Shopping in Chicago
As if the change of venerable downtown Chicago department store Marshall Field's to Macy's isn't enough to piss off Chicagoland shoppers, a couple of weeks ago it was announced that Carson Pirie Scott is closing its State Street store. One would have thought that they might have waited a bit to see if they picked up some of the disaffected Marshall Field customers, but apparently not.
I like downtown department stores. I was ticked off when the Belk's and Ivey's in downtown Charlotte closed years ago and again when Woodie's closed its store in the main part of DC. But the Carson Pirie Scott closing is worse somehow, particularly given the historic building. Designed by Louis Sullivan a century ago, the store exterior is a masterpiece. The interior needs some serious work, which is probably another reason that Bon-Ton is closing the store, but I really like the layout. It's a historical building so I'm sure they'll have to do something with the building but I doubt it'll remain a department store. But it's a hell of a building.
2 Comments:
Chicago? I didn't think you'd ever benn - wink, wink...
That's some killer changes for Chi-town. Was it a lack of customers because of strip mall mania?
Yeah, I guess since that episode's over now, it's okay to talk about it. As for strip malls, I doubt that, since there are more and more people moving into the River North and other parts of Chicago downtown. And it still seems to be a destination shopping area for suburbanites and tourists on the weekends. Much of the shopping on Michigan Ave a few blocks north mirrors the stuff on State Street (including a smaller Marshall Fields) and then you've got the REALLY high-end stuff on Oak Street and in the meantime, admittedly CPS was looking pretty shabby. But man what an exterior!
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