Boy am I ticked...Marshall Field's no more...
 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...wsbreaking-hed

As a lifelong Chicagoan and Marshall Field's shopper, I couldn't be more disgusted right now...And for all those who think I'm overreacting, what would NYC be without Macy's or Bloomingdales'?

And what will Boston be without Filene's!

Maybe you could explain why you are so upset? You do realize this is just a name change? All of the Lazarus' here in Cincinnati were changed to Macy's and there wasn't really any change to the actual store at the time (though they are now totally expanding our Macy's since it is supposed to be a flagship store and seems like it will be really fantastic).

At least to me, the Marshall Field's name doesn't really carry the weight of the other stores mentioned (if it did, they probably wouldn't be changing it). Wasn't it just a few years ago that Marshall Fields's was owned by the same company as Target?

I can understand being saddened, but being disgusted seems a bit harsh. At least to me. :-)

Exactly my point! Why is it that everything has to be the same everywhere you go!

Why? Hmmmm . . . . could it be . . . MONEY??? They wouldn't make the change if they didn't think it would be a profitable decision.

Snowrooster, I was posting at the same time as you. I am disgusted b/c Marshall Field's is a Chicago institution. Perhaps you've never been here but the State Street flagship store is a tourist attraction and historical site. It's quality of merchandise is better than Macy's IMO. I am also disgusted b/c I am tired of shopping anywhere in this country and having it be the same everywhere. You could be dropped in any shopping area in NYC, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, yes, even Cincinnati and have no idea where you are-- it's Gap, Macy's, Pottery Barn everywhere. I realize that the merchandise won't likely vary much and yes, it was purchased by Target but at least they realized the value to a local identity and left it Marshall Fields, and no, it was not Marshall Field's name on Target merchandise.

yes, I'm absolutely sure it's money, and by changing the name to Macys (viewed here as slightly subpar to Fields) they are likely hoping to boost their Bloomingdales sales. I understand corporate America and I'm all for capitalism, trust me, but I still find it extremely frustrating that every decision to boost some fat cat in a boardroom. I never was a big Gordon Gekko fan.

Very sad...I remember being taken to Marshall Field as a small child, when there was a child-care center staffed with nurses. My most prized wedding present came from that store, purchased by my godmother, and I really felt as though I was getting married when that package arrived.

Around here, it will be far more than a name change. The flagship downtown Boston Macy's and Filene's are right across from each other, so one will close, and likewise at the closest mall the Filene's will merely disappear. Although much of their merchandise is the same, the operations of the two stores are significantly different; I haven't even entered Macy's in years, even when my niece worked for them and periodically got major "family discount" coupons for us.

Around Boston, Macy's is a relatively new name; until a few years ago the stores now known as Macy's were a local ancient chain known as Jordan Marsh. So I guess we're already sensitized to them absorbing local institutions.

I think the perception of Marshall Fields may have changed (at least outside of Chicago). I have been to Chicago several times but do not recall going to Marshall Fields (just the WaterTower - maybe there is one there?). My perception is that Macy's is a higher end store than Marshall Fields, maybe because I'm familiar with the Target association. They may have had different brands, but their websites were linked together (I ordered several things from them both as XMas gifts a couple of years ago). I also bought a comforter from Marshall Fields only to find it listed on the Target website a few months later.

I'm sorry you are sad. I know what you mean about seeing local stores disapear - that has happened in Cincinnati as well with other stores I previously frequented.

I know I'm ranting and I beg your patience but MF truly is more than a store, but more like a Chicago institution like Filene's in Boston. The annual Christmas time trips, my grandmother was a die hard Field's shopper, even though she worked 40 years at another local department store and when she was suffering from demetia, she would often slip into her "Field's" zone, asking my mom to come pick her up and take her to Fields. Maybe that's part of the reason why I'm so emotional about it...

EEEEEEK! swalter518, I feel your pain.

What will we do without the green bags and SO MUCH MORE.

My father is ticked at the whole world, and this is going to put a cherry on it.
He's 86. And he was one of the Marshal Field Christmas workers/ elves for years and years on a second job. He painted all the names on the Red Rider's with his German script.

Disgusting to lose this singularity! I like Comiskey better too. There IS something in a name. Once the Frangos left, I knew it was going to be short time for the pace and style- but I never thought we would lose the essence. Poof!

The Macy's brand has a much higher name recognition than Marshall Field's or any of the others.

That itself is worth millions in advertising.

Don't fret, department stores are stocked to the demographic. Ever been in a department store somewhere and shocked by how much better or worse the merchandise is than the same store in your hometown?

I feel for you swalter518 !

When Dayton's in Minneapolis was to be no more, many a tear was shed (kidding but serious) people were sad as Dayton's was to Minneapolis, as MF is to the good residents of Chicago. (Remember Mary Tyler Moore throwing her hat up in the air, lol)

But let me tell you, MF was the biggest surprise and such a welcomed replacement for Dayton's. Alas another change on the horizon.

Buy, sell, buy sell. It's a bummer and I feel your pain.

:( Tiff

That's so sad. To me shopping in Chicago meant two thing ... Marshall Fields and FAO Schwartz. Both gone. I can shop at Macy's anywhere.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...l=chi-news-hed

Amen to that!

Just read the other posts that went on while I was posting previously.

FIELDS is NOT the Water Tower store. When I was a little girl, I was given tea or lemonade and cookies as I played in the toy department while my mother shopped. I was allowed to read books, take toys out of boxes etc. and all supervised. I'm talking circa 1950.

For decades before that M.Field's and the building on State St. were the icons of high end shopping for the entire world. They are no more comparable to Macy's than Wal-Mart is to Carson's.

My father was a part-time employee and the Employee Christmas party was something that would take me a book to describe. We had rooms of Cozy Cloud Cottage. Not only Santa, he was just the chief. You had to start at Uncle Mistletoe and work your way up to Mrs. Santa first. We wore GLOVES and CRINOLINES and all the boys ties. I can remember my brother having a black velvet M.Field jacket as a give-away for the party. There were ballrooms of tables with punch, cookies and desserts. There was a live band, NO orchestra.

So sorry to hear that people think M.Field's is a Target in their estimation. Do you know it took them a full warehouse located off of State St. just to store the Christmas ornaments?

What advertising?? Who cares?? All the tourists go to WaterTower and the glitz anyway.

Actually, Target didn't purchase Marshall Field's. The parent company, which began as Dayton's in Mpls, created the Target chain. When Target consistently outperformed MF's, the parent changed it's name to Target.

WOW, is this our biggest problem in this country?

One thing that seems to stand out from the folks who know and love Marshall Fields on this thread is that their fondness is all for things that happened many years ago, during childhood, etc.

So I ask, is the Marshall Field's today still the Marshall Field's of your memories? Do the things you remember most fondly about it still take place today, or did those things in fact cease years ago? Maybe if it was still today what it was back then there wouldn't be the need for a change.

Hey John - You come to Fodor's to discuss the biggest problems in our country? I think you stand alone.

Snowrooster-I'm only in my early 30s so watch it! and yes, I still shop the State Street store regularly and my out of town relatives still want to visit the State Street store when they come into town. So no, it's not living in the past, it's recognizing that the past creates the present.

Marshall Field's was a Chicago institution. The changeover will be more than name only. And in Chicago, MF has MUCH better recognition than Macy's!
However, better to make a clean break than for a once venerable store to slump in quality more and more until it limps to a shameful close. Hess' department store in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley and John Wanamaker's in Philadelphia both went that route.

There is no way to make shopping what it used to be. Everything is cheaper and easier to access today, which means that the way shopping used to be a special event for which people dressed up and saved is gone forever. Air travel and restaurant dining have gone the same route. It's too bad that a certain formality and sense of occasion have gone the way of the dinosaur, but they have, and Marshall Field's hasn't been the storied place of magic it once was for a long time. (Nordstrom is another once-local phenomenon that had an amazing reputation; now it's just another department store, albeit one with a better-than-most shoe dept.)

E, close but Target was in existence long b/4 Daytons bought MFs. None of the MF's locations were ever Targets or vice versa. They are not even close to the same. I think, but could be wrong, that some DAYTON's were changed to Fields, but no Fields were changed to Targets, they aren't comparable stores.

MERGE, MERGE, MERGE... it seems all the department stores owned by one large company. Chicago would be Chicago witout Marshall Fields and Boston won't be the same without Filenes (whose quality has droped recently).. and the same company owns Macy's, Lord and Taylors and Davids Bridal and perhaps Bloomingdales.. you just can't win. Walked through the Macys in this area once.. have never been in it again..Filenes downtown Boston is a zillion memories. The Xmas windows, the original Filenes Basement where my wedding gown was bought 50 years ago for $19.00.. Is there anybody in Boston who can forget Jordan Marsh and their muffins..As more and more individual little shops close because they cannot compete...remember your corner grocery store where you put items "in the book"..try that at a Stop and Shop. Try to support your local businesses rather than the mall or boxy stores..

I'm sorry to see this happen too. I'll have to make sure I save all the bags that I just got on my recent trip. It reminds me of when Best and Co. closed in NYC. That's where I used to get all my Communion/Procession dresses. It was fun to see it "reopened" in The Godfather.

I didn't say anyone was living in the past, just that the memories cited here don't seem to be recent (from childhood, with grandparents, etc). I was just wondering if the store had lost some of it's grandeur since those memories. I'm in my early 30's as well, so I certainly would never call that old!! :-)

Snowrooster, I'll be honest, about 5 years ago (actually when Dayton's bought it) the quality did slip, but Mays bought them out about 3 years ago and the quality is, for now, back to where it should have been. Plus a complete renovation of the State Street store was finished about a year ago maybe and it's absolutely gorgeous.

Groan...It's the "Wal-Marting" Amrica. We'll end up with 2 stores to shop at. Wal-Mart and Macys. BORING.

I can speak for my area only...

You are correct swalter, all of our Dayton's were changed to Marshall Field's and again as I stated above the change, though sad to many, MF ended up being such an outstanding replacement.

None of our Target's were changed to MF.

P.S. Our Macy's here (at the Mall of America) is pathetic. My husband received some "free voucher thingys" and we had a hard time finding anything we wanted to use them on, and that is something, because I can shop when the occasion calls for it, lol.

p.s.s. C'mon John, no one has ever suggested that this is THE most important thing going on in the world.

Marshall Fields in Dallas was HEAD AND SHOULDERS over Macy's, however, they eventually closed their doors in the Galleria and were replaced by Nordstrom. As long as it was Marshall Fields and Macy's going head to head in the same shopping center, and I saw the quality of merchandise and store layout of both, I never went to Macy's again. Macy's was just common ordinary, a big department store. Marshall Fields was a cut above. Nordstrom came in with a nicer store layout and better merchandise display, but...eh... I pretty much quit going to the Galleria once Marshall Fields, Barneys and Gumps left--those stores were what made it worth the trek, and without them, it was the same old same old.

And Marshall Fields is to Chicago what Filenes is to Boston. Removing those names is a sad sad day for both cities. There will be no more Filenes Basement?? Say it ain't so. Macy's Basement just won't do it.

It may not e the most importnat thing in America, but it's a symptom of one of the most important things in America. In every consumer area, there are more and more mergers and less and less competition. This affects every one of us directly. Everything we buy costs more, there is no competition to speak of to keep prices down, and profits go up and up. Energy companies are the worst.

"The Macy's brand has a much higher name recognition than Marshall Field's or any of the others."

To whom? Before they put the name on all the Jordan Marsh stores around here, Macy's was nothing more to us than the setting for the movie, "Miracle on 34th Street," which I'm pretty sure didn't help much. (If you'll recall, in the movie the store management was the bad guy.) All of these dept stores are known in the areas wherever they're represented, so what.

For instance, I was thrilled when a Nordstrom's finally opened just an hour away from me about 10 years ago. None of my neighbors had ever heard of it.

I used to go to Marshall Field's about 20-30 years ago when I lived in Michigan. It was wonderful. Just returned last weekend for the first time in 20 years and I still love it. The main store is beautiful and it will really be a loss to have the name changed.

The real force behind these mergers is our reliance on imported goods.

I was a buyer at Jordan Marsh (RIP) just about the time imports were beginning, but we could see the writing on the wall. The only difference then and now? Then we bought BETTER quality stuff than we could buy here, much cheaper. But, I shudder to think of the conditions the items were made in.

I bought small leather goods and some handbags, among other things. (Our first import programs at the time were with Czechoslovakia.) Sadly, all the domestic leather goods makers are gone now. I can remember going to their factories - they were clean, well-lit, with women sewing and chatting.

In the overseas markets (especially China) MIGHT means RIGHT. Wal-Mart gets stuff super cheap by virtue of their monopoly. Same with the department store lines now.

Macy's will design and plan all the lines and force the foreign factories to bid against each other for who can make them cheapest. If you think they will tailor merchandise to particluar stores forget about it. The whole idea of cheap imports is that you buy TONS of it.

As long as U.S. consumers insist on inexpensive (almost disposable!) clothing over quality that's what we will get. I guess you can't much blame the retailers for going the direction the consumer pushes them.

How is this travel related? Ha! Pretty soon you won't have to travel in the US. Everyplace will look the same.

There's a parade on Thanksgiving that I guess you haven't seen?

My family is originally from Boston (which I believe is where you are from?) and you have to agree that a Bostonians view of America is not necessarily representative of the whole (my parents have a framed distorted map that shows New England as big as TX & CA combined).

I think it fair to say that to a people who have not grown up with either Macy's or Marshall Fields in their town, Macy's is significantly better known.

The same thing happened to the Atlanta market beginning about 20 years ago. The two "upscale local" department stores were Davisons and Richs. Davisons was actually owned by Macys and had kept the Davisons name for years even after the merge. Richs was owned by Federated, which also owned Bloomingdales. Around 1984 or 1985, Macys changed all the Davisons to Macys, so the two "upscale local" department stores were now Macys and Richs. There was a few single "token" upscale stores like Saks and Lord and Taylor, but basically the market belonged to Richs and Macys. Then in the 90's, Macys bought Federated. For several years, both Macys and Richs operated across the malls of Atlanta from each other although in reality they were the same store. Then about 5 or 6 years ago, the decision was made to drop the Richs name, close competing stores and just have the Macys name over the door. The Atlanta market has been able to absorb other "upscale" chains like Dillards, Parisian, Nordstrom and yes, even Bloomingdales without any problems. A big part of the Atlanta shopping scene has been erased, but seems to have been replaced with perfectly acceptable substitutes.

It is sad to think the cultural loss in terms of regional influence individuals store chains had. I hate to think it will be Wal Mart or Macy's, neither of which have any cachet. Living now in the city where Federated Dept Stores was created(Columbus, OH, i.e. Lazarus) and having lived recently in Chicago for 20 years, I remember not so long ago how thrilled my daughters were to dress up and go downtown in the 1990's to see Santa and have lunch in the Walnut Room. OK, it was a little hokey, but that did make for some mighty nice memories my teenage daughters have. Growing up in Columbus, your mother and grandmother took you to Lazarus for party dresses, patent leather shoes, Easter chocolates, lunch or tea in the Chintz room. I seem to recall taking deportment classes at Lazarus in the 70's for young girls. They actually had sales people (gasp!) who waited on you. The good news is that both Chicago and Columbus now have Nordstrom's, maybe not as extensive as Lazarus or Marshall Field's but a nice store with thoughtful sales people who remember your name, call you when the outfit you wanted is on sale and you can have a nice ladie's lunch. Nothing in life stays the same, you need to be flexible and adaptable. If you don't like current dept. store shopping as too bland, seek out small independent boutiques in your area, they exist.

Well, there's also the May Company-affiliated stores (Robinsons-May, Kaufmann's, etc.) that will disappear now that Federated has acquired May. Since many southern CA malls have R-Ms and Macy's stores as anchors, we'll see some notable vacancies in places like South Coast Plaza, Fashion Island, Santa Monica Place, etc.

It's business as usual-- I'm not sure I like it....