On Thanksgiving morning, roughly 30 million people will catch at least some of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on TV.

For a lot of them, it wouldn't feel like Thanksgiving without the parade.

Last week, we spoke with the parade's executive producer, Will Koss.

I asked him why it's so popular. His answer was

pure Tevia. I'd say tradition. Tradition, tradition. Tradition is at the core. It's really about

having this thing, this giant thing that shows up for you. Everything's giving morning and it's going to be a little bit of spectacle,

a little bit of kitsch, a little bit of art.

It's become a moment in time for all of us to drive back to.

But even our favorite traditions are not guaranteed their place in the future. The Macy's department store

has been around for 166 years, and they've put on a parade for the past 100. We spent last

week trying to figure out how much money Macy spends to make the parade and how much they earn

from sponsorships and TV ad sales. That was one part of this story that

interested us. The other part is the future of retail itself, or at least the kind of retailing

represented by Macy's. They like to call the parade their annual gift to the nation, which is a nice

sentiment. But there are two things you should know about that.

This gift is likely quite profitable for the giver, which is unusual. Also, the Macy's Parade

may be one of the most valuable assets that Macy's still has. For most of the 20th century, Macy's was a retailing giant, but it's been in trouble for years.

And if it were to disappear the way that Sears and Montgomery Ward and Lord and Taylor

and many other department stores have disappeared, the parade would likely disappear as well. How likely is it that Macy's disappears?

That's one of the questions we're asking in this episode. Macy's is a publicly traded company

worth a bit more than $4 billion. That is not very much. The target chain is worth about $60 billion.

Walmart, $720 billion.

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