Chicagoist: Macy's Brings Home the Chocolate Mint Goodness

Spook

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 09:45:03 -0600

Yes Jason, we don't need a fixed CTA, homeless prevention policies, better schools, We need Target to come back to Chicago!

FrankD

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 20:26:31 -0600

macy*s blows

JasonM

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 18:53:57 -0600

We don't need a faux pseudo Frango mint produced in a contracted-for-only-1-year Chicago candy company. WHAT WE NEED IS MARSHALL FIELD'S! It will close Lake Forest, the Chicago warehouse, and soon-to-be-announced Northbrook Court. Macy's is the biggest failure in the Midwest!!!!!!

jj

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 09:59:29 -0600

Note also that featuring an FAO Schwarz shop is not new. Carson's had for the holidays in 2003. It didn't stop FAO from going bankrupt nor did it stop Carson's from closing. It's not a new idea.

KPOM

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 06:49:27 -0600

I think there are several issues here. First, it is a very small percentage of the total. That they didn't even license the real recipe to Cupid is telling. Given the company's otherwise total lack of respect for any of what made Field's different, this move comes across as a shallow defensive move rather than a restoration of a tradition. As for 1999, there was a big outcry when Target moved Frango production out of Chicago, and I, for one, stopped buying them for over a year. Daley was very public about it (in contrast to his blasé attitude about Macy's takeover and the subsequent loss of jobs from Field's distribution center, which dwarfed the loss of the Frango jobs. Also, if you recall, Target later made the decision to improve the State Street store, and actually did a pretty good job, particularly in bringing over the concept of the store-within-a-store. Macy's came in, didn't renew a lot of those contracts, and wants us to be happy with FAO Schwartz and 200,000 boxes of Frango.

Spook

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 15:19:26 -0600

I think Fed Up actually wants the Macy's clerks strung up as "traitors". Some how I bet the Anti Macy's "activists" are the more civically engaged of the 65,000 fans at Soldier Field. Personally if I wanted to waste time I'd use the megaphone to scream on the 50 yard line "No more sports until we end this war" Sorta like saying to a kid "clean your room and then you can go play" Good luck with getting Target back. Gotta love that name. Thanks Chuck, I had no idea this is more about the Target Corporation. This makes it all the laughable

sparky

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 14:48:49 -0600

Blah, blah, blah.

jj

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:56:07 -0600

There were protest activities when Target moved Frango production in the 1990s. That time, city officials responded by standing up to Target and putting the brakes on Target's expansion at the Elston and Logan store. Customers boycotted Frangos. Frango sales plunged. There were even people who stood out in front of State Street playing a keyboard performing dirges with lyrics about the loss of Frango production at the State Street store. As far as Field's supporters being involved in other causes, I've seen some of the same faces at efforts for other causes in public or on TV. I've seen one guy who is at both Field's and architectural preservation rallies. There's another guy who passes out pins and flyers for Field's who was also at some kind of Iraq war rally down the street last weekend, talking about a relative who is in the army there. That same guy I've seen before at CTA community meetings when there are cutbacks. There's a woman of color who passes out flyers for Field's and also collects donations for epilepsy. What causes have you been activist for lately, Matilda and others? Show us your "card", as Ward says. These Field's people have legs to their community commitment. As far as Frangos goe, Macy's is again missing the boat on this one and the media is playing along. Frango's are a Seattle candy---they are not a Chicago candy. They are still sold and wildly popular in Seattle, the town with which they are most identified. The reason they were special in Chicago was that it was one of the many international goods that Field's was so famous for bringing to Chicago. Most important of all, Frangos were made inside the store. Frangos are popular not because they are made in Chicago but because they are a souvenir of something MADE in MARSHALL FIELD'S. Native New Yorkers always seem to dislike outsiders who pretend to be New York savy. Here's the same thing. New Yorkers don't "get" the coolest things about Chicago but want to be considered one of our own. Bascially, what Macy's has done is the equalent of changing the name and place of Chicago to New York. Now Macy's is tryting to convince Chicagoans to get used to the best of Chicago being something mediocre from New York. Some of you complain that Field's supporters should find something more worthwhile to do with their time. But by those people's standards the most gigantic waste of effort and money is by Macy's. These people should be complaining to Macy's about their wasting hundreds of times more effort and money on their cause--something the majority of people don't want, Macy's in Chicago.

sparky

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:33:55 -0600

What Matilda said.

matilda

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:07:28 -0600

So, Ward, I will take that as a "Well, I have not," then?

Ward Up

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 12:40:24 -0600

I suppose that those of us who support Marhall Field's should carry an ID card that lists the other causes for which we volunteer. I am going have mine laminated. Oh, by the way, matilda, I suggest that you take a megaphone to the fifty yard line at Soldier Field to berate the 65,000 fans for not spending the day working on "matilda-approved causes." How dare they sit there and cheer a stupid game while the world is collapsing!

matilda

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 12:04:13 -0600

Oh, by the way, for all the MF fans who say they take part in other causes: When was the last time you organized a series of TV-friendly protests for the CTA? For the city's public schools? For the strangled city park budgets? For improverished neighborhoods? Against the TIF slush funds? For kids shot by gangbangers? Against high taxes? Against cronyism in zoning? I thought so ...

matilda

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 11:59:58 -0600

Ward: Fight the power, buddy. Because nothing says Chicago like mints and a dead department store and more unemployed clerks.

Ward Up

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 11:52:28 -0600

The boycott is working. Macy's on State Street is a ghost town. In fact, sales are poor throughout the Midwest. Macy's shareholders are not going to stand for this much longer. Macy's on State, in particular will either close or change drastically. The Marshall Field's name and quality can one day return. Bringing Field's back is about the future. It is about keeping our city unique and providing Chicago-style experiences for our children and their children. Macy's brought this suffering on themselves by attempting to kill a Chicago institution. Chicagoans responded by staying away in droves. Please continue to BOYCOTT MACY's.

Spook

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 11:19:40 -0600

Sure Ardvark, I don't know enough to beef with you on this, but the fact that you call it Target at least acknowledges the fact that they are both two corporations one might be a bit more heartless than the other

Ardvark2010

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 10:51:54 -0600

Um, Spook, Macy's has fired several hundred former MF employees and reduced the salaries of the remaining employees since they rebranded. They've also pulled their distribution center out of Chicago and are actually outsourcing more work to other regions/states now that MF is no more, resulting in a further net loss of jobs for Chicago. Other Chicago companies (i.e, Hart Marx) are now suffering because Macy's doesn't stock their products anyome (rather, it's now Trump and Alfani). I suppose corporate ownership is all relative, but in Macy's, Chicago is getting a worse deal than under Target, believe it or not.

Spook

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 10:38:55 -0600

Actually Daley for the first time in his rotten career stuck up for the Frango women, by publicly criticizing Marshall Field's for closing down their inhouse plant after giving the workers only a two weeks notice. One man was three weeks away from his pension. I remember when Chicagoist posted a section about this. I was one of the few people that commented. I guess, like any local big corporation, Fields was above criticizing for screwing its own workers and trashing its own institutions. Go Corporate America!

Ardvark2010

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 10:36:47 -0600

First, I believe that the author meant to say "the folks at Federated are hoping that consumers' craving for the winning combination of chocolate and mint overrides their own UNDERESTIMATING of the emotional attachment of local residents to a brand name nearly as old as the city itself". Second, why is this even news? The Sun-Times, in dire need of ad revenue, is simply regurgitating a Macy's press piece regarding a miniscule percentage of Frango production. Third, it's a friggin' mint! People didn't protest when production was moved out of Chicago because Target Corp. at least showed enough respect to leave the MF brand and quality intact and that owner pumped millions into upgrading its stores. It was still a tourist draw and drive revenue into the city. People DO boycott Macy's because it arrogantly assumed that it could shove its tacky brand and wares onto Chicago. Macy's was probably caught off-guard by Daley's somewhat misplaced focus on Frango production during the Lundgren meeting. It's pretty clear that this is a token move unlikely to sway the opinions of those who stay away from Macy's like the proverbial plague (brough on, in part, by the fruit fly infestation, no doubt). Incidentally, I was in the State Street store yesterday to check it out. It was moribund. The place has lost all of its cache (it completely screams Alfani and Martha Stewart) while Loehmann's directly next store was packed. Is a small percentage of Frango's production in Chicago going to draw those shoppers back across the street to "Macy's on State Street"? No way. Finally, at the risk of engaging in unsubstantiated gossip, a friend that works for Macy's in Chicago tells me that they have been hiring legions of consultants to find out why Chicagoans don't like Macy's and what will bring people back into the store. Apparently, a name change back to Field's and reintroduction of some of the brand-names into the stores aren't on the table. So, since Macy's is so willing to ignore the obvious solutions, it's difficult for me to see what substantive improvements Macy's can make short of selling the local stores to someone else.

j_am

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 10:15:45 -0600

#5 - I wasn't aware of that. Bummer.

guest

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 09:53:43 -0600

j am - Yes they will be made in Chicago, but they will still be available for purchase throughout the country at any Macy's store. So why would you give them to out of town guests? They are not different, special, or unusual anymore.

guest

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 09:34:11 -0600

So are they changing the recipe for the mints? Or are they not using the original recipe? Maybe they don't they have the original recipe from MF?

j_am

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 09:31:11 -0600

People didn't picket Target stores because Target Corp. kept the Marshall Field's name/brand intact. I'm just kind of thrilled to have Frangoes back - and made by a local company. Let the gift-giving to out of town guests commence!

matilda

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 09:14:54 -0600

What Sparky said.

sparky

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 08:38:07 -0600

"Some of you might remember that local production of Frango mints was shelved eight years ago by Target Corporation, the former Marshall Field's former owner, but we don't remember anyone picketing Targets after that decision." Thank you, Chuck. You hit the nail on the head. Funny how people's memories change.