Macy's: Way to Upset!

Last year, Federated Department Stores bought the Marshall Field's chain and took its time to announce it was renaming all of its stores to Macy's. Chicagoans got pissed - really pissed - and there's been a lot of backlash ever since. I've been by the store on State Street a couple times within the past two weeks and I can vouch for its weirdness: the traditional green Marshall Field's clock stands above the garish red Macy's star; the Marshall Field's logo, what little is left of it, is white-on-red instead of green-on-white as it's been forever; the awnings and details on the building are changing from green to black.

This has affected all of the old Field's locations, including one in rich Chicago suburb Lake Forest. But instead of just accepting that everything at their Field's location would switch over to black and red, they put incredible restrictions on the signage for the store. For instance, the awnings must remain Field's green, Macy's name can only appear on two of the four awnings, and said name must use a regular apostrophe instead of a star (which Macy's tends to do.) That is some restriction.

While I don't pretend to think that Lake Forest did this out of contempt for Macy's - they definitely have an image to keep up - it satisfies me to think of the hurdles Macy's has to go through. As I've expounded elsewhere, Field's was one of those Chicago traditions. Never mind that it wasn't owned by a Chicago company in its last, say, 10-20 years; those owners didn't truly upset the apple cart. Field's meant Chicago. Marshall Field started his company here, and visiting the Great Tree in the Walnut Room became a Christmas tradition for millions of people.

And I still can't imagine going to the Macy's on State Street. Screw 'em.