Last night I saw a disturbing commercial. It showed landmarks across the country and happy people with their Macy's shopping bags. And at the end it said something about how wonderful it is that Macy's is now across the country. It disturbs me that this now means the end of a great business and experience with the closing of Marshall Field's. And it disturbs me that so many other established regional department stores are now gone, too. These stores date back to a different era, when shopping was an outing, not something to run in and out as quickly as possible. They had elegant cafes or tea rooms, exceptional selection, and arrays of goods in enticing displays. I dare you to find that in the average suburban mall.
Many of these classics were also founded on, and continued to provide, excellent customer service. It was Marshall Field who originally said the famous mantra "the customer is always right" and you felt that in Field's. My mom may not know the sales clerks by name, but they know who she is and what products she likes. When I come home to visit, the clerks are happy to meet me since they've seen all my Christmas presents as Mom was shopping through the year. I feel nothing like that at Macy's.
Now, while I am biased and I think that Marshall Field's was the best, other great downtown department stores have made their mark on communities. Shortly before we moved to Richmond, there were two classic department stores downtown, Thalheimer's and Miller & Rhodes. People from this area still tell stories of the service and the experience. There's a nice PBS special about them that I've seen a few times. I'm sure in other cities across the country one would find similar stories of a bygone era.
It's just sad that this era seems to have come to its final end as Macy's completes the conversion of Field's and many other regional stores. While I don't think Benjamin and I would ever have mother-son bonding time while shopping, I would have liked for him to have experienced the Christmas windows and some of the ambience. It truly is the end of an era.
A few parting shots from our Chicago visit this summer:
i sincerely do not know what you are doing here. are you lost? were you
looking for your delicate calico cat, and did you follow her up two flights of stairs
to this room? she is not here. she was here, yes. we gave her a warm bowl of milk, we talked with her about campaign finance reform for a time, and then she bid us good day. i believe she was
going to the post office two blocks down, but i don't quite recall.
for surely you did
not find your way from prinsiana, the least traveled site on
the internet. if you did, though, perhaps you are looking for humor. perhaps you are looking for profundity. perhaps you are looking for answers.
i'm sorry, but you shall go naught-for-three.
