JJ5

Just want to say that I walked through last Thursday (Old Marshall Field's on State St.) I'll never call it that new name and won't shop there.

The entire State St. shopping area has further nose-dived in the last year. The old Longuines Jewelers (was like a Tiffany's window too) with the immense watch on the front of the building somewhat reflects the entire new State St. near Madison circa 2006. The clock has the wrong time, is stopped, and there are some obnoxious pierced, mohawked and whatever style leather and goth type clothes in that spot. The rest has few places of quality, are now under construction for more gimmick shops or fast food, or are just plain not as inclusive of goods as any high quality mall anywhere in the USA.

Head North of the River girls, or stop by Sears if you need some underwear or whatever (like an umbrella) in a pinch! They are still goodly stocked and departmently- service oriented.

I COULD cry, really. You should have seen what I did as a girl. I wish I could let you experience it for one day, everyone. This is NOT just a resistance to change, but a historical passing of an immense good that in this day, can not be achieved or appreciated. We are all so much "littler" by losing a tradition of shopping as a honored and honorable event and most won't ever know it.

How do you enjoy wonder cotton bread after having home baked from the village wood oven! I don't know. Just void out all your taste buds, I guess.

joncoff

I want to invite all Foder's subscribers to the website which is for Marshall Field's loyal fans and customers. Readers may post information about the takeover and how they feel and what they have observed. You will also read data which refutes what Federated Department Stores, the owner of Macy's, spins in press releases. The website is: www.fieldsfanschicago.org
Also, I must correct the person who said, "At least Macy's kept the large clocks and plaques at the downtown Chicago store". The truth is that the Marshall Field landmark store is on the National List of Historic Buildings and the clock and signs may NOT be taken down. Trust me, Macy's would paint the clocks red and immediately replace the venerable brass sign plates, if they could do so legally.

JJ5

Was at huge party this last weekend, about 75 to 80 women alone, and in this group there were a lot of former Marshall Field shoppers.

We are above 50, most above 60 years old. One old friend started an unofficial survey, and not ONE woman there has caved to shopping at Macy's yet. Not in Orland Park, not in Oakbrook, not downtown Chicago.

One said she walked in and they had "destroyed" the entire main aisle areas near the escalators with barely 2 feet wide passages. She said it looked like a junk shop and she walked out.

I think if they go after a younger demographic they may do ok (Macy's) but if they think they are going to follow the Field's line of customers, they are WAY off.

NeoPatrick

JJ5, I'm curious. Have all these women found a replacement store for their lost favorite one? Or are they going to spend the rest of their days living in the past about something that no longer exists? Does a suitable replacement for the old MF type retail place still exist?

JJ5

Oh NeoPatrick, that is not the case at all by us. It is just not either/or in the sense you convey. Nor in the "living in the past" mode you imply either. We have numerous higher end and highly organized stores with better choices and good individual service. And primarily they are NOT cluttered. We can locate some better labels and quality at a Marshalls or a T.J.MAXX if we want to go through cluttered with little service help.

They have also opened (and this DID start way before M.F.'s final closure) many more smaller venues, and places like Chicos and Anne Klein etc. many others, will take over in the clothes rhelm. Many of us were appliance (refrigerator, stove, or furtniture) buyers from Marshall Field's- and that has gone over to the high appliance specialty venues that have exploded like mad around us.

And if it comes down to it, for people like my daughter(37)she hits Sears or J.C. Penney's for some of the things she used to get at Field's. I am not a shopper. She is, as she has time and more people to supply. Actually she and a few I know have gone to J.C. Penney's and Nordstrum's- those two for more of the departmental.

I don't think it is living in the past to want a better departmental style store than Macy's either. It just is not of equal quality.

The only one I will miss personally is Carson's. When Carson's goes, I do think there will be some size and style trends that will be "gapped" in other venues overall. But that is only my opinion from my wide group of shopping Chicago women. AND MEN, come to think of it.

A whole lot of them are going to the J.C. Penney's suit sale, that I have heard time and again.

socialworker

I have not lived in Chicago in more than 30 years but family is still there. My 26 year old niece is one of the most adamant anti-macy people I know. It is not a gray-haired movement, but rather a Chicago movement against corporate hubris and stupidity to boot!!

Those of us in Boston also agree that Macy's replacement of Filenes are stores full of trashy merchandise that none of my co-workers or friends are buying.

Scarlett

OMG, saying Nordstroms in the same sentence with Pennys! lol
We have an old department store in downtown Portland that was a Meyers & Frank ( nothing I was familiar with coming from the East coast..) Macy's took over, they are overhauling the old historic building, it is looking very good and the quality of the merchandise seems to be better...but mind you, still not the same ( merchandise or cost) as Nordstroms across the street .

Was Marshall Fields really that great? I am sad I missed it

socialworker

Yes, Scarlett, MF really *was* that great! I, of course, refer to the original location on State Street. The only place I have ever seen that has a somewhat similar feel is Les Galleries Lafayette in Paris.

JJ5

Yes, it was.

swalter518

I must agree that the anti-Macy's sentiment is not at all a grey hair movement (ok, well maybe I have a few greys but they are very tastefully colored on a regular basis and I'm only in my mid-30s!) Personally, I think our local Macys stinks. The clothes are now totally dowdy and I was a major Field's shopper (as illustrated by my Regards card.) I did no shopping there for Christmas b/c quite frankly I couldn't find a thing to buy. For clothes, I now stick to Nordstroms or smaller specialty stores, Ann Taylor, Ann Taylor Loft, Gap, Banana Republic etc. The Field Gear baby clothes were great but there are no affordable house brand options at our Macys- just Ralph Lauren and other pricey options. Highly, highly disappointing.

JJ5

My daughter agrees, swalter, almost to the letter.

And although prices and demographics are for sure and "quality" IS supposedly so different, she does often say Penney's and Nordstrom's in the same breathe. Especially for the two little boys at markdown times as one especially is a specialty size. Something that Penney's does well.

I hardly shop, as I do most of what I "have" to still do- online. I'm just saying what I heard with all those "shopper women". And no way were they all my age. Some were younger, some a LOT younger, some older.

And believe me, we who ARE 50 and far
over 60 too, aren't exactly to be discounted yet either, as a "just" in any category- nor do we have faulty memories of personal service. We even have recent ones of display within a spacious and easily usable "seeking" or merely browsing environment. The biggest turn offs of all that I heard were re the dense aisle clutter and mixtures.

THAT NEVER happened at Field's. Not even the 1990's variety.

Scarlett

socialworker, you said The only place I have ever seen that has a somewhat similar feel is Les Galleries Lafayette in Paris.
Now I am really sorry I missed it
I can see how someone would mourn the loss of a store like that and then to add insult to injury, replace it with Macy's..anything would have a hard time replacing something like Galleries Lafayette.
Have we ever asked why there is no Galleries Lafayette in the US?
If they can have Gap etc, why can't we have GF? or am I dreaming? lol

MikeT

Can this coffee-klatch be moved to another place, since this is CLEARLY not travel related. No need to clutter up a travel thread with kvetching about not being able to find you favorite pair of pantyhose.

socialworker

Gee, Mike, chatting about great department stores around the world, and reflecting on the lack of appreciaton for iconic landmarks, seems to be--at least--as travel related as talking about things like limoncello....Don't you think??

PS Scarlett, MF had--well, still has but not the same b/c of current state of affairs--a HUGE mosaic glass Tiffany domed ceiling that is amazing! And each of the upper floors used to have gleaming hardwood, none of that bathroom tile mall-type flooring... *and* the Walnut Room (their fancy dining room) was a sight to behold!

celfan

I lived in Chicago for about a third of my life. I can tell you that there aren't people anywhere in the world more in love with their city or tradition than Chicagoans. Not New Yorkers or even Parisians. I've never seen anything like it.

msjames

I remember my mom taking my sister and me downtown to the MF&Co State Street store every year to have breakfast with Santa (may have been the Oak Room) Does anyone remember the ice cream parlor in that store? The gorgeous drinking fountains and the staircase? I think I need a good cry. And yes, when I traveled as a child, it was neat to go to another city's flagship store because you really got a sense of place. Now its all the same. I am also sad to find out from this thread that Lord and Taylor is no longer independent. I thought they were one of the last "holdouts" along with Nordies. Alas, I live in a smaller city now, with only a choice between Macys and Dillards. So what are all you Fields charge customers going to do with the new Macys cards that you inevitably received in the mail? Champagne and a shredder?

JJ5

I had a dream about Marshall Field's when I was a kid at the employee Christmas parties last night. (My Dad worked a third job there in winter doing German style printing on the sleds, wagons, etc.- personalizing names.)

Oh, I wish I were a movie producer or somesuch that could duplicate those times, manners, and surroundings to show you just a part.

The thing that is so hard to describe is that it was so OPPOSITE of most high end stores today for which there is any comparison. For instance, browsing and "riff-raff" dressed people were NOT discouraged. Yet, ENCOURAGED, and duly waited upon for any assistance. And MANNERS and respect. For age, for gender, for the innocence of your childhood were supremely THERE, and regarded in language. "Give the lady what she wants" was something you schooled with and for.

They babysat me in the toy department with books and toys while my Mother shopped, but that was just one small aspect. There was a room next to the ladies' washrooms on each floor just to couch, write a note to staff, or rearrange your parcels.

Oh, there's a lot we have gained in the last century, but also a lot we have lost. Personal respect in glorious shopping surroundings being one aspect, for sure.

And Chicago has tradition is a different sense and actually than nearly all other USA citites. It had and still has, in some ways, its own aristocracy as well.

JJ5

Yes msjames, I missed your post. I remember the ice cream, and also hiding under displays where lace dipped down upon the polished wood floors.

We used to get a bbq chicken at the kiosk in Woolworth's across the street and the chef in the employee's louge would cut and "plate" it for us.

Ah, too much to tell.

I took my Mom's old M.F. charge (and she was NOT a charge card person) and paged it within an album of some of our old pictures, just recently.

I can't say I will never go into Macy's but they have NO idea what the entire is about in any iota of a way.

Giovanna

Perhaps there is light at the end of the tunnel in some cities. Over the holidays I went with some friends to San Francisco and visited the new Bloomies housed in the previous home of Capwell's. The dome of that building had been fully restored to its former glory and was a sight to behold.

Neiman Marcus has occupied the beautiful old City of Paris building for many years, after a restoration, again with a beautiful dome.

Hopefully, Macy's won't have a complete stranglehold on all the old stores.

socialworker

This whole thread really does address a larger, travel-related issue of the homogenization of our public spaces. Losing MF's is not much different than the loss of regional character in restaurants. I cringe when people come to Boston and then dine in a chain restaurant. Where is the travel experience there?? They might as well just be eating in whatever mall is down the street from their home base. Travel is about rooting out the uniqueness of a given locale, and when we lose pieces of that uniqueness, such as the loss of MF, then a piece of the travel experience is also lost.