Marshall Field & Company Store Sign
date: label: date made
content: 1902-1914
notes: label: Description
content: This sign hung on the twelve story Marshall Field & Company department store on State Street in Chicago, Illinois built in stages starting in 1902. By 1910 Marshall Field was bigger than most factories. It had more than 8,000 employees, 250,000 customers, and a million square feet of retail space.
label: Description
content: One aspiring young entrepreneur, Marshall Field, moved to Chicago from Massachusetts in 1856 and began working his way up in the dry goods business. Partnering with different people, he was involved in several retail operations, eventually owning his own store, Marshall Field & Company, in 1881. Sensitive to gender concerns, Field realized that the majority of his customers were women and that they should be catered to differently than men. Field is reputed to have coined the phrase “Give the lady what she wants.” Between 1890 and 1940 Field, and the retail industry at large, shifted to an emphasis on service: one price (no haggling), accessible goods (not behind the counter), a tolerance for customer browsing, and easy returns. Department stores sought upper- and middle-class customers with impulse money to spend.
label: Description
content: In 2005 the Marshall Field’s chain was purchased by Federated Department Stores, Inc. and most stores were rebranded as Macy’s in 2006.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Retail and Marketing
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content: Industry & Manufacturing
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content: American Enterprise
label: Exhibition
content: American Enterprise
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Target Corporation
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2014.0062.15
label: accession number
content: 2014.0062
label: catalog number
content: 2014.0062.15
objectType: label: Object Name
content: plaque
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 18 in x 48 in x 2 1/4 in; 45.72 cm x 121.92 cm x 5.715 cm