I found it strange that with all the fuss over Fields changing to Macy's, you barely heard a peep when Carsons closed. Carsons has always been just as much a part of the fabric of the city as Fields (with both also suffering from the indifference of their out-of-town owners) but for some reason Carsons never gained the iconic status that Fields enjoyed.He was right. While the lives and names Samuel Carson, John Pirie and John Edwin Scott are not as well known nor intrinsically tied to Chicago history as the name Marshall Field and the progeny that bore his name, their mighty flagship store on Chicago's most important street will forever be tied to the building in which it inhabited. Designed by Louis Sullivan, the building, now named the Sullivan Center in his honor, is the architect's masterpiece, and if I may be allowed to dabble in a bit of hyperbole, arguably Chicago's greatest artistic contribution to the world.
I won't go into justifying that claim here, you can either take or leave it.
In early 2006, lovers of Chicago architecture were thrilled when Carsons announced it would begin a significant restoration of the building, including the re-creation of the original cornice which was removed in the 1940s. But that enthusiasm was short lived when later that year, the company announced that despite the restoration, it could no longer justify keeping its flagship store, which would close after the Christmas season of that year. That announcement came right on the heels of the announcement that Chicago's venerable restaurant The Berghoff, at least the old joint as we knew it, would also close. The announcements were a big blow not only to the city and to the Loop Chamber of Commerce, but also to the city's architectural community who was about to see its most important asset unoccupied and facing an uncertain future. Fortunately the new owners, Joseph Freed & Associates , and the City of Chicago continued the restoration.
As I pointed out in the above mentioned post written in response to the announcement of Target opening up a store on the first two levels, the restoration made the building look as good if not better than it ever did. And seven years after it opened, the addition of the Target store, has brought new life to the great building. No, it's not a grand old department store, that era has passed us by and is very unlikely to ever come back.
Sadly we've been reminded of that fact twice this month after the announcement that the last Sears store in Chicago, the city that company called home for over a century, would close shortly, as would the last of the Carson Pirie Scott stores, which were scattered in shopping malls throughout the Midwest.
Given that mid-level brick and mortar retail businesses like Carsons and Sears have been supplanted by online shopping, plus the fact that neither business seemed to keep up at all with the times, it's a minor miracle that they held on for so long.
While we bemoan their loss, all of us who buy stuff online carry a share of the burden for their demise. There is definitely a price to pay for new technology, for all its wonder and marvels, it giveth and it taketh away.
It's been that way for hundreds of years and shows no signs of letting up. In other words, good luck bringing back all those coal jobs Mr. President. Maybe you can add department store jobs to your long list of jobs in moribund industries to bring back, along with telephone operator, blacksmith and steam train engineer
Still it's a sad day when two long standing Chicago institutions bite the dust. We will mourn their loss and hope for better times ahead for the people whose livelihoods depended on them, hopefully in industres with a future.
Are you lietening Mr. President?
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