End of an era
Farewell Marshall Fields
Legendary Chicago department store, Marshall Fields has been bought out by Macys and it's associates (Federated Dept. Stores) . The purchase happened a few months ago and up till this point, was hardly noticeable . However- today the classic green awnings that are synonymous with Marshall Fields are coming down and the awnings with the red star are going up, officially changing Marshall Fields to Macys. The name change will be in full effect on September 9, 2006. It will take Chicago some getting used to. Marshall Fields and Company has been a mainstay in the Windy City since 1852. I will not bore you with all the details, but it originally burned down in the Great Chicago Fire, but was rebuilt on and remains on the original State Street location.
Personally this makes me sad. Marshall Fields was Chicago's store. It was our thing. Chicago and Marshall Fields were identified by each other. Sure it was looking a little shabby, and sure the sales staff sucked for the most part, but it was Chicago through and through. In the past few years they tried to reinvent themselves by putting in higher end brands and implementing the idea of boutiques within a store. The Thomas Pink Boutique and the Merz Apothecary Boutique are two examples of this. I hope Macys keeps the history and ideas of Marshall Fields alive.
I am anxious to see what changes Macys makes. Let's just hope they do not screw it up. If anyone has been there recently and witnessed any changes, please let me know what they are. I am very curious to know.
(photos from yelp and igougo)
Legendary Chicago department store, Marshall Fields has been bought out by Macys and it's associates (Federated Dept. Stores) . The purchase happened a few months ago and up till this point, was hardly noticeable . However- today the classic green awnings that are synonymous with Marshall Fields are coming down and the awnings with the red star are going up, officially changing Marshall Fields to Macys. The name change will be in full effect on September 9, 2006. It will take Chicago some getting used to. Marshall Fields and Company has been a mainstay in the Windy City since 1852. I will not bore you with all the details, but it originally burned down in the Great Chicago Fire, but was rebuilt on and remains on the original State Street location.
Personally this makes me sad. Marshall Fields was Chicago's store. It was our thing. Chicago and Marshall Fields were identified by each other. Sure it was looking a little shabby, and sure the sales staff sucked for the most part, but it was Chicago through and through. In the past few years they tried to reinvent themselves by putting in higher end brands and implementing the idea of boutiques within a store. The Thomas Pink Boutique and the Merz Apothecary Boutique are two examples of this. I hope Macys keeps the history and ideas of Marshall Fields alive.
I am anxious to see what changes Macys makes. Let's just hope they do not screw it up. If anyone has been there recently and witnessed any changes, please let me know what they are. I am very curious to know.
(photos from yelp and igougo)
posted by Parisjasmal at 12:53 PM
5 Comments:
darn corporations
And it's not only Fields that is going away - Macy's also took over the L.S. Ayres department stores in Indiana. L.S. Ayres is, in fact, already gone. As a native Hoosier, I feel sad and wistful about the demise of the department store that represented class and fashion to me during my farm-town adolescence - much sadder than I feel about the end of Fields.
Oh, that is sad.
This makes me sad too. I grew up in Detroit, where we had Hudson's. It was owned by Marshall Field's. When Hudson's closed it was a sad event, the end of an era. Now that I live in Illinois and Marshall Field's is closing, it's the same feeling. Is nothing sacred? :-(
I know the feeling. When Macy's came in and bought out Liberty House in Hawaii, we were all very sad. Macy's has never captured the Hawaiiness that Liberty House did.
Sigh. Oh well. Their sales are to die for. I'm not there anymore, but now Macy's is taking over Hecht's here in NC. Ha ha, next stop world domination.
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