Why do people in Chicago hate Macy's so much? (Evanston: fit in, real estate)

[prhill]

Originally Posted by TBideon

Not that this probably makes any difference, but the pedway outside of Macy's feels particularly desolate and sketchy. Too many characters in that stretch.


As for the company and building itself, meh, it's like anything. Put in some residential on floors 7 and up, raise standards of customer service and appearance, and have private events (corporate, parties, wine tastings, matchmaking) downstairs for extra revenue.

Yeah what happened to the pedway it used to be so busy and have so much there and now its dead!

[BigLake]

Simple, it's a lower-end "luxury" store, at least one tier below the venerable Marshall Fields, which it replaced. Marshall Fields was a Chicago brand, through and through. It was replaced by an outside company, which quite simply, is of lower quality. Also does not help to note that Macy's (while not HQ'd there) is considered a NYC brand.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by BigLake

Simple, it's a lower-end "luxury" store, at least one tier below the venerable Marshall Fields, which it replaced. Marshall Fields was a Chicago brand, through and through. It was replaced by an outside company, which quite simply, is of lower quality. Also does not help to note that Macy's (while not HQ'd there) is considered a NYC brand.

All true. And Macy's struggling around the country. Their national homogenizing plan has failed.

[edsg25]

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know how Macy's other two flagship stores, Herald Square and Union Square, are doing? Both of these are very large stores and I wonder if Macy's can keep customers in such big spaces today. Is there any talk of downsizing space in either of these locations?

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

All true. And Macy's struggling around the country. Their national homogenizing plan has failed.

The idiots from Ohio that have been running Macy's are not very competent -- in EVERY market that they had an existing brand there was LOYALTY to the sorts of tie-ins that the prior department stores had with local schools, sports teams, generations of shoppers and even local suppliers. The sorts of things that made traditions like weddings, christenings, anniversaries and funerals "special" often harkened back to buying dressier clothes from the local department stores as well as gifts and other service-oriented transactions like stationary and such.

Rather than build on these "high touch" type memories that COULD have been fostered in dozens of ways by emphasizing the local aspects of EACH market the bozos from Federated looked only at minimizing things like their advertising costs and logistics expenses. To the surprise of no one, Federated has been unable to get those expenses down into the Wal~Mart territory because it is impossible to restock department stores in malls and traditional downtowns as cheaply as big box discount stores located along highways. So too is it impossible to create ads for semi-luxury goods in the barebones ways that Wal~Mart advertises sales on chicken nuggets, diapers, weed killer and charcoal...

The thing is, every day that goes by with Macy's doing a terrible job selling nicer products is one more day that more consumers get more comfortable buying nicer things at Costco or online -- the idiots from Federated could learn LOTS of lessons by simply doing ANYTHING that would get shoppers to come into the stores on a REGULAR BASIS the way that pretty much everybody who has a Costco membership swings by several times a month. Those repeated visits are CRUCIAL to getting people to SPEND MONEY and the fact is not a month goes by without some kind of "family event" be it a birthday, graduation, anniversary or other MEMORABLE occasion that absolutely SHOULD be the trigger for Macy's to offer customers an opportunity to spend a little more on something that is appreciated as a gift. Mind you there have already been LOTS of companies that have proven you need not charge high prices to have something a little "stylish" -- think of Swatch or Joseph Joseph as firms that make it FUN to have fashionable, functional, well priced things to buy for yourself or give as gifts --
https://www.josephjoseph.com/en-us/collections
https://www.swatch.com/en_us/

The mindset of "local tie ins" also would go a long way to the sorts of "identity" that many towns cherish regarding sports teams, local food, entertainment and history -- the sorts of "retro" brands for everything from old video games to soft drinks and beer show up on logo tee-shirts and other apparel as well as dozens of "accents" that people can use to personalize their homes and work spaces. It would be a huge boon to all the various mid sized cities closest to the various Macy's stores to have a selection of such merchandise. There are ways to "market" decorative items that feature the skyline of Paris in Ikea stores (which has no ties that I know to anyplace other than Sweden...) and such marketing absolutely could work as a regional strategy to trade on the relative trends of urbanization in places from Minneapolis to St. Louis to DesMoines and Cleveland...

[whakru]

So many things to say about this:


1. To the poster who mentioned that Macy's was one step above Kohl's.....you are giving them way more credit that I do. I was just in a Macy's this weekend (against my better judgment) and all I could think was how low class, messy, disorganized, and trashy the place looked. I can't believe anyone shops there and likes it. I would go to Kohl's over Macy's every single time.


2. Someone else mentioned not understanding an emotional attachment to a store. It is not an attachment to the store, per se. It is about memories and tradition. If you grew up in the Chicago area you knew what Marshall Fields meant to this city. I knew that every Christmas there was a dark green box with new clothes in it from my Grandmother under the tree. I registered for my wedding there....one of the best times I ever had in a store. Special occasions....it was one of the first stops to shop. One of my first credit cards was from Marshall Fields. In fact I still have it.....there is no mistaking that green color with the gold cursive writing on it. The people that worked in the stores actually HELPED you when you needed to find a gift or try something on. They were knowledgeable and treated you with respect. Some of the women worked there for years. Other people have mentioned the window dressings, the clock, and the Walnut Room....those things made it Marshall Fields. It was old school and it was awesome.


3. Macy's DESTROYED all that was good about that store. That is why there is so much hate for them. It was like having something really special and then the new owner comes in and takes all that away and makes it just like any other place. Nothing special about it at all anymore. Even worse, they made it into something awful.


4. There is something to be said about tradition and it makes me sad to see all of the long standing Chicago establishments being renamed or taken over. It is like wiping away history. For what purpose? Just because you rename a tower or a ball field doesn't make people want to run out and buy your product or recommend your company. Most of time it has the opposite effect.


TL;DR: Macy's sucks and tradition should be respected.

[GoCUBS1]

The last time I was in a Macy's (in March), I stood in line for quite awhile as several people ahead of me were returning merchandise. The associate then told me that the majority of transactions she does are merchandise returns, especially from online orders. Not a good sign.

[prhill]

I was on an elevator at Macy's recently and an employee was on there and out of nowhere she started saying what a dump the store has become. I was like what a bold thing to say to a customer. She was that upset about it though I think she did not care if this got back to someone and got her fired

[Nearwest]

Marshall Field's had been on a downward trajectory since 1990, when it was bought by Dayton-Hudson (later renamed Target Corp.). D-H began the process of cheapening the Field's stores, with its own merchandise that was carried in Detroit and the Twin Cities. These were the 2 major markets where it was the dominant dept. store. In both of those cities, the targeted consumer was more of a casual suburbanite, rather than the big city dress up crowd which shopped at Field's.


The purchase of Field's by Federated in 2005 hastened the process of becomming more downscale and the loss of the Field's name was the final nail in the coffin of a great name in Chicago retail.

[Justabystander]

My family and I have a tradition of going to the Walnut Room each year to sit under the Christmas Tree and eat. This year, for really the first time, it was a mess. When Marshall Fields had it, there were Field's mugs given out, linen on the table cloths and not paper, order with service and not crashing of broken cups and dishes and general chaos. Now that they have sold the upper floors of the building, the floor overlooking the tree is closed, and so are half the escalators. The food was meh, and the departments looked like they had seen better days.

I hate Macy's for taking a wonderful company and trashing it, by neglect and a general lack of caring. The window's for Christmas are now generic, and there is a cheapness to everything. Such a shame. I miss you Marshall Fields.