Ghosts in the Department Store By MICHAEL BARBARO [found on GapersBlock]
On Christmas Eve, the New York Times published an article about how all of the regional department stores across the country are being bought up and going away. Most cities like Washington DC & Boston don't really care all that much. The article goes on to note that Chicago is the one exception:There is at least one notable exception to all of this ambivalence: Marshall Field's, whose elegant State Street store in downtown Chicago, elaborate Cinderella holiday windows and widespread charitable giving have inspired fierce opposition to the name change. A grass-roots campaign, called Keep It Fields, has created an online petition to stop Macy's from marching into the city. So far, 47,000 people have signed it. Mr. Lundgren was worried enough about the reaction that he flew to Chicago to announce his decision to retire the Marshall Field's name, even meeting with Mayor Richard M. Daley to placate angry city leaders, who recently passed an ordinance that designates the Chicago store a city landmark. For the most part, the diplomacy has not worked. "It's horrible," said Susan Brell, 56, as she plucked a box of Marshall Field's famed Frango mints from a Christmas tree at the flagship store. "Marshall Field's is Chicago, it's everything about Chicago and especially at Christmastime," she said. Macy's, Ms. Brell said, "is doing our city a disservice."
7:48:56 PM  permanent link Google It!
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