If you looked closely into the eyes of Belinda Reeves as she sat beaming at the crowd that gathered Thursday for the Marshall Field’s Jingle Elf Parade, you might have seen dollar signs.
After spending the last 14 years on Michigan Avenue, the annual parade returned to its home on State Street. And for the first time, the parade was held on Thanksgiving.
The parade served as yet another symbol that State Street is back after struggling through many years of having business gobbled up by Michigan Avenue and the suburbs.
Now Reeves, executive director of the Greater State Street Council, sees the chance to start a new tradition and an opportunity for State Street merchants to make some money: She wants State Street stores to open on Thanksgiving.
“Businesses staying open on Thanksgiving Day would add a little extra excitement to Thanksgiving in Chicago,” Reeves said. “This parade and Thanksgiving festivities are a lot of fun for families. Why not add a little early holiday shopping to the festivities?”
The parade traditionally was on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
Reeves said the council’s marketing team will come up with a plan to try to encourage State Street merchants to open for Thanksgiving. She said that with as many as 500,000 people coming downtown for the parade, merchants would have a golden opportunity to jump-start the holiday shopping season.
Juana Byrd of Naperville, who was among the estimated 300,000 to 400,000 at the parade, brought her children, Kyle Kuby, 10, and Brooke, 8, to look up at the giant helium-filled Furby and Kermit the Frog balloons. But Juana Byrd said she wouldn’t have minded doing a little holiday shopping after the parade.
“People would come for the parade,” she said. “And it is scheduled early enough that you could do a little shopping and get home in time for Thanksgiving dinner.”
A few restaurants and coffee shops were open to take advantage of the parade crowds. Jim Beamos, manager of the Ferris Wheel, said it was the first time in recent memory the restaurant at 120 S. State St. was open on Thanksgiving.
“Breakfast was pretty busy, and overall it’s been OK,” he said as diners filed in at the end of the parade.
The day after Thanksgiving is historically the busiest shopping day of the year, and traditionalists such as Pam Graham and her daughter Julie Williams think it should stay that way. Graham and Williams got a reprieve from Thanksgiving cooking duties and decided to drive in from Munster, Ind., to bring Williams’ 3-year-old daughter Zoie to the parade.
While Williams said she always loves a day of hunting for good sales, both women agreed that businesses should remain closed on Thanksgiving.
“It’s kind of nice for me having a day off,” Williams said. “How could we expect other people to work when have the day off and get to spend time with our families?”
Graham said: “As it is, stores are only closed a couple days a year: Christmas and Thanksgiving. People should be spending this day with their families, not working. I’ll be fine with one less day of shopping.”
Ralph Hughes, the director of the State Street Marshall Field’s, wouldn’t say whether Field’s is interested in opening on Thanksgiving. Though he wouldn’t discount the idea, Hughes sounded a little wary of taking any more commercial advantage of Thanksgiving Day.
“While this is good for our business, this is really about starting a new Thanksgiving Day tradition for Chicago,” Hughes said.
Phil Purevich, the parade’s executive director, said moving the event from the Saturday after Thanksgiving to Thanksgiving Day is a good idea. Opening the State Street stores for business on Thanksgiving, however, might be overkill, he said.
“People should spend Thanksgiving with their family,” Purevich said. “Just having the parade on State is great exposure for the merchants.”
Indeed, the parade is ideal exposure for all the sponsors, particularly Marshall Field’s. In the tradition of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, Marshall Field’s had two hours worth of television exposure on the day before the busiest shopping day of the year.
Russ Salzman, president and CEO of the Greater North Michigan Avenue Association, said staying open on Thanksgiving would be financially beneficial for all downtown businesses. But the likelihood of such a plan coming to fruition seemed small to him.
“This really comes down to a personnel issue,” he said. “As it is, there are only a couple days a year where businesses are closing. I see anything like this happening being a long way away.”
