Why I Oughta...

The downfall of large department store shopping along Chicago's State Street is well documented.  Marshall Field's becoming Macy's occurred during my lifetime - in 2006 .  That's long enough to kind of forget what Marshall Field's was like, but recent enough to still feel the outrage.   But that outrage really only returns during the Christmas season.  And...that is likely *why* all the changes have been made.  Not enough shoppers have been visiting department stores and not enough are shopping on State Street. Before I talk about what is going on right now, during Christmas 2024, I suppose I should say that we all *should* be grateful that Macy's on State Street still exists at all.  I've covered Marshall Field's (and now Macy's) on State Street in Chicago over the years.    Here's a whole collection of posts .    More on that below the photos.   Macy's calls their State Street Christmas setup 'Santaland ' and it includes...

I walked by Marshall Field's Macy's this week and noticed that they've converted their State Street windows to the usual 'Pardon our appearance.  Something Magical is in store.' signage covering up the soon-to-be-revealed Holiday Christmas windows. One big flag to me is that they've only covered up the State Street side and not the one or two windows on the Randolph Street side.  In year's past, they've used those two windows to do something a little bit history-oriented like this one in 2017 .   Hopefully there will be a little Uncle Mistletoe in the windows and we don't get NYC's sloppy seconds again . 

If you look closely at the Marshall Field's Macy's State Street windows you'll notice a little bit of corporate synergy showing.  Or corporate strategy at least.  In one of the window scenes you that you can see above, you'll see Santa in the midst of his North Pole glory with what I think is an Elf and a bunch of presents.  Right next to the center 'tube' is a little dog.   Zoom in and you'll see his collar.  Says "F. A. O. Schwarz".  Struck me as odd. So, off I went into the Web to find out why.  Does Macy's own F.A.O Schwarz?  The answer?  Nope.  But they're working together.  This NYTimes story from 10 years ago points to the partnership .  Apparently, I haven't been paying any attention. Two of New York’s most venerable retail brands, Macy’s and F. A. O. Schwarz, are teaming up for a risky experiment: bringing toys back to the department store.  F. A. O. Schwarz will open shops inside 685 Ma...

Looks like Marshall Field's Macy's is once again prepping their annual State Street window display, but this year, it seems that they're ONLY going to be using windows *on* State Street.  And that means that they're NOT going to be using the theme for this year's story on the windows on Randolph Street.  Here's my post including a photo of the 'reveal' windows at the State Street store - but you'll note that the window in the photo is actually on Randolph Stree t. The folks at Macy's already have the three windows on Randolph Street dressed up for the holidays - in a tinsel-strewn vintage-inspired way, too.  Which is really nice, right?  We always make a trip down to the Walnut Room, so with our three kids - who will press their noses up to the glass - we'll be sure to take them in. Can I guy dream about an Uncle Mistletoe-themed story this year?  Please?

@ Marshall Field's.  Like I did when I was a kid. 

Back at the end of October, I posted a photo of the 'coming soon' screens that Marshall Field's Macy's had put up on their State Street windows as part of their annual reveal of the Holiday window tradition.   Soon after the calendar turned over to November, they opened up the windows for public viewing and while the ones on State Street are traditional ones, they now have set up two different ones on the Randolph Street sides. First...when I say 'traditional ones', I mean...holiday stories of some sort.  This year, it isn't so much a linear story where the you can see kids racing from one window to the next to learn the different storylines, but rather just a set of different windows, each in a feeling/spirit. But, this is the 50th anniversary of doing animated figures in these windows, which is cool and that's why they've organized these two separate windows on Randolph - to kind of celebrate their history. And, much to my delight, look...

The window you see above is on the Randolph Street side.  The one below is on the State Street side.  Both of them are currently dark with the message:  Pardon our appearance.  Something magical is in store.  And...being good Chicagoans, we all know what that is:  the big reveal of the Marshall Field's Christmas windows.  The one below shows the 'Santa' theme that they've used in year's past and...unfortunately, doesn't include Uncle Mistletoe.  I posted photos of the windows being prepped last year - just in early November 2016.  Here's the photos .  And here's a photo from the morning of November 9th, 2015 - the very day they opened for public viewing .  Here's photos of the 'coming soon' windows in 2014 .  Let's all hope they don't make the mistake they made back in 2015 when we got NYC's 'sloppy seconds' where they re-used Macy's NYC window display .  Shame .  What else is a shame?  That they don't...

Walking down State Street this week, you'll see that they've gone 'dark' with their windows in preparation for the release of their annual windows featuring Christmas scenes. I covered the same 'coming soon' situation back in 2014 and the day they opened last year here on the blog .  We still take our kids down to the Walnut Room every year just as I did when I was a kid with my mom and sister(s).  (I actually only remember going with Vic, but I'm guessing that Sharon and Linda were there, too??  I dunno.)  Thus, I have a really soft spot in my heart for Marshall Field's at Christmastime and specifically for peering into these windows. Let's hope that the fine folks at Macy's have learned their lesson and won't give us New York City's "hand me downs" like they did last year .  Shame on them for that one.

If you wonder by Marshall Field's errrr  Macy's on State Street today, you'll see some pretty cool windows being displayed that celebrate the Macy's Flower Show that takes place on the 9th floor.  Gotta be honest...if the windows are any indication, the show must be spectacular.   The window above is on the Randolph Street side (right around the corner from State) and focuses on the American Southwest.  Pardon the glare, but if you look closely, you'll see a bunch of cacti and succulents in a wide array of shapes/sizes.  It made me stop in my tracks to peek at. And below is the northern-most window on State Street that highlights 'The City' and features a little rooftop balcony scene with pots and a bunch of tropicals. They've created these 'cards' on their site that show the 8 different areas.  Here are three of them to show you how well they're done.  The Pacific Northwest Wonderland.  The Vast Southwest.  And the Shining Northeast...

After reading about the hub-bub over this Macy's mistake over on Rachelle's blog , I had to go see it for myself.  My photo isn't the best angle of this thing, so if you want to see a straight-on-shot, check out this photo to see the full thing for yourself .   What you're seeing there is some iconic Chicago buildings (Hancock, Sears, Crain) all wedged into what is definitely Manhattan Island with the NYC Thanksgiving Parade running right down the middle.   Rachelle Bowden has some close-up photos of this mess here .   To be fair...the windows this year are just flat.out.awesome.  Really beautiful to look at and a really fun story.  But why did they have to put Chicago on an island?!? This is *some* bullshit, right?   This thread on Reddit does a good job of covering the issues .  Just corporate deafness.  Oh, Marshall Fields...what could have been... Chicagoist got a response from Macy's where they are saying that this isn...

This morning, I stopped by the windows of the State Street Marshall Field's Macy's to check out the Christmas windows.  They're going with a space/planets theme this year and they're REALLY cute.  Above is the Venus window - which is the second from the north window. Below is Mercury, which is the most northern window on State Street. Here's a photo from just last week  that shows the decorations going up on the buildings, but not the windows open.

The windows at Macy's Marshall Field's are open!   Just less than a week since I noticed the 'coming soon' signs in the windows , they have them up and open. I only saw two of them on the very northwest corner of the building, so I can't quite figure out the theme...

Took this photo as I walked by this morning.  Even though I refuse to call this place Macy's, I still get excited to see the windows get all decked out for Christmas.  Brings back all sorts of warm/fuzzy childhood feelings... For the past few years, we've taken the girls down to the Walnut room and then spend a bit of time pressing our faces up against the glass to see what they've cooked up.  Even though I refuse to acknowledge Macy's and still call it Marshall Field's, I have to admit they have done a nice job with the windows since the acquisition.  Here's hoping they keep it up!