For those who were at both stores, particularly the Manhattan ones, which one was better and why?
I came from Chicago, so we didn’t have either store. (Well Marshall Fields became Macy’s eventually)
I wasn’t a New Yorker and never had the opportunity to shop at Gimbels, so I can’t answer, but the New York Times gave the edge to Macy’s.
Permit me to ramble off to an anecdote. The New York Post was a dying newspaper when Rupert Murdoch bought it and turned it into the scandalous rag it’s known as today. Naturally, circulation shot up and the Post advertising staff figured they finally had enough clout to approach some of the advertisers who had avoided them in the past.
Supposedly, they went to Gimbels and showed all their charts and diagrams to prove the Post was the place for Gimbels to put their advertsing. The honcho at Gimbels told the Post people “You don’t understand. Your readers are our shoplifters.”
Macy’s had the better Santa. 
My grandpa used to drive a truck for Gimbels in Pittsburgh. So obviously Gimbels. Duh.
Macy’s was a bit more upscale. The movie made it seem more of a rivalry than it actually was. Or so I’ve read. The two stores were only two short blocks from each other.
I usually see “your readers are my shoplifters” attributed to Alfred Bloomingdale, though still said to Murdoch.
Though Macy’s did take over Marshall Field’s, they themselves had already been taken over by Federated Department Stores. Surprised they changed Marshall Field’s name, though; I’d think people would have liked to pretend just as Macy’s shoppers do.
You’re referring to the 1947 documentary? 
I rarely went into Gimbels as a kid. We liked Macy’s for the old wooden escalators and Abraham and Strauss for the best Christmas displays.
It would actually make more sense for it to come from Bloomingdale’s, although I thought Alfred had left the family business by the time Murdoch bought the Post.
The wooden escalators are still there. Lord and Taylor probably has the best Christmas displays.
Macy’s put on the parade - that did it for me. I don’t remember ever going to the Gimbel’s in New York, though I probably went to one in Queens. But Macy’s was far more iconic.
There was a fairly small Bloomies not far from where I grew up, but I only went in there to buy gifts for my mother.
gimblel’s had the first parade, and santa would enter the store through the window on a fire truck. both happened in phila… so i gotta go with the old gimbel’s store in phila.
I guess the shoplifting references refer to the location. I was reading the history of Gimbels and it says their Herald Square (Manhattan) store was purposely situated by the Heard Square subway station, which was the busiest at the time.
Then Gimbels made their entrances so they’d attract people to come in off the subway and shop. Through the years other stations were built and with the bus and subway lines it became very busy, and while the entrances did work and brought huge numbers of people in, it also allowed shoplifters a very quick exit and on to a bus or subway line and out of there.
I can see why this would be so. If you go to NYC, the streets are filled with people and cars and you can’t get anywhere quickly except via subway.