Paved Paradise & Put Up a Parking Lot

Call me old fashioned, but Macy's is New York and the Thanksgiving Day parade. I remember when I first went to New York. I took pictures of the 34th street sign. I shopped at the Macy's. I just wanted the experience and the bag that had the familiar logo. I bought a coffee mug as a cherished souvenir of my trip to New York and Macy's.

Marshall Field's is Chicago, the Walnut Room and whimsical Christmas windows. It is a beautiful Tiffany ceiling and a clock that has been there for a hundred years. It is my little sister, my mom and dad and I bundled up every year looking at the windows. It is the biggest Christmas tree a kid could ever imagine.

As I get older, it seems that corporations are slowly chipping away my childhood. First Venture disappeared. (Does anyone still remember Venture? We used to go to the one at Deerbrook Mall and get popcorn). Poppin Fresh became Baker's Square. My favorite bookstore as a kid, Chestnut Court, became a Gap. Slowly but surely, places of tradition seem to be disappearing. It is sad really.

Then there is Marshall Field's...I mean Macy's. Wow, that is hard to swallow. Rationally, I am sure that Macy's will be a fine store, probably better then Field's has been in years (lest we forget the Frango Mint incident of 1999). But Macy’s? Say it ain’t so. Roger Ebert wrote that changing Marshall Field’s to Macy’s would be like changing the Chicago Cubs to the Chicago Mets. Unthinkable.

Apparently, though, we are just supposed to accept it. It is for the best.

Yesterday, (Terry) “Lundgren peddled a vision of what a Field's-less future might look like: lavish new fitting rooms, keener product displays, lots of Macy's private-label merchandise, a fashion show or two.So let's see: We trade in a century-old name, one with a heritage that dates to the Chicago Fire and beyond, and what do we get--some elbow room when we try on new pants? Some deal.” (Source: David Grising, Chicago Tribune)

Thanks, Mr. Lundgren, for assuming that the thing I valued most in life was a lavish dressing room and the opportunity to buy your private label merchandise.

I’d also like to thank you for dangling the possibility of a Frango mint return. As if that nugget would make up for taking Marshall Field’s off the map.

Mayor Daley said, “Things change in life. If you’re not willing to accept change, you stay in the past.” (Source: Susan Chandler, Chicago Tribune) Thanks for coaching me through this change. Forgive me, if I find your opinion, um, worthless. Why don’t you go plow another airfield?

Ok. Enough ranting. I meant this to be nostalgic and it is shifting political. Let me just say this, in the name of profit, Macy’s has trounced tradition. That makes me sad. I just wish there was a way to have a Miracle on State Street.