One year after Marshall Field’s became Macy’s, more than 200 “Field Fans” stood under the store’s clock on State Street for a moment of silence Sunday, hoping their passion might resurrect a name for the sake of Chicago pride and childhood memories.
The change in corporate ownership aside, these people missed their Marshall Field’s Frango mints, their Walnut Room lunches, the charm of following a Christmas story from one decorated window to another. All of those things remain, in some version, but the people who gathered said it simply is not the same.
“You don’t give up on something that you like,” said Rosario Probo of Pilsen. “Just the [name] itself — you say Marshall Field’s, people know where you’re at. Everybody knows Marshall Field’s is Chicago.”
Their grief remains fresh, they said, even if the last Field’s owner was based in St. Louis or it was below zero when they were admiring those Christmas windows of yesteryear.
From all appearances, such nostalgia and passion touches all ages and ethnicities. A 39-year-old African-American man videotaped the protest and an 80-year-old woman who worked at the store in the 1940s took the “L” from Evanston to be there, while Probo, her mother and three children “ran to the car” to attend the rally under a brilliant sky.
Probo, 48, and her family arrived in time to happily sing along to “I’ll Miss Field’s,” set to the tune of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.” The group marched twice around the block that once contained the department store and chanted “Give the Lady What She Wants,” a reference to a line that Marshall Field supposedly said to one of his clerks embroiled in a dispute with a customer.
Though many said they had never participated in a protest, they thought they might actually have an impact because Macy’s sales have been down, especially in Chicago.
“We have more hope now than we did a year ago,” said Marianne Nathan as she pulled a green-clad mannequin on a rolling cart. Nathan, 58, of Oak Park, reasoned that Macy’s won’t likely change the name but perhaps the company would be bought out and the Marshall Field’s name restored.
Darrid Morris of Columbus, Ohio, said he’s shopped from coast to coast but has never found a store with the level of service and quality of Marshall Field’s. He’s dedicated a Web site, darrid.com, to his love for the store.
“It’s standing up for what you believe in,” said Morris, who recently lost his management job at a financial company. “I believe a Chicago icon should remain a Chicago icon.”
Jim McKay, head of Field’s Fans Chicago, which organized the protest, is an adjunct associate professor of architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He led the crowd in a moment of silence on State Street, then rallied them to fight for the Field’s name.
“We wouldn’t let the New York Giants take over Soldier Field, why are we letting Macy’s take over Marshall Field’s?”
McKay said he was surprised at the crowd’s size, noting about 25 more people came out this year than last year when the name changed.
But some on Sunday wondered if it was time to let it go.
“It’s a bit late, isn’t it?” wondered Barbara Grusak of Chesterton, Ind., as she left the store with her daughter, Mary, 37.
The two had shopped and enjoyed lunch in the Walnut Room, complete with a free piece of Frango mint pie as part of the store’s one-year anniversary celebration.
