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Marshall Field’s Department Store Changing Name
CHICAGO - It has always been much more than a department store. It's the magical place where parents brought their children to see the windows at Christmastime, where those children grew and did the same with their kids — stopping, of course, to visit the one true Santa Claus.
They’re changing the name and they’re killing Santa? That’s just unkind.
It is Marshall Field's. Or simply "Field's" to everybody in Chicago.
So… People have already changed the name from the original one. Interesting.
On Tuesday, Federated Department Stores Inc., said it is planning to change to Macy's the name of all 62 Marshall Field's, including the one on State Street that dates back to 1892. And if it seems like just another merger or name change that happens all the time with very little fuss — even in Chicago, there wasn't much noise when the White Sox's Comiskey Park became U.S. Cellular Field — to those who grew up with Marshall Field's this is different.
Yeah, this isn’t the Baseball Palace of the World. It’s a department store. Like Dillard’s. Or Sears.
"It's so awful I can't even believe it," said Tracy Kepler, a 37-year-old attorney who can recall in vivid detail time spent at the store as a child, including the trip to see the windows every Christmas Eve day, followed by a meal in the Walnut Room.
So awful you can’t believe it? It's really that bad? Watch for breaking news headlines centering around this lady, several weapons, a bus full of kidnapped middle school children and a goat holing up in a department store lingerie section until the demands are met.
"Everybody is outraged," she said. "I e-mailed my girlfriend who lives in Colorado and she had a conference call with her parents who now live in Omaha and her sister who's in Shreveport (Louisiana), and they're all commiserating about it."
Everybody is outraged? Everybody? Do not hold your breath watching for news headlines centering around the entire nation staging violent riots outside their local malls until all this name-change craziness is straightened out and Corporate America comes to its senses.
Carol Kuhn of nearby Lake Zurich agreed. "Marshall Field's is Chicago," she said.
Actually, Marshall Field’s is a department store. Chicago is a city, home to nearly 3 million people, two professional baseball teams, one professional football team, and Harrison Ford.
Chicago's biggest cheerleader, Mayor Richard Daley, took a different view.
Please do your best to avoid imagining Richard M. Daley in a cheerleader outfit. Your brain might never forgive you.
"Things change. If you aren't willing to accept change, then you stay in the past and we're never going to stay in the past in this city," he said.
“Because we’re constantly moving forward and you can’t move forward and stay in the past while moving forward because that’s the opposite of moving forward and this city is constantly moving forward and embracing change and forgetting about the past except for the good parts because if you forget the past completely than you are totally unprepared for the future and moving forward into it.”
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UPDATE:
Um... So it looks like I underestimated the history of Marshall Field's with this post. It turns out that Marshall Field's is like, really old and the first department store in the history of shopping. Or possibly the world. And while I thought that the reporter for this story had tracked down the most adament Marshall Field's lover in all of greater Chicago for an interview, I was wrong. It turns out that many people feel exactly the same way, minus the busloads of kidnapped children and violent goats. So, if I have offended you with this post, please forgive me. I just didn't understand. I'm not from Chicago. I've never spent time in Chicago. I'm almost as far away from Chicago as you can get while still speaking English (without calling the part of a car that covers the engine a 'bonnet'). Also, I didn't realize how much Chicagoans hate New York. Or that Macy's is a pretty New York-ish type symbol, and therefore very much like the antichrist for people from the Windy City. Which is an awesome city. And better than any other city anywhere. Please don't hate me.
Marshall Field’s Department Store Changing Name
CHICAGO - It has always been much more than a department store. It's the magical place where parents brought their children to see the windows at Christmastime, where those children grew and did the same with their kids — stopping, of course, to visit the one true Santa Claus.
They’re changing the name and they’re killing Santa? That’s just unkind.
It is Marshall Field's. Or simply "Field's" to everybody in Chicago.
So… People have already changed the name from the original one. Interesting.
On Tuesday, Federated Department Stores Inc., said it is planning to change to Macy's the name of all 62 Marshall Field's, including the one on State Street that dates back to 1892. And if it seems like just another merger or name change that happens all the time with very little fuss — even in Chicago, there wasn't much noise when the White Sox's Comiskey Park became U.S. Cellular Field — to those who grew up with Marshall Field's this is different.
Yeah, this isn’t the Baseball Palace of the World. It’s a department store. Like Dillard’s. Or Sears.
"It's so awful I can't even believe it," said Tracy Kepler, a 37-year-old attorney who can recall in vivid detail time spent at the store as a child, including the trip to see the windows every Christmas Eve day, followed by a meal in the Walnut Room.
So awful you can’t believe it? It's really that bad? Watch for breaking news headlines centering around this lady, several weapons, a bus full of kidnapped middle school children and a goat holing up in a department store lingerie section until the demands are met.
"Everybody is outraged," she said. "I e-mailed my girlfriend who lives in Colorado and she had a conference call with her parents who now live in Omaha and her sister who's in Shreveport (Louisiana), and they're all commiserating about it."
Everybody is outraged? Everybody? Do not hold your breath watching for news headlines centering around the entire nation staging violent riots outside their local malls until all this name-change craziness is straightened out and Corporate America comes to its senses.
Carol Kuhn of nearby Lake Zurich agreed. "Marshall Field's is Chicago," she said.
Actually, Marshall Field’s is a department store. Chicago is a city, home to nearly 3 million people, two professional baseball teams, one professional football team, and Harrison Ford.
Chicago's biggest cheerleader, Mayor Richard Daley, took a different view.
Please do your best to avoid imagining Richard M. Daley in a cheerleader outfit. Your brain might never forgive you.
"Things change. If you aren't willing to accept change, then you stay in the past and we're never going to stay in the past in this city," he said.
“Because we’re constantly moving forward and you can’t move forward and stay in the past while moving forward because that’s the opposite of moving forward and this city is constantly moving forward and embracing change and forgetting about the past except for the good parts because if you forget the past completely than you are totally unprepared for the future and moving forward into it.”
---
UPDATE:
Um... So it looks like I underestimated the history of Marshall Field's with this post. It turns out that Marshall Field's is like, really old and the first department store in the history of shopping. Or possibly the world. And while I thought that the reporter for this story had tracked down the most adament Marshall Field's lover in all of greater Chicago for an interview, I was wrong. It turns out that many people feel exactly the same way, minus the busloads of kidnapped children and violent goats. So, if I have offended you with this post, please forgive me. I just didn't understand. I'm not from Chicago. I've never spent time in Chicago. I'm almost as far away from Chicago as you can get while still speaking English (without calling the part of a car that covers the engine a 'bonnet'). Also, I didn't realize how much Chicagoans hate New York. Or that Macy's is a pretty New York-ish type symbol, and therefore very much like the antichrist for people from the Windy City. Which is an awesome city. And better than any other city anywhere. Please don't hate me.
In other shocking news, Sears has decided to change its name, in the spirit of the merger with K-mart, to K-Rowbuck.
Prepare for the worst...
What I say is, if you're not moving forward, you're standing still, and in this busy world, if you're standing still, then you're going backwards. It pays to keep your ear to the ground, your head above water, your shoulder to the wheel, your nose to the grindstone and your back to the wind. And keep up good relations with your chiropractor.
Personally, I was outraged that they're changing the name, and I don't even live in Chicago, nor know anything about that store. Just goes to show how far-reaching these decisions can be.
Who is Marshall Fields? is he that guy from Gunsmoke?
Seriously, I've never been in Macy's, but it sounds a flea market. It's like having Neiman Marcus change its name to The Dollar Store. I'm sorry you don't appreciate the impact this may have on Chicago. It will be much like what Katrina did to New Orleans, what Hitler did to Europe, what Sherman did to Georgia. Change the whole city, and not for the better. Those who repeat the past are doomed to repeat it.
UPDATE:
Um... So it looks like I underestimated the history of Marshall Field's with this post. It turns out that Marshall Field's is like, really old and the first department store in the history of shopping. Or possibly the world. And while I thought that the reporter for this story had tracked down the most adament Marshall Field's lover in all of greater Chicago for an interview, I was wrong. It turns out that many people feel exactly the same way, minus the busloads of kidnapped children and violent goats. So, if I have offended you with this post, please forgive me. I just didn't understand. I'm not from Chicago. I've never spent time in Chicago. I'm almost as far away from Chicago as you can get while still speaking English (without calling the part of a car that covers the engine a 'bonnet'). Also, I didn't realize how much Chicagoans hate New York. Or that Macy's is a pretty New York-ish type symbol, and therefore very much like the antichrist for people from the Windy City. Which is an awesome city. And better than any other city anywhere. Please don't hate me.
I exsist today because of Marshall Fields. In fact, your wife exisists today and your daughter exisists today because of Marshall Fields. Don't under-estimate the effect that this may have on civilization (and all future families). My mother met my father because she and my father's sister worked together at Marshall Fields. If you want to lampoon something, lampoon something you understand like - El Paso Saddle Blanket Company. Marshall Fields is far too deep to just slough off as a "Sears or Dillard's" when peoples very exisitance depended on it. Pray that your wif's grandparents don't read this...