Growing up, one of the highlights of a trip to Macy’s 34th Street in New York was riding the old fashioned wooden escalators. On a whim I decided to visit the store for the purpose of discovering whether or not they stood the test of time.

I began by asking a store clerk and she confirmed there are a number of them, but could only direct us to one, which was wood, but not as aged as the ones I remembered. At the elevator banks I announced what I was hunting for. The suggestion was to begin...