Marshall Field's fans get reprieve for now

Chris Serres, Star Tribune

Employees for Marshall Field's breathed a collective sigh of relief Thursday upon learning that the department store will keep its venerated name.

At least for now.

Terry Lundgren, chairman and chief executive of Federated Department Stores Inc., said the company will survey customers before making a decision later this year about whether to change Marshall Field's name to Macy's.

"Certainly, there is something different about Marshall Field's," he said in an interview. "It's a long-established name, particularly in the Chicago market ... and we need to talk to a broad range of customers before we make a decision."

Lundgren's comments kept alive the possibility that Federated will preserve Marshall Field's headquarters in downtown Minneapolis, where about 1,500 to 2,000 people work for the company.

"[Marshall Field's] doesn't fit the mold of Macy's. It doesn't fit the mold of Bloomingdale's," said Frank Guzzetta, president and chief executive of Marshall Field's. "It has remained a stronger part of the local retail scene than some of the other department store chains. ... In the final analysis, I think the decision will be made to keep the brand."

Earlier this month, shareholders of Federated approved the Cincinnati company's $11 billion purchase of May Department Stores Co., which owns Marshall Field's and its 62 stores. Federated said Thursday that it plans to replace the names of 10 department store chains it bought from May to the Macy's moniker. The move would nearly double the size of Macy's to 730 stores nationwide.

"It was just about everyone's assumption that the Marshall Field's [name] would not survive" the acquisition, said Jim McComb, a Minneapolis retail consultant. "Now, I say it's not out of the realm of possibility that the name will remain."

Federated may be responding to pressure from some of Marshall Field's customers, analysts said. On Tuesday, a 25-year-old from Minneapolis named Nick Potts launched a website, www.keepitfields.org, created "with the intention of preserving the Marshall Field's trade name for future generations." Nearly 2,400 people have added their names to a petition on the site pledging to take their business elsewhere if Federated changes the Marshall Field's name to Macy's or Bloomingdale's.

Chris Cliff, 30, an insurance adjuster from Brooklyn Park, was among them.

"Marshall Field's is enough of a high-end store that people care," said Cliff, who buys most of his dress shirts at the department store. "From what I know, Macy's is more cookie-cutter -- just a kick above Kohl's."

Yet Cliff may be in the minority. Many shoppers in the Twin Cities still feel aggrieved about Target Corp.'s decision to convert the Dayton's stores to Marshall Field's in 2001.

"In Minneapolis, I need to understand if the connection to the Marshall Field's name is as important as it is in Chicago or Detroit," Lundgren said. "There will be more to do and more research required."

Lundgren dismissed speculation that Federated might convert Marshall Field's into Bloomingdale's, not Macy's. "The Macy's customer is almost identical to the Marshall Field's customer," he said. "Bloomingdale's has a substantially higher average ticket sale."