Field's to Macy's

[mckryan]

http://www.fields.com/common/fl_frango.jsp - The Story of Frangos

I have only known Field's Frangos, and they have never tasted the same after they stopped making them downtown. Even still, I hope they don't go away forever!

 

[manchurianbrownbear]

I feel your pain! I was sick to my stomach when all the Daytons stores were changed to Marshall Fields. I still call those stores, especially the downtown Minneapolis store, Daytons!

 

[cardaway]

I'm confusted by this: Before they were called Frango? Wasn't that about 100 years ago? I think you are thinking of when Field's stopped physically making the mints on the 7th floor of the state street store and outsourced it to Philly (I think?), that was done courtesy of Target Corp.

Nope, thinking of the local situation.

See this:

http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=5771

and this:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/150829_frangos03.html

It would appear that they did actually keep selling the original, locally made, mints here and other parts of the country never did get the actual original candies.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

thanks for the links cardaway.

 

[KarenC]

Good Lord...Macy's just needs to stop. They took over Rich's here in Atlanta. I'm sorry, Macy's Frango Mints just won't be the same as Field's Frango Mints!

As far as this Chicagoan is concerned, Frango Mints haven't been Frango Mints since they stopped making them on an upper floor in the State Street store!

I really don't care for Macy's. Fields has been going down in quality and service for several years, but it's so ingrained in me as THE place to shop, that I still shop there. But once it turns into Macy's I bet I'll have no desire to shop there. Nordstrom and Von Maur will be seeing more of me and my hard earned dollars.

Marshall Field was famous for saying "give the lady what she wants". This lady wants Marshall Fields!

 

[nuke]

As far as this Chicagoan is concerned, Frango Mints haven't been Frango Mints since they stopped making them on an upper floor in the State Street store!

Frangos are just not good anymore.

I'm not shopping there anymore if they change the name.

 

[babar]

Frangos are just not good anymore.

I'm not shopping there anymore if they change the name.

Many people feel this way. At the very least, leave State Street alone.

 

[WDWLVR]

Very very sad - then end of an era. While I've always wanted to go shop at a Macy's I don't want it to be in a Fields store. Not that I shop at Fields all that often.


I don't think I would mind it as much in the suburban stores but I just can't see the State Street store with another name. I've got some great memories of that store.

Anyone remember the ice cream parlor? My girlfriends and I would stop there on our shopping trips. I also remember eating under the giant Christmas tree in the Walnut Room.

Well like all things change happens. Doesn't mean we have to be happy about it.

 

[legs22]

Fields = Marshall Fields??? Marshall Fields is turning into Macy's??

 

[ICEMANPAD]

How sad!! We had the same problem in Florida. Burdines which had been around over 90 years became Macy's. Burdines carried a lot of "Florida" items. Every Macy's that I've been to in the US is exactly the same. Today I walked thru Macy's here in South Florida where it's 90 degrees and all over the store were boots and sweaters!! As a native of Chicago, I am truly going to miss Fields and the Christmas window displays on State Street!!

 

[georgina]

People around here are upset about Kaufman's becoming Macy's; same idea with the old downtown Kaufman's store and landmark clock. Personally I don't shop at either (DD bought homecoming dress at Macy's though) so I don't really care, and I'm not a longtime Pittsburgher so I don't have that old attachment to Kaufman's. I'm sure the old Higbee's and Halle's of my youth in Cleveland are long gone. Our Macy's here was a Lazarus, and before that it was a Hornes, who knows what it was before that.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Sad day.

 

[nwdisgal]

Nope, thinking of the local situation.

See this:

http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=5771

and this:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/150829_frangos03.html

It would appear that they did actually keep selling the original, locally made, mints here and other parts of the country never did get the actual original candies.

As I recall, when they sold Frederick and Nelson, the Bon Marche took over the rights and production of their Frangos, Nordstrom bought their downtown building and tried to recreate their Santa.

So since Macys recently purchased the Bon, does that now mean they are in the Frango business too?

 

[robinb]

Anyone remember the ice cream parlor? My girlfriends and I would stop there on our shopping trips. I also remember eating under the giant Christmas tree in the Walnut Room.

As a child, my favorite place was around the corner from the ice cream parlor near the largest ladies room I had ever seen. It was a drink/snack stand located in the wall and they served coconut milk in cone-shaped paper cups. I couldn't go to Field's without having a coconut milk. Years later, as a teenager, I worked at Fields for two Christmas seasons in a row. It was a fun job working in the big store. They had a cafeteria up on the 11th floor that served good, cheap food and a fantastic view. *sigh* Fields will never, never be Macy's to me.

 

[Traveliz]

I remember reading awhile back they were buying Fields but my impression was the name would stay for State Street - I will be heartbroken....and now I am worried about the Walnut Room remaining the same!

Liz

 

[cardaway]

As I recall, when they sold Frederick and Nelson, the Bon Marche took over the rights and production of their Frangos, Nordstrom bought their downtown building and tried to recreate their Santa.

Yes, that whole local Frango history is listed in the links I posted. That building was incredilbe at Christmas time. I had an aunt that lived downtown and would take me to see Santa and let me pick out a matchbox car (I collected them back then) and a box of Frangos every year.

So since Macys recently purchased the Bon, does that now mean they are in the Frango business too?

As the others on this thread have posted, Field's has owned the Frango name and recipe for a long time. But like so many things, buying the recipe isn't the same as having the real thing. I'm sure candy is the same when it comes to "tribal knowledge" being a big park of the process. No recipe, bill of materials, or instructions can make exactly the same item at another facility with different people.

As I was trying to say with my first post, after the local transfer of Frangos from Fredricks to the Bon Marche (Macy's), they never tsted the same. My guess is that they started to mix, or exclusively use, candies made outside of Seattle while Fredricks always stocked the ones made here. I'm betting despite Macy's best efforts the ones made in Chicago and the ones made in Seattle just were not the same.

 

[Ava83]

I read that Daley was told that the Frango production would come back to Chicago and that is why he is being silent.

It was kinda funny this morning in the Trib they even mention they missed the screaming Daley and we could use him now.

Also I did not know this but other stores were based off of fields.

 

[robinb]

I read that Daley was told that the Frango production would come back to Chicago and that is why he is being silent.

That's interesting. I wonder if the Chicago-made Frangos were made with Blommers chocolate. I have a friend who lives in Marina Towers and when I visit him I can sometimes smell the chocolate production down river.

 

[Ava83]

Marina Towers and when I visit him I can sometimes smell the chocolate production down river.

I've always thought that it sounds better then it actually smells.

 

[ead79]

Macy’s did the strangest thing with store names here in Atlanta.

For a little background, I’ve lived in Atlanta my whole life and we’ve had both Macy’s and Rich’s department stores for as long as I can remember. I believe that Federated eventually bought them both. This resulted in them carrying virtually the exact same merchandise, which was pretty silly, especially in malls with both a Rich’s and a Macy’s.

A year or so ago Federated decided to close many of the Macy’s stores and to remodel many of the Rich’s stores. When they did this they changed the names of those Rich’s stores to be Rich’s-Macy’s (yep, hyphenated). Of course this was ridiculous looking and nobody called the stores that.

Now this year I’ve noticed that they have dropped the Rich’s part of the name, so now it’s just Macy’s. Good grief—we don’t even know what to call it anymore!

For those of you familiar with Atlanta, there is a thing called the “Pink Pig.” It has been around for probably 50 years or more. It used to be a little ride on top of the downtown Rich’s department store (their flagship store) that small children could ride. They then closed that store and dismantled the Pink Pig. Of course this was met with furious resistance. Eventually (probably 10 years later) they made a new Pink Pig that is more like a little train. It’s not as neat as it used to be by a long shot, but today’s kids still love it. It just won’t be the same this year riding the Macy’s Pink Pig.