Macy's Markets "Tombstones" of Great Stores it Destroyed
/Former Marshall Field's store in Chicago, now 'Macy's State Street' |
We don't want to rant at length, but Macy's obliterated much of the remaining varied department store chains in America. These included I. Magnin, Bullock's, Meier & Frank, The Bon Marche, Lazarus, Filene's, Jordan Marsh, Kaufmann's, Hecht's, Goldsmith's, Robinson's-May, Burdines, Rich's, Foley's, Hecht's, Wanamaker, and others. And now you can buy their 'shopping bags' at Macy's. Talk about reviving past trauma.
Don't get us wrong, we applaud efforts Macy's is making to be 'America's Department Store'. We just find it a shame that Macy's felt it prudent to eliminate centuries of good will and customer loyalty for a Manhattan-based, mid-market department store. Various successful, profitable single-stores and small department store chains operate throughout the world (think Harrod's in London, KaDeWe in Berlin, Oberpollinger in Munich, le Bon Marche in Paris, among others) and we think Macy's could have left at least an I. Magin store in San Francisco, a Wanamaker in Philadelphia, or a Marshall Field's in Chicago. Product-purchasing economies of scale can be met while a chain uses multiple nameplates, for example.
It's still tempting to buy a $40 Field's shopping bag for old-time sake. Partly to evoke memories of a store that once had decent customer service and a breadth of upscale product offerings.
By the way, this blog is awesome. It's called 'The Department Store Museum', and it provides a wonderfully comprehensive database of store guides, photos, and descriptions and now defunct (and some still-operating) North American department stores: http://departmentstoremuseum.blogspot.ca. We've literally spent hours reading store descriptions and wonderful viewer comments (some of which are our own).
Macy's website: www.macys.com
Marshall Field's memorial website: http://www.fieldsfanschicago.org
Department Store Museum website: http://departmentstoremuseum.blogspot.ca
Got any retail insider info? insider@retail-insider.com