Spruced up Tic Toc to reopen as Macy's emphasizes dining
It's not the Tic Toc Restaurant your grandmother knew anymore.
Macy's closed its Downtown department store's first-floor restaurant for its first sprucing up in 20 years and will reopen the Tic Toc at 11 a.m. Tuesday. Workers are installing brighter lighting and ceiling fans, painting and making other touches.
New lunch entrees are coming, but the menu will keep favorites such as the Tic Toc Plate of tea sandwiches.
Macy's intends to put more emphasis on food offerings and to add Starbucks cafes inside some of its 800 stores.
The Tic Toc, said Joe Hladiuk, vice president and store manager, is “a big part of our store — and of Pittsburgh. It's important to our customers.”
Historic photos of the former Kaufmann's department store and 15 clocks are reminders of the store's past. With seating for 50 people at its counter and 50 at tables, the Tic Toc draws Macy's shoppers, Downtown workers on lunch breaks, and tourists and occasional visitors.
Several Macy's stores in downtown areas have restaurants, and the retailer is “looking at investing in restaurants and food services,” Hladiuk said, noting the Columbus, Ohio, area store where he worked has a Starbucks.
The Tic Toc menu will add special entrees next month for Oktoberfest, Macy's spokeswoman Andrea Schwartz said. The restaurant will operate from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, with extended holiday hours.
Macy's consolidated the store this year from 11 floors to six and added brands under its nationwide My Macy's initiative to switch out some offerings by the store to suit customers' tastes. Examples: BCBG jewelry, Patricia Nash handbags and Lauren bedding.
The department store chain, after trying for two years, has not found a buyer for the historic former Kaufmann's.
“We continue to be open to any option for making better use of the unused space on the upper floors of the building,” spokesman Jim Sluzewski said. “That would include a sale of the building, with Macy's leasing back the space we need for the store and our offices. Or it could include leasing the space directly to an interested party.”
Kim Leonard is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reachedat 412-380-5606 or kleonard@tribweb.com.
