Why did Macy's in New York make the choice to have people make reservations to meet Santa?

[HopperFan]

Macy's in New York has a Spanish speaking Santa Claus? How cool because my mom would've liked that when she was little

NYC Macy's had different options when we went there "early 80's".

And the downtown Rich's in Atlanta (eventually bought by Macy's) offered different race Santas way back in the early 70's. They had them all in different small rooms and you'd just request who you wanted.

 

[tvguy]

Many malls are dying. Even during the holiday season traffic can be sparse on weekdays.

And Santa arrives at malls WAY too early. Like two weekends before Thanksgiving.

Yup, everyone starts Christmas too soon. Yesterday was Pearl Harbor Day, and nothing goes up for Christmas in our house until after then, just starting to pull stuff out now. And the decorations stay up until the epiphany on January 6th. What I consider the "traditional" Christmas season as opposed to the "retail" Christmas season. My mom grew up in a household where the Christmas season started on Christmas Eve, Santa brought the tree, the decorations and all the gifts then. And the decorations stayed up until the epiphany.

 

[elgerber]

It's not just Macy's The Mall of America also does reservations for Santa.

 

[BrianL]

I mourn for my spontaneous childhood. Anyway, they do this at my local mall.

I was like "Heck no, I'm not pre-planning something that's supposed to be spur of the moment and fun."

I know. The problem is that EVERYTHING is so popular these days! There are too many people wanting to all do the same stuff. Look at Disney. It's definitely frustrating.

 

[RedAngie]

Yup, everyone starts Christmas too soon. Yesterday was Pearl Harbor Day, and nothing goes up for Christmas in our house until after then, just starting to pull stuff out now. And the decorations stay up until the epiphany on January 6th. What I consider the "traditional" Christmas season as opposed to the "retail" Christmas season. My mom grew up in a household where the Christmas season started on Christmas Eve, Santa brought the tree, the decorations and all the gifts then. And the decorations stayed up until the epiphany.

For us it wasn’t considered appropriate to put up Christmas decorations until after December 8, the Feast of The (Mary’s) Immaculate Conception. I more or less still adhere to this tradition. And everything stayed up until the Epiphany. That one I don’t follow much anymore.

I know of a few people who waited until Christmas Eve for everything too.

 

[daisy2013]

The lines for Macys Santa pre-reservation were hours long and there was a crazy rush when the store opened. The reservations started pre Covid. I used to get them for my girls when they were young. All the malls near us have a reservation system for Santa. Some started after covid some before.

 

[scrapquitler]

Ever since Macy's flagship store in New York started having people make reservations to meet Santa Claus I have never understood why people need reservations to take their kids to meet Santa Claus now? Is it because to save time for families or is it a way to attract New Yorkers and tourists? Because when I used to read about meeting Santa Claus at Macy's people used to meet Santa Claus with no reservations. And I think this was the reason why the trend of pricey Santa photos at malls got started. Also how much does it cost for a photo with the Macy's Santa and do you get anything like a candy cane and a little toy along with the photo as well?

i imagine its so they can predict staffing needs and control the crowd levels in the store at any given time (much like Disney has implement the park reservation system).
From a personal level, I'd much rather make an appointment and have an idea of how long the process will take instead of waiting for hours in line. That's definitely not fun with over excited kids.