South of the Border
Darlings, It’s been a while. As I understand it, danlangdon.com was down for a few days (I don’t know how anyone survived) and I went to Portland for the weekend.
It was a stately trip: I cashed in some Amtrak frequent flier miles, and went down on Friday night. On Saturday, I rented a car and went to my usual haunts on Hawthorne, and then drove out to Multnomah Falls and The Dalles, where I observed a dam. (You know how I love a good dam)
On Sunday, I woke up late (as intended – no needy little dogs) and visited the repurposed Meier & Frank store before heading home.
As much as I hate to give Macy’s credit for anything, they did a nice job with Meier & Frank. True, the store is only five stories, as opposed to the previous eight, and they got rid of the restaurant, but that’s to be expected. The rest of the building, including the previous restaurant space, will soon be a hotel, so perhaps there’s hope for the restaurant yet. Also, it looks cleaner and brighter than Meier & Frank, and the merchandise seems a tad better.
But probably the nicest thing is how they paid homage to the previous store by the name: They are calling this store, and only this store, “Macy’s at Meier & Frank”. I grudgingly get how standardization helps them (although their choice of “brand” - Macys –is hopelessly New York-centric to me. It seems to me that a better brand in their portfolio – namely Marshall Fields – would have been much better) but I think if they had paid similar respect to other flagship stores in other flagship cities, their renaming might have gone down easier.
Department stores have so little to offer these days: Nothing that can’t be gotten for less at other places. Everything Macy’s can do to make themselves unique, and pay at least a modicum of respect to local history, can only help.
In other news, stay tuned for some more southend fun! I found a great little gem the other day!
And I'm including this picture, apropos of nothing. Only because I love the hairdos. Especially the one on the right. I'm thinking that that's what Catalina looked like in the late 60's.
It was a stately trip: I cashed in some Amtrak frequent flier miles, and went down on Friday night. On Saturday, I rented a car and went to my usual haunts on Hawthorne, and then drove out to Multnomah Falls and The Dalles, where I observed a dam. (You know how I love a good dam)
On Sunday, I woke up late (as intended – no needy little dogs) and visited the repurposed Meier & Frank store before heading home.
As much as I hate to give Macy’s credit for anything, they did a nice job with Meier & Frank. True, the store is only five stories, as opposed to the previous eight, and they got rid of the restaurant, but that’s to be expected. The rest of the building, including the previous restaurant space, will soon be a hotel, so perhaps there’s hope for the restaurant yet. Also, it looks cleaner and brighter than Meier & Frank, and the merchandise seems a tad better.
But probably the nicest thing is how they paid homage to the previous store by the name: They are calling this store, and only this store, “Macy’s at Meier & Frank”. I grudgingly get how standardization helps them (although their choice of “brand” - Macys –is hopelessly New York-centric to me. It seems to me that a better brand in their portfolio – namely Marshall Fields – would have been much better) but I think if they had paid similar respect to other flagship stores in other flagship cities, their renaming might have gone down easier.
Department stores have so little to offer these days: Nothing that can’t be gotten for less at other places. Everything Macy’s can do to make themselves unique, and pay at least a modicum of respect to local history, can only help.
In other news, stay tuned for some more southend fun! I found a great little gem the other day!
And I'm including this picture, apropos of nothing. Only because I love the hairdos. Especially the one on the right. I'm thinking that that's what Catalina looked like in the late 60's.
posted by Catalina Vel-DuRay @ Tuesday, February 26, 2008
1 Comments:
At 9:05 AM,
Sylvia O'Stayformore said…
WOW! Look at the shag carpeting! Her outfit is incredible! I'll have to call my NY hair dresser and see if I can get aset done like that.
Truely inspirational. Thanks.
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