Where did you buy your clothes growing up? (crying, father, kids)
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My mother sewed some of our clothes, and we three female sisters all learned to sew. But we shopped in many different places. I remember shopping in various Famous Barr department stores, and in Stix, Baer and Fuller in St. Louis. We shopped downtown and then, when shopping centers went in, we shopped in the suburbs. The local department stores are gone now. Stix was bought by Dillards and Famous was bought by Macy’s.
We also ordered clothes from catalogs. Or, possibly we looked at catalogs, but made few purchases.
I was born and reared in Chicago (city) and still reside in the city.
So, the legendary Marshall Field's was our first choice for any type of shopping. Of course, we patronized its State St. store in downtown Chicago. This was their flagship location and had 9 floors of shopping.
While it was true that Field's was viewed as the 'better' of the many department stores in downtown, it certainly had many price points in merchandise which were affordable to middle-class shoppers.
This landmark location on State St. is still in operation. It was rebranded as Macy's in 2006. Along with many Chicagoans, I'm unhappy with the change in both its name and merchandise mix. We commonly refer to this chain as "Messy's."
I was a chubby middle schooler. I liked Tommy Hilfiger then. In high school in the early 2000s, I wore a lot of tight-fighting, but not name brand clothes. I was short and muscular.
These days? A lot of Eddie Bauer, Under Armor, Nike - general sports/gym wear. I work from home. I wear mostly Levi’s or cargo shorts and T-shirts aside from the gym wear.
I was born and reared in Chicago (city) and still reside in the city.
So, the legendary Marshall Field's was our first choice for any type of shopping. Of course, we patronized its State St. store in downtown Chicago. This was their flagship location and had 9 floors of shopping.
While it was true that Field's was viewed as the 'better' of the many department stores in downtown, it certainly had many price points in merchandise which were affordable to middle-class shoppers.
This landmark location on State St. is still in operation. It was rebranded as Macy's in 2006. Along with many Chicagoans, I'm unhappy with the change in both its name and merchandise mix. We commonly refer to this chain as "Messy's."
My dad had an office in the Loop and this is the one we would go to also.
It was huge and I agree with you with all the changes.
Macys bought out Burdines in South Florida; same deal; can't even stand to go into Macys; stuff is so much cheaper (cheaply made) and the displays (clothing) always look messy. The name fits.
Funny story in a way: My grandmother was 75. She was starting to lose it. However, one day, she decided to order most of the items in the Marshall Field's catalog. She lived in Glen Ellyn. It took my dad weeks to get it all resolved and returned. After that, he lived up there with them during the week and flew home to Florida for the weekends.
There was a time when I was in High School or thereabouts - Sears had a size called Young Junior Teen and it was sized for smaller people - also, I used to shop at stores that are gone now but they hadn't "upsized" so I could actually wear a "real" size - not the case anymore
My mother sewed some of our clothes, and we three female sisters all learned to sew. But we shopped in many different places. I remember shopping in various Famous Barr department stores, and in Stix, Baer and Fuller in St. Louis. We shopped downtown and then, when shopping centers went in, we shopped in the suburbs. The local department stores are gone now. Stix was bought by Dillards and Famous was bought by Macy’s.
We also ordered clothes from catalogs. Or, possibly we looked at catalogs, but made few purchases.
My mother did love to shop.
Oh - I totally forgot the Stix, Baer, and Fuller in Quincy, IL! I was really young then and that place impressed me as "super fancy"! Their biggest competitor was Carson's (Carson Pirie Scott). I think one had a very cool mezzanine level with wrought iron railing and the other an ice cream parlour. I guess Quincy was not a big enough town/city to stay open when the chains were taken over by Dillards, etc.
Luckily, I attended a parochial school where we all wore uniforms... I'm a fan, especially for kids! We expressed our individuality through our selection of (annual) shoes and, when we got older, purses, which was plenty. For play clothes, Sears plus some hand-me-downs (which were fine with me; still are, as I exclusively shop thrift stores now and wear those clothes out) and, for the occasional formal occasion, the local children's clothing shop. To this day, I don't really care what I wear; comfort is paramount. And that's a good thing!
I keep seeing this thread and it finally dawned on me why I had so little interest. I doubt I have been in a stores shopping for clothing more than handful of times per year at any age. Growing up my parents always bought my clothes most of which I received as Christmas gifts. Basically we got all our clothes for the year at once and I never had to go into a store.
Later on I bought mostly in bulk and still do. For example, about 5 years ago I bought new socks, 32 pair at once. The same year I also bought over 30 pair of underwear. The socks and underwear will last for many more years. When I buy pants, I always buy at least 2 or 3 pairs of the same pants, perhaps with different colors, sometimes all the same. I wear a lot of pocket T or polo shirts. I usually buy online when there are sales and typically buy a dozen at a time. They never wear out, pill or fade. Some are over 10 years old and still look new. I buy my Merrell shoes online once a year, usually a couple of pair at once. Basically I am khaki level with polo shirts everyday, no matter what. It makes picking clothes and shopping easy. Now with Covid, I just don't even bother going into a clothing store.
Robert Hall and E J Korvettes. Both in the suburb of Chicago. Also Sears.
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That's the one!
