Macy's shoppers speak out
Store battling to win back disenchantedRobert Cherry, with wife Christine and daughters Devin, 9, and Fiona, 5, bought lots of items at the Macy's on State Street, but still finds it disappointing that it's not a Field's. (Al Podgorski/Sun-Times)
The battle for the hearts and pocketbooks of former Marshall Field & Co. shoppers has prompted the top executive to write his own e-mail pleas.
Antagonists of the transformation to Macy's from Field's have deluged chatrooms and reporters with postings and e-mails.
Macy's management has countered with an aggressive campaign of its own, daily surveying hundreds of shoppers about their Macy's experience, and pleading with Field's loyalists to give Macy's a chance.
In one recent case, Robert Cherry, a 39-year-old father and a Darien native who now works as a general manager overseas, e-mailed Terry Lundgren, CEO of Macy's parent Federated Department Stores, which bought the Field's chain and nine other regional chains from May Department Stores for $11.9 billion in August 2005.
Cherry defended Field's "terrific brand equity" and recounted "how visceral people's connection to Field's is in Chicago.
"My mother worked her way through college at the Field's on State Street," Cherry said. "Even as a boy, I enjoyed going there."
Lundgren responded, writing that sales at Field's had declined for six years, and that the competitive landscape had changed dramatically in Chicago and nationwide.
"Regional department stores have struggled, and Marshall Field's was among the weakest performers on most levels," Lundgren wrote, and asked Cherry to try shopping at Macy's.
Cherry said he was surprised and humbled to receive the e-mail, and believed the message was from someone who was trying to save the department store.
Cherry led his family on a Jan. 2 shopping trip to Macy's flagship store, where they had lunch in the Walnut Room.
"We got a sense that the staff was making an extra effort to be helpful, and that the store was spruced up," Cherry said.
But the battle is far from won.
"At the end of the day, it's still disappointing to see the Field's brand gone," Cherry said.
Other shoppers have embraced Macy's without shedding a tear.
In an e-mail and interviews with the Sun-Times, Dee and Joseph Bryja, native Chicagoans and life-long Marshall Field's shoppers, said, "Customer service is exemplary at Macy's."
The Bryjas said they are pleased by the cleaner and brighter appearance of the Macy's flagship store at 111 N. State St. than at its predecessor Field's store, and by the salespeoples' easily identifiable black clothing.
The Bryja family exchanged more gifts from Macy's this Christmas Eve than they had previously bought at Field's.
Amy Hanson, vice chairwoman of administration at Macy's North in Minneapolis, where she oversees the Field's regional division's finances and operations, told the Sun-Times that surveys show shoppers can be won over by store redesigns, new merchandise and improved sales help.
Hanson, 48, rose through the ranks at Federated Department Stores in her 23-year tenure at the Cincinnati-based company.
Macy's executives read customer feedback every day, and take it seriously, Hanson said.
"I'm passionate about restrooms and fitting rooms," she said. "I want our customers to be 'wowed' by every moment in our stores."
Hanson said she has learned that she must communicate clearly because of misunderstandings. Some Field's customers believed incorrectly that Federated would build new Macy's stores in the Chicago area, while others are surprised to learn that her regional office is on the 9th floor of the Macy's store in downtown Minneapolis, where Dayton-Hudson was headquartered.
Field's loyalists continue to fault Macy's in e-mails and letters to the media. One shopper who asked to remain anonymous was exasperated by her bad experience buying towels at Macy's Web site, but she was impressed by the professional response of Ralph Hughes, former regional vice president otores for Macy's North. On Jan. 2, he was promoted to regional vice president of corporate communications for Federated.
Though Hughes' telephone call and his response were "extremely positive" and "exemplary," the shopper said Macy's will have to work hard to improve its online experience, but she added she would shop again at Macy's.
"I'm not angry at Field's," she said.
• • The Macy's store at Oak Brook's Oakbrook Center will get a major overhaul, an informed source said. A Macy's spokeswoman said it's too soon to talk about any changes.
• • Macy's is moving ahead with plans to expand celebrity chef Rick Bayless' quick-service eatery, Frontera Fresco, which sells tamales, tortas and quesadillas. It will open inside Macy's stores at Oak Brook and in Sacramento and San Francisco, Calif., within the next year or so, Bayless said.
• • Frango Mints, a Field's favorite, will get its own cookbook, featuring recipes that use the confection. The Frango Cookbook: Simple Recipes and Sweet Ideas, will be sold starting this spring at 200 Macy's stores.
Macy's on State Street scored 78 of a possible 100 in a shopper survey released exclusively to the Sun-Times, putting it in the top 10 stores in customer satisfaction in Macy's North division. Macy's goal is to score 80.
The survey was sent at random to shoppers who had used a store credit card to buy merchandise from last spring through mid-December.
The Macy's North division, encompassing the 61 former Marshall Field's stores in eight states, sends about 250 of the random surveys each day, and had received 1,500 survey responses as of Dec. 16.
Though the Field's store wasn't transformed into Macy's until Sept. 9, the scores did not drop after the transition, said Amy Hanson, vice chairwoman of administration at Macy's North in Minneapolis, where she oversees the Field's regional division's finances and operations.
The survey asked customers to rate the store on their shopping experience; whether the store was "clean, neat and easy to shop," and whether salespeople were courteous and respectful. Each factor is rated on a scale from "disappointing" (zero) to "satisfactory" (50) to "very good" (75) to "outstanding" (100).
The Macy's customer survey program asks shoppers to provide feedback in two ways: the random survey, and via Web sites for Macy's [Macys.com/tellus] and Federated [fds.com, under the heading "Tell us what you think"]. Macy's North received more than 4,800 responses online through mid-December.
Each sales receipt includes the URL of Macy's Web site, and salespeople are supposed to circle it, sign the receipt, and ask shoppers to share their comments. Store managers are expected to respond to Web postings within 72 hours.
Meanwhile, Macy's and its owner, Federated Department Stores of Cincinnati, continue to use an independent company to conduct focus groups to get shoppers' opinions face-to-face, Macy's spokeswoman Jennifer McNamara said. Macy's held a focus group after the Sept. 9 name change, and will hold another early this year.
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