The same happened in Atlanta. No more Rich's. For a while, it was Rich's-Macy's and now just Macy's.

It interesting that some people have no idea how much impact the history (and the founders) of a city's flagship store means to the customers.

The history is still there even if the store isn't. Lazarus had a significant history in Cincinnati, but when the name changed to Macy's recently it was just a department store like the others in the mall. Unfortunately going "downtown" to shop at long-standing stores has become a thing of the past as well. The city of Cincinnati actually pays Saks to stay downtown just so people have a reason to leave the burbs (though I don't know how long that will last as our rennovated Macy's is becoming very high end).

I am curious as to why this non-travel related thread is so active while the "Affiliates wanted..." one gets trashed?

Standards of acceptability seem to be wildly variable here.

Why does one off-topic post rate a different status than another?

mm

I suggest you ask the stockholders in these companies whether or not they care much about your disgust in the search for the profitable bottom line.

"I think it is all about money..."

Of course it is.

Now, whether or not this is, in the end, the WISEST decision..that's a whole other conversation.

Hello snowrooster,

You wrote: "The history is still there even if the store isn't."

A couple of weeks ago you had the opposite feeling during the discussion regarding whether or not to rebuild NOLA.

Perhaps you'll understand how some people can get wound up by the extreme lack of consistancy.

mm

Btilke - as I was reading this thread, the first stores that popped into my mind were Wanamakers in Phila. and Hess's in Allentown.

Now that the same stores are everywhere, there is no reason to go shopping "downtown" anymore. Main Street in Allentown used to be a fun shopping experience with a great lunch to boot. Now the street is lined with Dollar Stores. This scenerio is everywhere, nation-wide. To me, it's depressing realizing there is little unique-ness left.

As much as I am underwhelmed with local Macys, I am so thankful for the NYC Macy's and Christmas-time. And as much as I like Target, I would be totally depressed taking my kids to sit on Santa's lap at Target!

I think a lot of these stores are consolodating because retail is just so competative and the stores just can't make enough money. Macy's is always having a "sale" and promote, promote, promote. I was a Macy's "girl" for a long time. I think they have gone down hill a bit in the last 5 or 6 years, and yea...usually if you've seen one, you've seen 'em all for the most part. We are getting a Dillards here around holiday time and I'm not familiar with them. I hope they have nice things and will be a little different from Macy's. It's a shame to see all the old line stores go...I was so sad when there was no more I. Magnin or Joseph Magnin in San Francisco. I remember those stores were so nice, great merchandise, and elevator operators!!! Oh I almost forgot...City of Paris..a really special place particulary at Christmas. I sympathize with you swalter518 but sad to say...it's the way it is these days.

I think this thread is travel related in the sense that Marshall Field's is a Chicago institution and tourist destination. It has been several years since I visited the store, but it did leave a lasting impression. You can honestly feel the history when you enter the building. I really have no desire to visit Macy's when I return to Chicago, because it will not be a unique experience.

"Perhaps you'll understand how some people can get wound up by the extreme lack of consistancy."

I haven't a clue what you mean. The history of New Orleans is still there regardless of it's future. I'm not sure why you are bringing this up other than to create trouble. Perhaps you have answered you own question as to why certain threads are deleted.

To address the dying downtown area, Chicago is a city that has bucked this trend and the biggest, newest developments are all within a few blocks of the State Street store. It's not a matter of the shoppers not being there or the city paying it to stay as may be the instance in some cities. In fact, Chicago has seen an increase in retail development alot in the last 10 years, a big piece centered around this store on State Street.

Anybody in NJ remember Bamberger's?

Not a very nice retail chain from some years ago, taken over by Macy's. And while I'm not a big Macy's fan, it was a marked improvement.

The memories are NOT just ancient ones, and if they were- why would you not want to retain your cultural history? We wouldn't even have a lakefront without Field's, Ward, Palmer, and others. This is something that friends from EUROPE came to experience in my own past.

My granddaughters LOVE State Street Marshal Field's and they weren't even born before the big changes occurred. I just shopped there this summer and it's still head and shoulders over higher priced and trendy stores. If they take the wooden floors out, I'm going to make it my business to see where they use them or if they're trashed. They destroyed a priceless Tiffany ceiling in the old bar and my Dad got a piece of it gratis just laying on skids for the dumpsters. He's so sorry now that he didn't take the entire pile.

And it isn't me, but shopping is a BIG reason why people do travel, women especially. They better not trash this, because the backlash will not be pretty.

The first vacation I ever took as a child was to Chicago. I was absolutely amazed by Marshall Field's. Twenty years later I brought my husband to Chicago, and once again, fell in love with Marshall Field's. I haven't been to Chicago in a couple years, and I really don't like to shop, but I can't imagine the Loop without Marshall Field's.

Around here, Hecht's are becoming Macy's. Hecht's used to be Thalheimer's, which I think was based in Richond, VA.

A couple of years ago I was in Seattle and went into Bon Marche (which I think is now Bon Macy's) and it look a lot like Hecht's then. Brands, store layout, newspaper ads, etc.

What a sad day. I have fond memories of going to the Walnut room to eat with my grandmother and peering at the christmas windows as a child. Marshall Field's may be a department store, but it is rich with history for many people, I know it is for me (and I felt like I had graduated to adulthood when I first bought a piece of furniture there had had it delivered to my apartment ;). I'll be sad for its loss.

I just don't understand snowrooster's attitude here -- to put down pretty much those who doesn't think it's great that the country is about to be fully Macy-fied and anyone who enjoys memories past last week.

This thread is fair on a travel board because the mercantile establishments of our large cities have been not only architectural landmarks but also trademarks of what was once regional specialty AND quality. The very fact that midwesterners think the name "Marshall Fields" has more recognition, whill New Yorkers think "Macy's" does, and Bostonians assume everyone has heard of "Filene's," kind of proves the point.

Marshall Fields was a landmark in and for Chicago, whether snowrooster included it in visits or not; and it provided quality in products and services that has been obliterated by the metastasis of sameness in retail America.

Filene's, too, meant a great deal, and if Macy's were to have been renamed "Jones's" in NY, with a step-down in quality, you'd hear a howl from New Yorkers. The "Jones Thanksgiving Day Parade"??

This isn't just old fuddy-duddy resistance to change that young whippersnappers need to point out and criticise. It's recognition of the cultural status of places like Marshall Fields and Filene's, the pride not only in name but what it represents/represented, and a damfine resource for the lucky residents of the cities where these stores stood for generations. It's true, they aren't what they were because, as has been pointed out, the merge mania has reduced retailing to the least common denominator, with labor costs as close to nonexistent as possible.

All I can think is that if you don't understand or at least respect the dismay over these take-overs, you probably have no idea what you've missed. Which is sort of the point.

I feel sad for you as well. I think Macy's is a glorified Mervyn's (for those of us on the west coast) Our Macy's here in San Mateo CA is pretty bad - no service-clothes all mixed in together-terrible sales although they have them every week. quality of clothing has gone down hill so I hope that doesn't happen to your Marshall Fields Store.

It sounds like there are a lot of great memories. I didn't mean to imply anyone or anything was ancient. I was just wondering if the things that made it great were still present today - I don't have any personal experience with Marshall Fields other than a few things ordered online.

Maybe it would help to email/contact Macy's and tell them what has made this flagship location of Marshall Fields in Chicago so special over the years. If enough people feel the same way, perhaps they would consider keeping this one store with the name. Hey, you never know if you don't try. I remember when I was a kid and Busom Buddies was cancelled - enough people complained to the network and it was renewed. Not even close to the same thing, but sometimes if enough customers complain loud enough they are heard. :-)

MF is a Chicago institution. I am sorry to hear this news.

snowrooster,
Already sent a letter expressing my displeasure, including my cut up, cancelled Regards card (MF credit card). We'll see what happens but I'm not hopeful.

What is all this about Macy's and Bloomingdales being "New York"? And Marshall Fields, Chicago? There's a Macy's and a Bloomingdales in the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, California! Marshall Fields is in Altoona, Pennsylvania, fer dog's sake! I suppose it'll be Macy's of Altoona, now.
What's happened to Ward's?

Amen, Cassandra.
Well said.

Sequoia, I think most people are referencing the traditional Chicago area Marshall Fields, especially the State Street store.

I don't suppose Oprah is a Marshall Field's fan being in Chicago? Maybe write her letters - a big name can certainly get a cause noticed, and a lot of your stories are touching (Oprah worthy). :-)

Ahh, the power of Oprah! If she can bring Hermes to its knees, imagine what she could do to Federated!

What is next? Are they going to change the name of the Field Museum? (After all Marshall Field lent his name & support to that wonderful museum.) Maybe in time for the King TUT exhibit so they can get more name recognition & more people will come to view the exhibit. I don't think they have to worry about more crowds for the exhibit. It will probably sell out anyways, especially after the crowds that have been showing up for the exhibit in LA.

Remember the big backlash letter writing/ news campaign when both Frango Mints and Fannie Mae left, swalter518?

I doubt if it will make a difference but there will be a vocal backlash. And I do think that because of Antiques Roadshow and some of the other features that have highlighted past M.Fields' fixtures, cove moldings, glass, etc. etc. that they will not trash anymore of the paneling or wall pieces. For one thing, they know how much they're worth now!

If they do try to modernize big time, I bet they have some mean women in their face during the fact.

Doesn't seem that long ago that the Marshall Fields sign went up at the mall here.

As long as I can get Clinique lipstick (Super Berry!), I don't care what the name is.. I'm not much for makeup, but lipstick is only a few rungs below oxygen on the essentials ladder.

Did you see Oprah yesterday talking about the Hermes incident - with the president of Hermes US at her side?

She definitely wasn't bringing Hermes "to their knees". Their letter didn't apologize and the pres (and Oprah) attributed it to "one rude employee". Oprah said the majority of what had been written had not been true. And told her fans to wear their Birkin bags - and buy more!

What?????? The majority of what had been written in the media had not been true?????

I'm utterly shocked.

:S-

googled to find if there was anything in the news recently about Oprah/Hermes. Here's a link -

http://www.jossip.com/gossip/oprah/o...r-20050920.php

Anyone interested here's the link to the Federated comments line...
http://www.fds.com/contact/general.asp

I'd bet my next paycheck that the percentage of Oprah's veiwing audience that can afford a Birkin Bag is in the hundreths of a percentile.

I was also so dissappointed to see that Field's will not be Field's. Yesterday I got my Regards Reward 15% discount in the mail and today I am sending it back today with a no thanks. I love Marshall Field's, I registered there for my wedding, I buy all special gifts there, most of my clothes, I spend most of my lunch hours from work at the State Street store and my boss gets me a gift card for Christmas every year. The sad thing is I really like Macy's also just not as well. As soon as the name changes I am afraid I just could not bring myself to step through those doors. I know it probably sounds silly to a lot of people but it feels like a death to me. I haven't felt like this since I heard Fanny May was closing.

Fields is an institution - 'meeting under the clock at fields' was a favorite thing for us when we'd go out to lunch in our younger days. The history of the store is unmistakeable when you walk in - the architecture, etc is so great. I think that regardless of the 'name' on the store, in our minds, it will always be Fields - and they had better not even try to sandblast the bronze name plates from the outside corners! as for me, I'll just start doing more internet shopping at other stores who haven't been sold yet. just hope the Christmas window displays don't go away too soon. I imagine most of the Field's legacy will evaporate along with the grace and genteel atmosphere on State Street!

crefloors:
Your comment about the "sales" is totally correct.

But what these "sales" actually illustrate is just how high the markup is on imported clothes.

Notice how many of the coupons exclude a plethora of designers and brands? That's because they want you to use them on their labeled imports (that's all those phoney names you see in the departments).

So, they bring in an item that costs $1. They ticket it $4. Then they put it on sale for 20% off or $3.20. Then they give you a 15% off coupon. Now you pay $2.72 for it. They've still gotten a whopping 172% markup on the item!

Even at "half off the original" they are getting a 50% markup - which in the old (more honest) days was the normal mark up. So, they're aren't even losing money on clearance stuff.

About 18 years ago I bought lingerie for a store in Rochester NY (long gone now). Lingerie was strictly a domestic manufacturing business. Bras retailed for about $8 to $11. Now they retail for $24 to $32 - and they are making them all overseas.

Why the huge price increase when cost of the goods is probably half (or less) what it was 18 years ago? Because they market them "buy 2 get one free", or 30% off or some such nonsense.

Lots of money in somebody's pocket - and I don't think it's the saleclerk's!

karens, well at least we still have Main Street, Bethelehem (even if Orr's is no more).
It is sad to see things become more and more anonymous, no real local flavor to so many stores.
Agree with wliwl about the markup. In department stores, jewelry departments are among the worst offenders...jewelry is "on sale" almost every day of the month. And for the most part, those sale pieces are made of lousy quality stones in mass produced settings.
As overpriced as that Hermes Birkin bag is, at least it's still produced in France by French artisans who make a living wage.

I have to agree that the name Macy's doesn't have the same (positive) associations that Marshall Field's does for me.

Being on the west coast, I miss the Bon Marche. A few years ago they all became Bon Macy's, and now just Macy's. It just doesn't have the same appeal to me for shopping there anymore.

I too am heartbroken and can't believe they would change Marshall Field's into Macy's. I agree with those who think that Macy's isn't close in quality to Field's--and yes, I have shopped at the flagship Macy's in Manhattan. I also understand that not every Field's in the U.S. is up to the State Street store standards. But I shop or eat lunch at the State Street Field's almost every week. It's a gorgeous, sophisticated store with both a sense of history and a sense
of up-to-the minute fashion. Last year they had an outdoor fashion show--with the models walking UP the outside of the building. Everyone goes there to look at the Christmas windows, to register for their weddings....I really think they should keep the Field's name alive--even for this one store.

Don't get too attached to any one name.

Soon there will be only one, world-wide.

Walmart.