Secrets of the City

Good old Blois Olson. You’d think his PR firm would’ve been dumped after Parasole got involved with Premier to do Stella’s.

Disgruntled customers will have to face facts about how credit card transactions work — the money goes in the same way it came out.

The name change at Dayton’s/Marshall Fields doesn’t bother me so much as the change in sales and services and atmosphere. The Macy’s at the Mall of America is dumpy compared to Marshall Fields. Have people been to classier Macy’s stores?

Macy’s is regarded as a mid-level department store, but Marshall Field’s was considered higher-end.

Yeah, the lower-end image of Macy’s bugs me — and a lot of the designers who sold at Dayton’s and Fields agree. It’s not that I’ll miss Prada, Jimmy Choo, et al… but what will we be left with, after the stores-formerly-known-as-Dayton’s lose their cachet? Someone will have to fill that vacuum, because there’s plenty of demand outside the walls of Gaviidae and MOA.

Why are people here up in arms about Marshall Fields changing to Macy’s? It’s not like we had regional Marshall Fields pride. It was Daytons, and MF took that name away. Now, it’s happening to MF. Big woop, if you ask me…

Hizzah! Semisonic’s back, bitches. Talk about the soundtrack to a very specific window of my life…

So speaking of Prada and Jimmy Choos what is up with CJ and
her bashing Melinda Jacobs all the time? Could someone who knows
this woman tell me if she is as bad as CJ makes her out to be?

I think it’s obvious Melinda Jacobs is sexy and rich which means
that she has two strikes against her! As they say poor little rich girl!

Why are people here up in arms about Marshall Fields changing to Macy’s? It’s not like we had regional Marshall Fields pride. It was Daytons, and MF took that name away. Now, it’s happening to MF. Big woop, if you ask me…

Target Corp/Dayton’s bought Marshall Fields, and chose to use the MF name for better name recognition and sales. So the name changed, but the stores and the philosophy didn’t change.

Now Federated has bought Dayton’s/Marshall Field’s and now the name and the philosophy of the stores will be changing. The quality and swank will go away.

This isn’t local, but it might be of interest to a number of you locals.

“You ain’t thinkin’ of getting’ rid of the swank, are ya Macys?

I’m bummed that Kenneth Cole has been replaced by Kenneth Cole Reaction. The clothes aren’t made by the same people. Reaction is the lower-quality, lower-style operation.

That said: I like Macy’s. The MOA place is a dump, but hopefully that’ll be fixed up now that there’s more than one Macy’s store in our area. And I like the changes that are being made on the first floor of the downtown MF/Macy’s.

“Wisc. Police subdue woman w/ pooper scooper”

I thought this meant the police subdued, with a pooper scooper, a woman. Reading the article made the actual meaning clear.

Luke- I thought the same thing. Learning that the police had used a taser to subdue her was sorta disapointing.

Can you imagine the early morning struggle between that large man and that tiny lady with the scissors out?

Anyone who is bemoaning the disappearence of high-end fashion from MF/Macy’s should head to Nordstrom.

Yes, but there’s exactly one Nordstrom within at least a 100 mile radius. Like I said, some people just won’t shop at MoA or Gaviidae, so there’s a huge vacuum that will go unfilled by Nordstrom, Saks, and/or Neiman Marcus.

The part that I thought was most amusing was that they carted her off in a bag.

I could just picture this freaked out woman in a mail bag getting dragged out to the cruiser.

I could just picture this freaked out woman in a mail bag getting dragged out to the cruiser.

I imagined her trying to hop away, like when Principal Skinner is tied up in the sack. “Quick Mr. Nibbles chew through my ball sack!”

Anyone who is bemoaning the disappearence of high-end fashion from MF/Macy’s should head to Nordstrom.

That would involve going to Hugedale. No thanks. And unless you’re looking for shoes, suits or golfwear you’re not likely to find a very good selection at the local Nordstrom either.

The better option is Needless Markup. But I have to think that store isn’t long for this world either… it’s a mausoleum in there — probably because it’s against our collective Midwestern sensibilities to spend that kind of coin on clothes, and they only have sales twice a year.

Ever the optimist, I’m looking at this as an opportunity to start spending less! Maybe organic hemp clothing from a local co-op…?

I’ve been consistently disappointed with the men’s clothing selection at the MOA Nordstrom.

I’m talking about women’s clothes — although I’ll never be able to afford anything in it, Nordstrom is getting a Chanel boutique. (The via C concept is probably more up my alley.) You also can’t beat the service at Nordstrom.

The women’s shoe department at Nordstrom is worth the annoyance of the Mall of Hell.

The misconceptions in the media (and on this post) about the MF/Macy’s change are too many to argue with, but I would like to point out that your average Minnesotan doesn’t exactly look like she just stumbled off the red carpet. MF is a failing company that probably would have closed its stores anyway, so why not make some changes to cater more to the MN demographic? People really need to get over it.

I don’t know anything about retail economics so I don’t completely understand Macy’s decision to carry fewer high-end products. It seems like they are just giving the business away. I don’t care what they name place, but wouldn’t it make sense to designate one or two stores (maybe downtown and Ridgedale or Southdale) as boutique-like with a different store design and trendier, pricier stuff.

But what about the Targetrons?

Who will weep for the Targetrons?

What’s wrong with the Targetrons?

Where will they shop? They already took away their 20% discount at MF.
Now no Prada!

“Ever the optimist, I’m looking at this as an opportunity to start spending less! Maybe organic hemp clothing from a local co-op…?”

Have you ever seen how much that stuff costs?

If the Oval Room stuff were flying off the racks… no doubt Macy’s would have fought to keep those items around.

If you’re ever in the mood to be ignored…don’t shave for a few days, throw on some Wrangler jeans and a ragged hoodie and go shopping in a Marshall Field’s. No one will speak to you and you’ll have a pleasant, disturbance free shopping experience. But make sure you feel comfortable under surveillance.

“Semisonic kicks my ass!” – The Getaway People

I guess that explains why no one ever helps me.

This site is soooo gay.

I don’t know anything about retail economics so I don’t completely understand Macy’s decision to carry fewer high-end products.
If the Oval Room stuff were flying off the racks… no doubt Macy’s would have fought to keep those items around.

It wasn’t a Macy’s decision. It was the decision of those high-end brands. Prada, et al don’t want their brands associated with the decidedly downscale Macy’s brand.

If you’re ever in the mood to be ignored…don’t shave for a few days, throw on some Wrangler jeans and a ragged hoodie and go shopping in a Marshall Field’s. No one will speak to you and you’ll have a pleasant, disturbance free shopping experience. But make sure you feel comfortable under surveillance.

Um, actually I have that experience at MF no matter what I’m wearing. I was just at the downtown store on Saturday afternoon and had to walk from department to department just trying to find someone to ring me up. (That’s how I usually end up in Men’s Designer in the first place — they almost always have a salesperson hanging around.) And, outside of the designer department, god forbid you should actually ask a question about the merchandise. You’ll get blank stares.

In this sense, I’m guessing the Macy’s experience will not differ greatly from MF.

Wrong post, Buckwheat!

You guys seem to be experiencing the Big Box Inverse Proportionality law, which dictates that retail employees will pay the most attention to the people who want it the least, and vice versa. Waving a stack of hundred dollar bills in front of a giant lasma TV at Best Buy will render you invisible to the blueshirts. Walking in an aisle, minding your own business is some irresistible force that draws in retail drones.

I never had that experience at Dayton’s or Field’s. When I wanted attention, I usually got it — and spent a decent amount of money.

The problem at Fields (and Macy’s) is that many of the employees work for straight wages, as opposed to commission. A lot of those people aren’t making much more than fast-food salaries, so they aren’t exactly knowledgable about the products, nor do they really care if you buy a thing.

If the Oval Room stuff were flying off the racks… no doubt Macy’s would have fought to keep those items around.

Sign it sister! Nobody bought the designer stuff untill it went 40% off, its not like it was profitable. Anybody who can afford Prada, Dolce, etc can afford to buy it in Chicago, New York, or Milan for god sakes.

It was all a bunch of queens waiting for the sales to act like they were money bags