Store Profile: Marshall Field's

In 1852, a dry goods store opened on Lake Street in Chicago, Illinois, known as Potter Palmer & Company. In 1865, Pittsfield, Massachusetts native Marshall Field with a group of partners bought out the majority of Palmer's store, and one by one, Field acquired much of his other partners shares. But in 1868, Palmer convinced Field and his partner at the time to lease a store at the corner of State and Washington Streets.

While Field's store burned down in the Great Chicago Fire, he and partner Levi Leiter found a temporary location and eventually reopened in a new 5-story building on the site of the old building. The building burnt down again and in 1879, "Field & Leiter" moved back onto it's original site to the final time. In 1881, Field bought out Leiter, and from that point, the store began to grow.

Between 1881 and 1914, the store grew from a single building to encompass an entire Chicago city block. In 1897, the first clocks on the building's exterior were installed. And when Marshall Field died in 1906, all of the stores on State Street closed in memory.

In 1928, the first suburban Marshall Field's store opened in Lake Forest, IL. Later that year, an Evanston store opened, and in 1929, an Oak Park store opened. Also in 1929, Frango mints were added to the store's merchandise with the acquisition of Frederick and Nelson. From the 1950s through the 1970s, suburban growth led Marshall Field's to increase their amount of branch stores exponentially.

In 1982, Marshall Field & Company was sold to BATUS. Under BATUS ownership, several former Gimbels stores were added to Field's menagerie, but most were shut down after poor performance. The Oak Park and Evanston stores were shuttered as well under the guise that they were too old and too costly.

BATUS sold Marshall Field's to Dayton Hudson Corporation in 1990, which began to put much needed improvements into the chain. A renovation of the State Street store was completed under Dayton Hudson, and several new branch stores opened, and the brand began to see a turnaround. In early 2001, Detroit-based Hudson's and Minneapolis-based Dayton's were both rebranded as Marshall Field's.

In 2004, following the announcement that Target Corporation (which DHC was renamed in 2000) would sell the Marshall Field's chain, it was announced that the store would go to May Department Stores for $3.25 billion dollars. Analysts found this price way too high, one reason for the high price was an aggressive bidding war between May and Federated Department Stores.

Following the acquisition of May by Federated, rumors flew around about Marshall Field's place in the new company. Some believed that Field's would hold it's own as all other stores changed names to Macy's. Although it was announced that the entire chain would change, a strong holiday shopping season in 2005 encouraged rumors that the Field's name could remain on the flagship store. Petitions ran amuck, but in the end, Federated decided to pull the plug on Marshall Field's and its State Street store.

Marshall Field's: 1852 to September 9, 2006 at 9:30am