Shopping Bag Masterpieces!

For over 100 years, one retail mecca not only brought its customers the best of the fashion world, it boldly went where no store has gone before. Creating a slew of designer shopping bags highlighting anything from a seasonal event to a launch of a new fragrance. These satchels of commerce quickly became collectors items and I was fortunate to have collected most of them. Of course, I'm talking about Bloomingdale's. "Bloomie's" as it was known to by its fans, is the quintessential place to browse, shop, buy and mingle with the famous and infamous, but from the 1960's through the early 1990's it was known as a mecca, a museum of retail-ology not found much anymore today. For it was Bloomie's that originated and perfected the promotion of anything and everything imaginable. Remember the "Pet Rock", it was featured first at Bloomie's. Both Ralph Lauren and Donna Karan started their careers there as well.


Who would've thought that something used to carry out a purchase would become a pop-culture classic and highly collectible around the world? Bloomingdale's classic "big brown bag" is as much of an icon as "Coca-Cola" is today.


Rather then give you individual pictures of some 60+ bags I've collected over the years, I decided to make a collage and link it to YouTube. I would appreciate any and all feedback and if you notice in the film, there are a few "unknown" bags I would certainly appreciate any help on their identities.

A Shopping Center is Born

This really isn't my expertise, I have more knowledge of general retail and collect it's past. But these videos (actually the same video, but I had to split it up for youtube) depict Hillsdale Shopping Center which was recently built in 1957 when the film was shot. This link provides you with the current mall tenants and expansion as we know it today.

Some of the fascinating items I enjoy on this film are the vintage signs, cars, fashions, lifestyle, and most of all, the need to actually create a film on the subject, almost a class as to "how to shop" in these newfangled centers.

Imagine if you will, something we take for granted, the actual mall as we know it, but at the time of filming, this was a new concept unheard of before. The rush to live outside the downtown area had begun not long prior and people were moving into the suburbs. To actually have all of your shopping done in one convenient center was unheard of. So I imagine that was the need for this film. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

May's Day's

Twenty five years ago, I began my collection of retail memorabilia. If you were to ask me back then who owned who, I would've been puzzled. Back then, one didn't know who was the parent company as there were many. Federated Department Stores, May Company, Allied Department Stores, Associated Dry Goods, British-American Tobacco and Target Corporation to name a few. And even with the corporate ownerships, some even survived and still to this day, to be family owned.

Up until 2005, companies were bought, sold, re-organized, bankrupt, leaving 2 corporations to own a majority of the department stores as we knew them. The May Company based out of St. Louis, MO and Federated Department Stores based out of Cincinati, OH. Two large powerhouses that would fight and bicker back and forth until one would emerge to dominate. In the early part of 2005, Federated would absorb the May Company operations and change the course of retail forever.

David May's first store in Leadville, CO began in 1877 supplying Levi's and clothing for the miners in the area. In 1888, he moved his location to Denver, and by 1892 purchased then the Famous Clothing Company in St. Louis, which later would become Famous-Barr. Finally in 1910, May incorporated in Cleveland OH to become the May Department Stores Company, owning stores from coast to coast. This predated Federated's formation by 20years. Thus becoming the nations FIRST and oldest department store group.

At the time of the merger between May and FDS, May operated 400 stores, 8 central offices serving 12 different nameplates. Filene's dominated the market in the Boston area until it absorbed Hartford's G. Fox & Company in 1992 giving it the main department store in New England and western New York, Kaufmann's buying offices were absorbed by Filene's in 2000 but Kaufmann's kept its nameplate (I guess they realized the consequences when they destroyed the G.Fox name forever.) Lord & Taylor, once the head of Associated Dry Goods was added in the 1980's. Hecht's, which also controlled Strawbridge's was based in Washington D.C. L.S. Ayers and Famous-Barr joined forces in the 90's also absorbing The Jones Store but keeping their nameplates separate. Marshall Field's purchased in 2003 had its' own buying office for its market. Meier & Frank in Portland was combined with Robinsons-May in California. Prior to Meier & Frank had absorbed the ZCMI company in Utah. Foley's once Federated owned, was located in Houston.

Outside of the Marshall Field's and Lord & Taylor divisions, the rest of the May Company stores were pretty much the same store, just a different nameplate. You can see by their final websites, how they operated pretty much the same, including the look of their shopping bags and charge plates. The stores had similar architecture, layouts, and offered the same middle-of-the-road merchandise**. Except for the trade names, they were basically cookie cutter excact copies of one another.

• Filene's
  
• Foley's
• Robinsons-May
• The Jones Store
• Famous-Barr
• L.S. Ayers
• Kaufmann's
• Hecht's
• Strawbridges
• Meier & Frank

On the other hand, Marshall Field's being the landmark it was, and offering much more designer wear and higher end items, kept its website separate from the usual May Company sites. Lord & Taylor, though now privately owned, still operates the same format site it had as a May Company store.

**I can recall back in the 1980's prior to the stores becoming average, that the local G. Fox was far superior then a similar Hecht's store in Baltimore. It seemed to have better designer wear, household goods, furnishings and brand in general. It's a shame that when they were absorbed by the Filene's nameplate, they also lost their high-end appeal.

Field's Of Dreams

What a sad day it was for retail in America on September 9, 2006, especially in Chicago! On that day, their beloved landmark Marshall Field’s store was changed forever to Macy’s. But it wasn’t just their store; it was 100’s of stores across the United States that suffered the blow as well. Local chains that became a part of the fabric of retail for the last century were swiped up and left behind as if they were garbage. Stores with such names as Filene’s, Hecht’s, Kaufmann’s, Famous-Barr, Meier & Frank, Robinsons-May, Foley’s, L. S. Ayers, Strawbridge’s and the Jones Store are now a thing of the past.

Lets face it, mass merchandising is a part of our culture and slowly it’s becoming all about the profit, rather then the people. Marshall Field said it the best, “Give the lady what she wants” when he described the proper way to handle the consumer. As a consumer, I want my Marshall Field’s back. I’m not happy with Macy’s on State Street as a name; Macy’s @ Field’s would be better. I’m sure most Chicago residents would agree. Marshall Field’s @ Macy’s would be far better sounding. But what can you do? Do you actually think that corporate America will listen to us?

Now don’t get me wrong, I like Macy’s, I’ve always have. Even when they were in downtown New Haven, I held a position there for a few years. Back then it was different though. They were a publicly owned company. In a way they still are, but they were R.H. Macy, not part of the Federated conglomerate. But it seemed that the fact they were local (Metro NYC area) made a bigger difference in how you did business. Yes, we didn’t have email, nor did we have computers, but life still went on and the store still made its profits.

In a way, FDS is good for MF. I don't agree in changing the name. But I do believe they have saved a local landmark from being destroyed. The way I see it, their former owner May Company eventually may have shuttered the landmark, therefore possibly losing this store and its glory to future generations. FDS has the capital and the knowledge to make MF continue to awe its shoppers and guests.

I was originally going to make this a historical blog about MF. But I see instead its turned into a gripe session. Rather then add on the history of the company, I’ve located some links so you can read what I would basically put here. Please comment on your thoughts on this merger as well. I would like to hear your opinions. In a few days however, I will be uploading some items I've collected over the past years. Please check back.

• Wikipedia's entry of Marshall Field's
• PDX History, a local Oregon-ite's view of classic and now defunct department stores.
• Press release for the masses on the revitalization of the historic store, from its current owner Federated Department Stores.
• Macy's revision of Fields.com, now Macy's on State Streets visitors guide.
  
• Chicago's local CBS station's article and media on the merger

These pictures are a collection of gift cards from the former Marshall Field's.

View the floor directory, just before the
name change to Macy's
from 2005