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An icon gone
Sep. 20th, 2005 07:54 pmMarshall Field & Co., a name long venerated in the history of Chicago retailing, will disappear in the fall of 2006, to be replaced by Macy's.
And I will disappear from the store.
I don't know if anyone not from Chicago can really understand how sad this is.
Field's was more than a department store. It was an institution. Its name meant something. The name "Marshall Field" said "class", it said "service", it said "Give the lady what she wants". It said, "Chicago", it said, "city of the big shoulders". The history of the city was in the name of the store that sits in the block bounded by Wabash, Washington, State and Randolph. "Meet me under the Field's clock." A store that sprang from the ashes of the city, a phoenix.
So many memories. Silly ones: sitting down on the escalator when I was too young to know better, my coat catching and tearing, and Field's fixing it! Grandmother memories: lunch at the Walnut Room. Grown-up memories: my first very own credit card!
The third floor was my hangout when I was in my teens. No, not like kids hang out at the mall these days. The third floor was home to the rare book section. It was also home to a huge waiting room. Ladies met there. A sumptuous women's room. Later, an ice cream parlor. Down to the first floor to admire the antique silver and jewelry. Tastes were formed.
Uncle Mistletoe and Aunt Holly. The Christmas windows at Field's back then were always enchantment.
Much of this has been gone for years, sacrificed to corporate sameness.
But the name, the cachet, remained.
Can there be a Walnut Room, a 28 Shop, if there is no Field's? Not in my book.
And not just me. The Chicago Trib poll, admittedly unscientfic, had a response much larger than usual. Ordinarily they get a few thousand responses to their click polls. Today, their poll began with two questions: Will a name change at Field's make a difference to you? and If so, would it make you more or less likely to shop there? More than 14,000 people responded. 90.3 % said the change would make a difference, and of those 96.6% said they would be less likely to shop there. Later, the Trib added a third question, asking if one had shopped at Field's within the last week, month, year, or more than a year ago. Because it wasn't posted initially, "only" 9,000 people answered this question as well, and 91.6% had shopped there within the last year, month or week. Even for an unscientific poll, those are pretty significant numbers.
I'm sad, and I'm angry, and I hate that they are stealing our history.
And I will disappear from the store.
I don't know if anyone not from Chicago can really understand how sad this is.
Field's was more than a department store. It was an institution. Its name meant something. The name "Marshall Field" said "class", it said "service", it said "Give the lady what she wants". It said, "Chicago", it said, "city of the big shoulders". The history of the city was in the name of the store that sits in the block bounded by Wabash, Washington, State and Randolph. "Meet me under the Field's clock." A store that sprang from the ashes of the city, a phoenix.
So many memories. Silly ones: sitting down on the escalator when I was too young to know better, my coat catching and tearing, and Field's fixing it! Grandmother memories: lunch at the Walnut Room. Grown-up memories: my first very own credit card!
The third floor was my hangout when I was in my teens. No, not like kids hang out at the mall these days. The third floor was home to the rare book section. It was also home to a huge waiting room. Ladies met there. A sumptuous women's room. Later, an ice cream parlor. Down to the first floor to admire the antique silver and jewelry. Tastes were formed.
Uncle Mistletoe and Aunt Holly. The Christmas windows at Field's back then were always enchantment.
Much of this has been gone for years, sacrificed to corporate sameness.
But the name, the cachet, remained.
Can there be a Walnut Room, a 28 Shop, if there is no Field's? Not in my book.
And not just me. The Chicago Trib poll, admittedly unscientfic, had a response much larger than usual. Ordinarily they get a few thousand responses to their click polls. Today, their poll began with two questions: Will a name change at Field's make a difference to you? and If so, would it make you more or less likely to shop there? More than 14,000 people responded. 90.3 % said the change would make a difference, and of those 96.6% said they would be less likely to shop there. Later, the Trib added a third question, asking if one had shopped at Field's within the last week, month, year, or more than a year ago. Because it wasn't posted initially, "only" 9,000 people answered this question as well, and 91.6% had shopped there within the last year, month or week. Even for an unscientific poll, those are pretty significant numbers.
I'm sad, and I'm angry, and I hate that they are stealing our history.
