lake City, Utah to be closer to banks and railroads, and again in 1914 to Buffalo, New York to simplify the buying, financing, and transportation of goods. By 1917, the company operated 175 stores in 22 states in the United States. J. C. Penney acquired The Crescent Corset Company in 1920, the company's first wholly-owned subsidiary. In 1922, the company's oldest active private brand, Big Mac work clothes, was launched. The company opened its 500th store in 1924 in Hamilton, Missouri, James Cash Penney's hometown. By the opening of the 1,000th store in 1928, gross business had reached $190,000,000. In 1940 Sam Walton began working at a J. C. Penney in Des Moines, Iowa. Walton later went on to found future retailer Wal-Mart in 1962. By 1941, the company operated 1,600 stores in all 48 states. In 1956, J. C. Penney started national advertising with a series of advertisements in Life magazine. J. C. Penney credit cards were issued and accepted at its stores for the first time in 1959. The credit cards issued today with the appearance of bring issued by J. C. Penney are in fact falsely represented as such since they are issued by a bank with no loyalty to J. C. Penney's customers.

J.Crew Group Inc. (NYSE: JCG) is an American clothing and accessories retailer based in New York, New York. Founded in 1983 by Arthur Cinader with the launch of its mail order catalog, the company expanded into brick and mortar retailing in 1989 with its first store at the South Street Seaport in New York City. The company's corporate headquarters is located at 770 Broadway at E. 9th street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan. As of May 2008, the company operates 198 retail stores and 65 outlet stores in the United States.

The company's website, which was launched in 1996, features online-only products, as well as catalog and retail items. The company operates two distribution centers in the Southern United States, in Lynchburg, Virginia and Asheville, North Carolina. The former doubles as its U.S. call center. Online shipping is also offered to Canada and Japan.

The brand features collections of men's and women's clothing, accessories, and shoes, in "classic styles" with a J.Crew "twist". Many of the products feature luxury materials such as Italian cashmere and leather, Czech glass buttons, and British wool. Many of the special materials and colors of fabrics are made for and offered exclusively to J. Crew by the company's partners located throughout Europe and Asia. In addition, the company produces a wedding and special occasions line, a high-end line known as the "J.Crew Collection", a children's line called "Crewcuts", and a line called "Crewmutts" that features items for dogs. In 2009, the Crewmutts line was discontinued.

The Gap, Inc. (NYSE: GPS) is an American clothing and accessories retailer based in San Francisco, California, and founded in 1969 by Donald G. Fisher and Doris F. Fisher. The company has five primary brands: the namesake Gap banner, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime and Athleta. As of September 2008, Gap, Inc. has approximately 150,000 employees and operates 3,465 stores worldwide. Gap, Inc. remains the largest specialty apparel retailer in the U.S., though it has recently been surpassed by the Spanish-based Inditex Group as the world's largest apparel retailer.

Despite its publicly-traded status, the Fisher family remains deeply involved in Gap, Inc.'s business and collectively owns a significant portion of the company's stock.

Donald Fisher served as Chairman of the Board until 2004 and remained on the board until his death on September 27, 2009. His wife and their son, Robert J. Fisher, also serve on Gap's Board of directors. Robert Fisher succeeded his father as chair in 2004 and also took over as president and CEO on an interim basis following the resignation of Paul Pressler in 2007.

Glenn K. Murphy is the current CEO of the company. Previous Gap, Inc. CEOs include Millard Drexler and Paul Pressler.

Dillard's (NYSE: DDS), based in Little Rock, Arkansas, is a major department store chain in the United States, with 330 stores in 29 states. Its locations are concentrated in Texas and Florida; with a major presence in other states including Arizona, Iowa, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Louisiana, Nebraska, Nevada, Utah, North Carolina, Idaho, South Carolina, Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio.

Dillard's is the outgrowth of a Nashville, Arkansas, department store founded in 1938 by William T. Dillard; its corporate headquarters remain located in the eastern edge of Little Rock's Riverdale area, and many of its executives and directors are members of the Dillard family.

Dillard sold the Nashville store to develop a larger one in Texarkana, Arkansas initially as the minority partner in Wooten & Dillard. In 1956, Dillard led an investment group that acquired the Mayer & Schmidt store in Tyler, Texas. This store eventually took on the name "Dillard's Mayer & Schmidt" until 1974, when it was replaced with a mall-based location south of downtown Tyler.

In 1960, Dillard acquired and turned around the failing Brown-Dunkin store in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The success of this turnaround was followed in late 1963 by acquiring the Joseph Pfeifer store in Little Rock, Arkansas, and in early 1964 acquiring the other main store in Little Rock, Gus Blass Co. Dillard used this as an opportunity to relocate his headquarters to Little Rock. In 1969, Dillard and his investors took Dillard Department Stores, Inc., public on the American Stock Exchange.

Thereafter, the chain grew rapidly as an anchor in suburban shopping malls, and took advantage of market conditions to acquire smaller chains as well as its ability to turn around locations that other companies could not operate profitably.