Marshall Field, Chicago

The flagship store of Marshall Field's on State Street is an experience that few should miss when visiting Chicago. As the advert from the 1970s says "Marshall Field's IS Chicago". For well over 150 years Marshall Field's has stood for excellence in retail shopping, as the first Mr. Field believed that women should take pleasure in the drudgery of shopping. He believed that his employees should "give the woman what she wants" ...
...money one last time at Marshall Field's on State Street in Chicago, before it became Macy's, the Federated Department Stores Inc., are now reconsidering removing the name Marshall Field's from this branch. HURRAH!!! Please watch this space for further updates.
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I remember as a kid, going into town with my father on the Friday after Thanksgiving. The thing to do was to walk down State Street and look at all the newly unveiled ... more

The flagship store of Marshall Field's on State Street is an experience that few should miss when visiting Chicago. As the advert from the 1970s says "Marshall Field's IS Chicago". For well over 150 years Marshall Field's has stood for excellence in retail shopping, as the first Mr. Field believed that women should take pleasure in the drudgery of shopping. He believed that his employees should "give the woman what she wants" - the precursor to "the customer is always right", and he also instated the first ever return policy. Field's is Chicago and the world's first department store is the cornerstone of that great city.

Unfortunately, this is all soon to change, since the famous sign on State Street that reads, simply "Marshall Field's & Company" will soon be changed to… Macy's! This is a total affront to all of Chicago and all Chicagoans everywhere. I mean imagine, if you will, having Westminster Abby changed to, say, Tesco Abby, Big Ben changed to Big Swatch, Harrods changed to Woolworth (or even your friendly local grocer's changed into a Selfridge's)? Get the picture? So before its gone forever, I thought it would be nice if you all knew what you may soon be missing.

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UPDATE: Due to the tremendous outpouring of sentimental shoppers who wanted to spend their holiday money one last time at Marshall Field's on State Street in Chicago, before it became Macy's, the Federated Department Stores Inc., are now reconsidering removing the name Marshall Field's from this branch. HURRAH!!! Please watch this space for further updates.
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I remember as a kid, going into town with my father on the Friday after Thanksgiving. The thing to do was to walk down State Street and look at all the newly unveiled Christmas decorations in the shop windows. I would walk down one side of the street and then, cross over to end up, saving the best for last, at Marshall Field's. Those decorations were always wonderful, whimsical and later on, they often had moving parts and sound to them. Walking from one window to the next, under the Kelly-green awnings to the corner with its beautiful clock, and then around to the next set of windows for more sites was a ritual that I'll never forget. Those display windows were a thing of wonder that always drew me inside the store, even if I hadn't a penny to spend.

Inside I was greeted with even more delights, both from the products on the counters and the building itself. What makes this store so impressive is that it the whole thing is one huge courtyard with a glass dome ceiling. Yes, a full ten floors of shopping area where light floods in from the roof all the way down to the ground floor. Moreover, the interior is filled with Corinthian pillars and elaborately gothic wrought iron railings and fixtures which matched the clock outside. And if you look carefully, at the corners of the ceilings and near the glass dome, you'll see mosaics with such stunning vibrancy you'd think they were put in yesterday and not a century ago. The overall feeling is one of elegance, which when I was young, also felt a touch old-fashioned. However, it's since had an overhaul and the last time I was there all the old-fashioned parts have been eliminated with more modern colours which enhance rather than detract from the feeling of an old-world style.

You should know that Marshall Field was a retail innovator. He truly believed that shopping should be a pleasure, and did all he could to turn the shopping drudgery of the women of Chicago into an experience that would make them look forward to the task, rather than dread it. His flagship store on State's Street in Chicago is considered - to this day - to be the world's first department store, where you could get practically anything you could ever need - with the exception of grocery items. Of course today, like many up-market department stores, they have a gourmet section so you could (if you had the means), do almost all of your shopping in one place. But that wasn't actually Mr. Field's intent. Rather, it was the way customers were treated that he wanted to change. To this day, visitors to Marshall Field's stores will be treated with courtesy and patience - even during the busy seasons. It was Marshall Field himself, who first said when he overheard a salesgirl arguing with a customer, "it doesn't matter if she's right or wrong - give the woman what she wants". This later became the famous retail adage "the customer is always right". All employees are trained to live by this, and those who do not will be dismissed forthwith (and I'm not joking)!

The Marshall Field's experience was always two-fold. Firstly, as mentioned, customer service was always first rate. Pauper and Prince alike are always treated with dignity, respect, and a friendly smile. When I was very young, I would save my weekly allowance for that Friday in November just so I could feel I was doing some shopping and not just looking when I stepped into Field's. I remember one year all I could afford was a bag of candy, but the way the salesgirl acted, it felt like I was buying Champaign. And wandering around the ground floor area where all the perfumes and cosmetics were kept was always a great way to test a new scent, as there were always groups of salespersons standing about to give you a free spritz. One particularly chilly year I recall purchasing a hat to keep myself warm on the way back to my dad's office. Now, I usually look horrid in hats and was actually looking for a new cozy scarf, but the sales girl found me something that really looked lovely on me (surprise, surprise!) and it came with matching gloves, as well. I'll never forget how much time and trouble that nice lady took with a 12 year old girl, despite the crowds of customers around us.

All of that was just on the ground floor. You see, the State Street store of Marshall Field's fills a whole city block, not to mention the Annex on the next block where they have the "Store for Men" (you see, Field's is and always has considered itself a store for women, so when they decided to bring in men's wear, they opened a semi-separate store). And with those 10 stories of showroom floors, you can imagine that even after years of return visits one may never exhaust all the possibilities of their selection.

And speaking of their selection, the second part of the experience was always the quality of the products they sold (well, still sell, until 2006, at least). Remember that hat and glove set? I had that set for easily 6 years (through harsh Chicago winters, and many a snow-fight) and there was no indication of any wear at all. Too bad I decided that the hat made me look silly and I lost one of the gloves, or I'm sure I'd still have that set today (about 35 years later!). In fact, you should know that I still have some of the items I purchased when I was an employee back in the early 70s, and you wouldn't guess that they were close to, if not over 30 years old. The two most prominent ones are a dress and a sleeveless knitted jumper. The dress is now in my daughter's closet, and aside from a small tear on one seam I need to fix (because I wore it when I was too fat for it), it doesn't look like the fabric will ever deteriorate. As for the jumper, it was originally supposed to be worn over a blouse, bolero style. However, a couple of years ago (when I could get into it again) I realized it would look fine on its own. Trust me, that jumper looks brand new - and isn't it great that some styles remain classic and others come back into fashion? That's true quality for you, if you ask me.

But you should know that quality doesn't come cheap. Remember that adage "you get what you pay for"? Well, believe me what you'll find at Marshall Field's will not be the cheapest stuff you can find - far from it. Mind you, in all the years I've been visiting Marshall Field's, I've never felt like there was absolutely nothing I could afford there (and I just saw online a lovely pair of fleece gloves which I'd willingly shell out $9.99 for - that's equal to £5.64 or €8.37). I'd say that their selection of products is moderate to very expensive, but not overpriced, considering the quality of their goods.

Now you're probably wondering what Field's sells. Well, rather than go into detail about every single item on their stock list, may I suggest you visit their online store where you'll get a full line-up of what they sell. In general, however, their specialty is in clothing (of all kinds), shoes and accessories - for men, women and children. But they also have departments for things such as bed, bath, kitchen and travel ware; décor items and fabrics; cosmetics and perfumes; furniture and carpets; electronics and games; stationary and books, and let's not forget; their gourmet section which also includes their most delicious chocolates - the famous Frangos (which are probably the very best chocolates made in the USA today. Yes, I really should review those, shouldn't I? Okay, I'll make a note of that for the future).

But what they sell isn't the point here. I really have to reiterate that Marshall Field's isn't just a place to shop (if you've got the budget for it), it truly is an experience. From the architecture of the building, to the way the items are arranged to the décor of the interior to the expertly trained staff, going into a Marshall Field's, and the State Street store in particular, is more of a special outing or event than simply going to a shop. I suppose some of you would compare it to London's Harrods, but to tell you the truth, despite the luxury of Harrods, I've never felt welcomed by the staff there, like I always have at Marshall Field's. No, Marshall Field's is something very special - something very Chicago. And if any of you get the chance to get to Chicago before the famous sign is changed forever, I urge you to walk around it and then step inside and see for yourself what I mean.

Highly recommended, and a full five stars - until they change the name, that is (then I'll revise this review and kick it down to one star for the insult alone)!

Thanks for reading!

Davida Chazan © December, 2005

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Technical Stuff:

The following links may be helpful or interesting to you.

Visit the Keep It Field's site to see the latest news about this struggle, located at http://www.keepitfields.org/

Their online store can be found at: http://www.fields.com/gifts/OnlineShopping/FL?Dsp=1&c=1

A place on that site that talks about the store itself at http://www.fields.com/common/about_fields.jsp

A site about Marshall Field himself at: http://marshall-field.biography.ms/

The history of the stores at: http://www.biography.ms/Marshall_Field_and_Company.html

Some famous quotes by Marshall Field the first: http://en.thinkexist.com/quotes/marshall_field/

Here you'll find the history of the much of the Field family http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/F/Field-M1a.asp

A site about the architecture of the building can be found at: http://ah.phpwebhosting.com/a/OUTofBFLO/chi/marsh/

Here's a business book about Marshall Field's from Amazon.com http://tinyurl.com/c9dbx

And another book about the company which is reprinted from a 1952 original edition! http://tinyurl.com/dbyos

And yet another book but this one is about the building itself http://tinyurl.com/8mskv

Tiny bit of Trivia: One Harry Gordon Selfridge started out as junior partner of Marshall Field before leaving for London to start a department store of his own. I think you can guess which department store that was/is!
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