When I turned on the television in our Chicago hotel room Friday morning, a local station was doing a story on the Marshall Field's Department Store holiday windows. The eleven windows of the State Street store develop a fantastical story every holiday season, complete with elaborate design and animated figures.
(The Fairy Godmother Delivers Cinderella's Coach)
The exquisite detail and charm of the windows would warrant a news story each year entirely of their own accord. The interviewer spoke with the chief designer, and showed us the storage space housing decades of costumes and sets -- all interesting stuff. But the story has a different twist this year, since Field's has been bought by Macy's and the future of the windows is uncertain. People are unhappy about the acquisition of a local landmark store by a national retailer -- as we were out and about later in the day, I overheard one young woman telling the story to a companion and planning her own boycott of Macy's.
(The Baffled Prince Holding The Slipper After The Ball)
Why do these things matter so much? What difference does it make whether we shop at Macy's or Field's, at a Home Depot or a local hardware store, at a Walmart or a neighborhood retailer? What's good for business is good for America, right?
Oops -- that speaker was discredited over 70 years ago. Good business is good for America, and the world -- but what is good business?
We've obviously had a chance to reflect upon that over the past week or so in AOL Journal Land. And I think we all know that one of the things good business does is build community, or create a climate in which community builds itself. Certainly some of the apprehension felt by Field's customers has to do with their fears concerning the destruction of community.
The folks at Marshall Field's never had to create those display windows on State Street. They didn't have to continue thetradition decade after decade. People would still do their holiday shopping there, even if the windows were full of nothing more imaginative than plasma television screens and the latest in X-Box technology.
But the windows became a gift to Chicago, a gift that built community. Whether they are "consistent with Field's objectives" remains unstated -- but my guess is that they are. Community, good feelings, loyalty -- they are all precious business commodities as well as personal treasures. They are created by a business that cares enough about its customers to welcome them to its premises, year after year after year, and to treat them like royalty once they arrive.
(The Slipper Fits The Lady)
PS: For pictures of last year's windows, go here and here.
10 comments:
Sigh, I really really hate buy-outs. It's too bad about Marshall Field's. I like when businesses do things like that.
Ari
Beatiful pictures. Meier and Frank in Portland does a Christmas parade every year. There may be more parades but this year's was the last one done by Meier and Frank. Federated bought them too.
Sadly buy outs are the way of the world now. I think that it's wonderful Marshal Field's still kept the tradition of their window dressing this year. I don't live near a big city so I don't get to see displays like this. I bet you could stand there for HOURS and just watch.
Hugs and love,
Lisa
Very nice entry, Robin. And I agree with every part of it except the last line: "...treat them like royalty once they arrive." I don't think there is a retailer left in the country that still does this, and the upscale department stores are no exception. Customer service is not a priority in this WalMart driven, price-over-service market. Lisa :-]
You did this beautifully, Robin! The photographs are wonderful, icing on the cake. Community, it's all about community. Once a community is gone, it's gone........ ::sniffle, sniffle::
Judith
You did this beautifully, Robin! The photographs are wonderful, icing on the cake. Community, it's all about community. Once a community is gone, it's gone........ ::sniffle, sniffle::
Judith
The pictures are wonderful, how fun to see those windows up close and personal. I"m guessing Macy's will continue doing the windows - they do them in NYC and they are great there. They also are the sponsors of the wonderful T'giving day parade every year. Change is definitely hard but usually people get used to it rather quickly.
I agree with much of what you said here, Robin. I support local independent retailers as much as possible since they seem to have a true commitment to the community, unlike the Wal-marts, Home Depots, and Macy's of this country. That having been said, I have little doubt that Macy's will continue the window tradition in Chicago. May Co. did after they purchased Fields a few years ago. And because Macy's does the windows in their Herald Square store, they have a tradition of beautiful store windows. Finally, even the largest retailers in the country realize that some traditions simply are too costly to do away with; the Christmas windows at Fields' State Street store is one of them. The ill well that would be generated by the discontinuation of those windows would far outweigh the expense associated with continuing them.
Amen.
A note about Field's windows. When they sold to Target, the owner prior to this last sale, a Chicago orginal was retired. I don't know if you remember Uncle Mistletoe and Aunt Holly. They used to be part of the stories. For that matter, do you remember Freddie Field Mouse and his wife, Marsha? They're gone as well. It's good that Target kept up the traditional windows, but it was sad to learn that the original Field's charecters were not longer there. Truthfully, I never realized they were gone until it was pointed out in a TV show on PBS called Chicago Stories. The stories are moments in Chicago history. My kind of TV.
Jude
http://journals.aol.com/jmorancoyle/MyWay
Could someone please tell me who the designer was of those fabulous costumes for Marshall Field's 2005 Christmas windows display? They were absolutely incredible! Thank you!
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