This file photo from Monday Oct. 17, 2016, shows shoppers and pedestrians in a crosswalk near a giant billboard next to Macy's flagship department store in Herald Square in New York. Macy's has filed a lawsuit against the company that owns the billboard, fighting to prevent Amazon from taking over the advertising space that carried Macy's name for almost 60 years. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)
Macy's has filed a lawsuit against the company that owns the giant billboard next to its flagship Manhattan store, fighting to prevent Amazon from taking over the advertising space that carried Macy's name for almost 60 years.
In the lawsuit, filed last week in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, the department store retailer said there has been a restrictive covenant in place since 1963 barring the billboard space from being used by any Macy's competitor.
But Macy's said that when it tried to negotiate a lease renewal this year, the billboard's owners, the Kaufman Organization, told them they were in discussions with a “prominent online retailer," and there was “little doubt" that meant Amazon, according to the lawsuit.
Messages were left with the Kaufman Organization seeking comment. Amazon had no comment.
In the lawsuit, Macy's asked the judge for an injunction that would keep Kaufman from leasing the space to Amazon or any other competitor.
“The damages to Macy’s customer goodwill, image, reputation and brand, should a ‘prominent online retailer’ (especially, Amazon) advertise on the billboard are impossible to calculate," the company said in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit pointed out that the billboard is highly visible in its annual Thanksgiving Day parade, which is nationally televised.
They are playfully called the “forgotten five”: A handful of toys — the pogo stick, the Fisher-Price Corn Popper, My Little Pony, PEZ dispensers, and Transformers — that regularly approach toybox royalty as finalists for the National Toy Hall of Fame, only to be tossed back on the pile.
Rite Aid’s plan to close more stores as part of its bankruptcy process could hurt access to medicine and care, particularly in some majority Black and Hispanic neighborhoods and in rural areas, experts say.
Taylor Swift's concert tour has dominated the box office in recent days and it's also the top-grossing concert film of all time here in the U.S. But a conversation on social media raised questions about movie etiquette and videos shared show film audiences singing, shining their phone flashlights and dancing in the aisles.
Stocks fell at the open Tuesday as the 10-year Treasury yield spiked following retail sales data and bank earnings, raising concerns over more rate hikes. Investors are also keeping an eye on tensions in the Middle East and its potential effect on global markets.
