Our retail habits continuously evolve – will old Carson’s become Amazon.com

It always amuses me whenever I think about retail practices (not that I think about them that often) to realize that one of the grand old spots of shopping in Chicago is now just another Target store.

The old nameplates remain ...

Which has me wondering with the news reports that Target may be purchased sometime this year by that behemoth of Internet shopping. As in Amazon.com.

DOES THAT MEAN the one-time Carson Pirie Scott flagship store on State Street will essentially become a visible sign of just how much Amazon.com has taken over the world of retail?

The idea behind the purchase, according to the Bloomberg Business News service, is that Amazon.com and Target already share a common demographic in terms of people who rely on them to purchase the goods they wish to have in life. Combining could create a sizable retail combine – albeit one not quite as big as Wal-mart.

But then again, the so-called retail experts consider that to be a separate demographic of shoppers. It’s a matter of everybody will claim they control their segment of society, and don’t really care about other groups amongst us.

But to me, the idea that the grand old department store (which had operated at various sites in Chicago since 1854 and at its current State/Madison street location since 1904) continues to stand in its architectural grandeur (designed by famed architect Louis Sullivan) but without its old retail elegance is amusing.

EVERY TIME I find myself inside the old Carson’s these days, I find myself trying to find traces of the old style – only to find that I’m in a Target barely distinguishable from the Target stores one can find anywhere else in Chicago or at various suburban locations.

If this deal does go through, will that one-time Carson’s location wind up taking on the smiling Amazon.com logo? Will it become a place people go to if they happen to be downtown, check out the goods, then return home to place the order?

... even though the classic retail businesses are long gone from State Street

I’ve seen that kind of behavior in many a Barnes & Noble bookstore, and it is one that I personally find strange. You’d think that since they’ve already made the trip to the store, they’d just buy the item right there and then!

But this is a new age now that we’re well into the 21^st Century and we now have people coming of age who weren’t even alive back on that date when the 1900s receded into the past and we moved into this era of the 2000s (is that 2-thousand or 20-hundred?).

REGARDLESS, I STILL find the old Carson’s building, along with the one-time Marshall Field’s just a couple of blocks north on State Street, to be significant landmarks.

They are points that help me personally anchor my location whenever I happen to be walking about. Yes, thinking of something as being “just a couple of blocks” from Carson’s is the way I think – even if there probably are some deluded individuals who will see the Target bullseye logo and think I’ve gone goofy.

It’s just a matter of how we think. Besides, I’m sure there will be a certain subgroup of people who have become so accustomed to the Target label on that structure that they will forever think of it that way – and will have an even younger generation think they’ve gone goofy.

“What Target? That’s Amazon.com!,” they’ll say.

OF COURSE, IF you want to live in the past and still shop at the Carson’s brand, you can always hit any of the many suburban locations that have kept that name – even though the flagship store did not.

A place to reminisce about Chicago of old. Photographs by Gregory Tejeda

Just as you can still walk into what is now the downtown Chicago store of Macy’s and try to pretend it is still Marshall Field’s. Particularly if you go down to the basement level and spend all your time by the Frango mints stand. That brand has managed to outlive the company that originally created it.

Although the Amazon.com move (which previously took over the Whole Foods brand name) toward Target does have me wondering who eventually will wind up taking over the one-time Field’s.

And if we’re ultimately moving in the direction of all types of stores becoming tied together and merged into one massive entity to be known as “The Store.”

  -30-

A DAY IN THE LIFE (of Chicago): Suburbanizing the city? Political heavyweights? Or twin mediocrity?

I remember once being in the now-former Borders Books store at Diversey, Clark and Broadway when I overheard what appeared to be a rural couple approach a sales clerk and ask if there was a Wal-mart store anywhere nearby.

 

That clerk explained to the couple that Wal-mart wasn’t exactly the kind of business that located in such a community as the Lakeview neighborhood. The tone of his voice made it clear he held the couple in some sort of contempt for even thinking of shopping at a Wal-mart.

 

I COULDN’T HELP but think of that clerk (whom I don’t believe I have ever seen or heard from since that moment) when I stumbled across the press release Gov. Pat Quinn put out on Monday – one that boasted of something that Quinn wants to think is a major business accomplishment during his administration.

 

Chicago, the city proper, is getting its first Olive Garden restaurant!

 

Officials say the restaurant on Addison Street will employ 170 people in all. Those new jobs are among 13,800 new private sector jobs created across all of Illinois during the month of August.

 

What would that clerk think of the concept of an Olive Garden – mass produced Italian food for those people who claim they like Italian, except for the garlic – being located within the city limits?

 

THIS COMMENTARY IS not about to turn into a rant about generic businesses being located in Chicago. I’m not about to claim the city is a bastion of sophistication.

 

I’m sure there are many city residents who would patronize an Olive Garden if it was located near their homes. It’s not the kind of place they’re going to make a lengthy trip for.

 

Yet the idea of boasting about this particular business accomplishment. It makes me wonder what’s next – will Quinn get all worked up at the thought of a Steak ‘n’ Shake being located within the city? Or maybe an International House of Pancakes winding up in Chicago?

 

Small businesses might well be an important part of our local and regional economy. But it takes a lot of them to create benefits that are noticeable to the masses.

 

POLITICAL REINFORCEMENTS: Gov. Pat Quinn is going to get the reinforcements to bolster his campaign during the next week-and-a-half.

 

Both President Barack and first lady Michelle Obama will be in Chicago at events on his behalf. And one-time suburban Park Ridge native Hillary Rodham Clinton will be in Chicago to tell people why they should get off their keisters and cast ballots for Quinn.

 

That’s some pretty heavy-duty political power to be able to wield. When combined with the fact that Republican opponent Bruce Rauner isn’t the kind of guy who inspires people to vote for him (GOP backers are voting against Quinn, by and large, the incumbent governor is looking like he’d better win come Nov. 4.

 

For if he can’t turn out the vote in Illinois, particularly the urban parts of the state, in strong enough numbers, he’s got no one to blame really but himself.

 

73-89 SQUARED: The professional baseball season is over in Chicago. Both the White Sox and Cubs finished with identical won-loss records that say they improved from being absolutely dreadful last year (99 White Sox losses compared to 96 for the Cubs) to being mediocre in ’14.

 

It has some wondering if the improvement will continue to the point where we might have dual pennant races within a couple of years. I’m not rushing to any judgment. Serious contention is a big leap from the mediocrity we saw this past season.

 

So while I joke about that upcoming all-Chicago World Series, I realize there is much development (and many quirks that must break just so) for that to become a reality – and it may never occur.

 

So now we count down to 2015, and the possibility of Jose Abreu improving on his 36-home run performance – more home runs than any other White Sox rookie (and good enough for third best in the American League).

 

  -30-

Will they love Wal-Mart once it arrives?

I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself about all the screaming and screeching that took place earlier this week in the Lake View neighborhood concerning a proposal to build a Wal-Mart store as part of the shopping strip along Broadway near Diversey Parkway (in the less couth parts of the city, Diversey is an avenue).

Wal-Mart is everywhere, except in Lake View.



The reaction wasn’t the least bit surprising. In fact, it is exactly what I’d expect.

BECAUSE I RECALL a moment several years ago when I happened to be in that exact neighborhood. Specifically, I was at the Borders books store that until recently was at that very intersection.

I happened to be looking at a display that was set up near the cash registers when I overheard a man who walked into the store ask for directions to the nearest Wal-Mart store. From the sound of his accented drawl and his demeanor, I’m inclined to believe he was from out-of-town.

But it wasn’t his question about wanting to find a Wal-Mart in the area that separates the Lincoln Park and Lake View neighborhoods that was so memorable as much as the answer from the sales clerk.

The clerk told that man that such stores didn’t “fit in” to the neighborhoods that like to think they are the elite of Chicago (and probably think way too much of themselves). That clerk’s tone was rather snotty.

I’M SURE THIS particular tourist came away thinking that this particular neighborhood was a tad arrogant. Or maybe he let that allow him to perceive all of Chicago that way, I don’t know.

But as I read the reports coming out of Lake View about how people gathered Monday night at the Wellington Avenue Church, all I could help but think was that sales clerk from several years ago (who probably didn’t even live in the neighborhood – which is a bit pricey for a retail cashier to afford) gave an accurate perspective of the people who can afford the rents and mortgages of those two north lakefront Chicago neighborhoods.

What I find ironic (aside from the fact that that particular Borders bookstore is among the ones that recently closed down) is that this Wal-Mart is filling another vacancy. The location desired by Wal-Mart used to be a PetSmart store.

So I’m wondering if those “high-toned” individuals (many of whom I’d guess will wind up moving to some suburb once they have kids who become school-age) really prefer the idea of an empty storefront.

REALIZE THAT I write this piece even though I don’t think much of the Wal-Mart experience. I have never cared much for the quality of their merchandise, which means I view Wal-Mart stores as the perfect proof of that old cliché, “You Get What You Pay For.”

A cheaper price isn’t always everything.

But I can appreciate how one can’t be too picky when it comes to a community and empty storefronts.

I have seen too many neighborhoods in this city that used to have vibrant shopping districts where the big stores pulled out and the locals weren’t aggressive enough in trying to fill the gaps.

WHAT HAPPENED IS that many of those districts decayed from sitting empty and the perception became that they are dead. Now, these are districts that feel fortunate if they can get one of those “dollar store” chains (the 21^st Century equivalent of the “dime store”) to come in and sell cheap merchandise.

I’ll be the first to admit that the district at Broadway and Diversey isn’t at that point yet. But if local people think that some high-end retailer is just anxiously awaiting a chance to locate within their proximity to cater to their whims, I’d say that somebody thinks a little too highly of themselves.

If anything, the current economic conditions have most companies cutting back, instead of thinking in terms of new locations.

And with this kind of attitude, I’m sure such a haughty attitude would cause those desired high-end retailers to think they can get a better deal locating elsewhere – where they won’t have to deal with such snobbery.

OF COURSE, SUCH attitudes aren’t limited to retail locations.

I heard a lot of similar rhetoric last week when the Dave Matthews Band announced details about the Chicago concert they plan to give as part of this year’s musical tour. They want to use off-beat sites for their concert venues, instead of the traditional arenas and stadiums.

In Chicago, they plan to erect a stage on the site of the old U.S. Steel plant at 79^th Street and the lakefront. It will be an outdoor festival, and promoters would like us to think of the image of hundreds of thousands of people (it’s a 600-acre site) grooving to the music, rain or shine, with the Chicago skyline in the background of the stage.

Yet the critics, some of whom may be the same people who are now ranting about Wal-Mart, are claiming that a site between the South Shore and South Chicago neighborhoods (in fact, anything south of Roosevelt Road) is too far away from their preferred playgrounds, and too icky.

THEY’RE EVEN COMPLAINING about how attending such a concert will mean exposing oneself to massive crime – even though the former steel mill site is fenced in and my guess is that the security is going to be intense enough that nobody without a ticket is going to get anywhere close to the event.

Now I’m not sure I buy into the developer hype about how this event will draw massive attention to the South Side neighborhoods and will help their revitalization. But a lot of the trash talk about the event, and the Wal-Mart, is coming from people who think too highly of themselves because of their home address.

Besides, I find one other detail of this situation to be ironic. As I wrote earlier, I think many of these Lake View/Lincoln Park residents will wind up moving suburban someday so they can find their mini-mansion dream house.

The way things are going now, that house is likely to have a Wal-Mart located just a mile or so up the road. As dreadful as those places can be, I’d say it serves these residents right to suffer such an ultimate fate.

  -30-

Higher minimum wage doesn’t overcome Chicago’s economic and social advantages

I wonder what Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady thinks of Wal-Mart these days.

Brady is the candidate who threatened to make a mess of his campaign by actually saying some people in Illinois should have to endure a pay cut because their minimum-wage jobs pay too much money.

IT IS TRUE that Illinois has one of the highest minimum wages of any state in the nation – one that will go up again as of Thursday to $8.25 per hour (one dollar higher than what federal law requires).

Brady last week tried to appeal to those people among the Republican base who view our society from the perspective of the business owner – many of whom would have a larger profit margin if they could reduce their payroll somewhat.

But his comments that it is wrong for Illinois to think it can succeed economically by having such a higher minimum wage than the federal government literally made him appear to be callous – wanting to cut the pay of people who aren’t exactly making big bucks to begin with, and likely need every penny they’re currently taking home in order to survive.

That is what caused Brady earlier this week to backtrack somewhat.

HE SAYS IT still is wrong for Illinois to have a higher minimum wage, but he promises that if he were elected governor that there would be no further increases in the state’s minimum wage rate until the federal rate were to surpass it.

That likely will be a long ways off in the future, so what we’re learning is that people who have no options in life but to work jobs in Illinois that pay $8.25 per hour will NOT be getting a pay raise any time soon.

Unless …

They happen to live in Chicago and get a crummy paying job working for one of the Wal-Mart stores that are likely to start cropping up within the city limits.

THERE ALREADY IS a Wal-Mart in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side, and the City Council on Wednesday approved a measure that will allow Wal-Mart to build a second store – this one in the Pullman neighborhood on the city’s Far South Side.

This new Wal-Mart (along with the other proposed stores that could someday see about 20 such stores being built within Chicago) would be one of those “Super Stores” that would include a significant supermarket section along with the other goods they sell.

In fact, some have said that Wal-Mart may adapt its urban stores by focusing its attention on groceries. It could very well be that Wal-Mart sees it can make money by taking advantage of the concept of the “food desert” – the slang term for neighborhoods that just don’t have a decent modern supermarket within easy reach.

It seems that some people who live in the African-American oriented neighborhoods of that part of Chicago (Pullman, Roseland, Altgeld Gardens) aren’t that comfortable venturing into the supermarkets in surrounding neighborhoods or suburbs, and for some on the Far South Side, grocery shopping entails a lengthy trip to the Wal-Mart store that now exists in suburban Country Club Hills – a town that has developed a sizable black population in recent years.

I CAN SEE why, for someone who lives around 99th and State streets, a trip out to 167th Street and Pulaski Road is a pain in the butt.

Now how is any of this relevant to Brady or his thoughts on the minimum wage?

It seems that city officials got Wal-Mart to agree to paying a rate above Illinois’ minimum wage in order to get the city to expedite the permits necessary to allow them to build in Pullman.

City-based Wal-Mart workers will get an $8.75 per hour pay rate, along with a raise after one year on the job that will push them over $9 per hour.

WAL-MART ISN’T COMING to Chicago for any altruistic reasons about eliminating a food desert or providing benefits to the African-American communities on the Far South Side. They want to be in Chicago because they see customers who will spend their money to purchase various goods.

If in order to get these highly-desirable customers they have to pay a slightly higher wage to get workers, they will do so – even though Brady would have us believe that Illinois’ pay rate is going to cost us business.

Personally, I have always believed that one tends to get what one pays for. Perhaps it just is that we in Illinois have a higher quality of life/worker/society/etc. that makes it possible for our people to get a little bit extra.

While some businesses might very well shift to the surrounding states to try to squeeze a few extra pennies into their profit margins, businesses with sense will realize Illinois (with its dominant Chicago presence) has certain benefits those other places don’t have.

IF IT MEANS our political people ought to be thinking about how to get a larger share for our residents, then that ought to be a good thing – instead of presuming that we ought to be greatful that Wal-Mart would “bless” us with their presence within our city limits.

Which makes me wonder if Brady just can’t appreciate the concept of urban Chicago and its benefits enough to hold the top political post in Illinois state government.

-30-

A DAY IN THE LIFE (of Chicago): Will Wal-mart come to Chicago after all?

I was once in a store in the area where the Lincoln Park and Lake View neighborhoods come together when I overheard a person ask a store clerk where the local Wal-mart store was located.

The response from that particular store clerk was a semi-snotty one about how there were no Wal-marts anywhere near the area, since such stores didn’t “fit in” with the surrounding community.

WHILE I PERSONALLY do not care much for the ambiance of a Wal-mart (but my mother does), the reason I could consider that answer out of line was that this particular store was a Borders books. I’m sure there are those people who would consider that chain to have killed off independent bookstores and “ruined” the urban atmosphere just like they’ll claim Wal-mart will do if they manage to get their stores within the city limits.

So my concerns about Wal-mart aren’t along any cultural line. I can appreciate that certain neighborhoods don’t have much in the way of retail, and they would attract customers who don’t have much else in the way of shopping alternatives.

The problem with the whole Wal-mart debate, however, is that people are too eager to use that argument to get around the legitimate concerns about how they have treated their employees.

Last year, a Chicago public relations firm literally called every single residence in the city phone book, and came up with a statistic saying that three-quarters of those surveyed want the retailer within Chicago’s boundaries.

WHICH IS WHY I was glad to learn that Wal-mart is actually negotiating with the labor unions that likely would wind up trying to represent any workers at those stores. Those negotiations are being taken seriously enough that a City Council committee postponed its vote Wednesday on the Wal-mart question.

Now, we’re looking at a hearing at City Hall on June 3 where the city’s political people could be asked what to do with the Arkansas-based retailer. So we get a month to see how bad Wal-mart wants to be in Chicago. Will they agree to the above-minimum-wage that the unions want Wal-mart workers in Chicago to receive?

Considering that such an act could cut into the potential for profitability of any Chicago stores, it will be a true test of their sincerity. If Wal-mart winds up making some concessions in order to get into Chicago, our political people might wind up looking good for not giving in too quickly to the retailer – which has hinted it would like to have up to five of its stores scattered across Chicago.

What else was noteworthy about the view of the world from the southwestern shores of Lake Michigan?

FROM McCORMICK PLACE TO IMMIGRATION REFORM: Juan Ochoa has spent the past three years running the government agency that oversees McCormick Place and Navy Pier. Now, he wants to be at the forefront of the political fight over reforming the nation’s immigration laws.

Ochoa resigned as CEO of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, saying he’d like to find work with an organization that will allow him to be involved in the politicking that will take place in coming years to get changes in federal law that make it easier for people already in this country without a valid visa to remain.

He used to work for the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, although it is not likely that organization would want to get too much at the forefront of this particular issue.

Not that this move is all too altruistic. The General Assembly is considering changes in the state laws that regulate the agency, and the Chicago Tribune reported that if they get approved, then Ochoa likely would have been released from his job – to which he was appointed by then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

LET’S GO, GO-GO WHITE SOX, FAR FROM ARIZONA: Should the fact that the Chicago White Sox play in a stadium owned by Illinois government make it illegal for them to hold spring training camp in Arizona?

State Sen. Martin Sandoval, D-Chicago, said Wednesday he does not think businesses being subsidized by Illinois government should be contributing to the Arizona economy – on account of the fact that state passed a new law requiring local police to engage in vigorous enforcement of federal immigration laws.

I don’t mind Sandoval making a statement against Arizona’s conduct. I don’t even mind him suggesting that the White Sox would have been better off staying in Florida (they used to have training camp in Sarasota until White Sox owner (and Arizona resident) Jerry Reinsdorf relocated the operation.

I just find it ridiculous that the state thinks it can now bark out orders and expect the White Sox to listen. After all, the team’s lease with the state gives the White Sox virtually all the financial perks while the state has the financial obligation to maintain the building. The state lost the high ground in this area a long time ago.

-30-

Food “desert” or low-paying jobs – which is the bigger problem facing Chicago?

One of the tasks of working public relations is concocting stunts to illustrate whatever particular cause one is trying to promote (a.k.a., being paid to tout on behalf of some corporate interest).

Which means that listening to public relations pitches to write about some issue often involves hearing about absurd act taking place.

YET I GOT my chuckle when I received a press release recently (via the e-mail address provided in the right-hand column of this weblog) informing me that Serafin & Associates took it upon themselves to conduct an informal poll on behalf of Wal-mart.

As described in the release, the Chicago-based PR firm literally called every single residence listed in the Chicago “white pages” to ask whoever picked up the telephone what they thought of the idea of Wal-mart locating their stores within the city limits.

Their “survey” came up with a 74.4 percent favorable rating. In short, three-quarters of Chicagoans do not share the objections of the City Council and other political people when it comes to the company that has long viewed labor unions as a problem that stands in their way of achieving maximum profitability.

Wal-mart is using public relations executives as part of its strategy to get approval from the City Council for a new store they want to build at 83rd Street and Stewart Avenue. They’re pushing the angle of the food “desert,” which points out the fact that supermarket chains have long been reluctant to locate their stores in urban areas that do not have a sufficient Anglo population to make the neighborhood economics comply with their preferences.

THIS WOULD BE a case of Wal-mart, which in their newer stores include extensive supermarket sections, being willing to buck the trend by putting one of their stores in a location that most definitely would never be mistaken for one of the suburban or rural communities where one traditionally expects to find a Wal-mart.

By coughing up that statistic of three-quarters support from Chicagoans, it tries to show our political people as being ridiculously out-of-touch with the masses who live here. That is about the biggest sin a political person could ever commit.

But why do I have my problems accepting this statistic? First off, the idea that someone had to pull out the “white pages” and call everybody strikes me as an unenviable task. My own copy of the Chicago white pages is 1,204 pages long (and the Chicago yellow pages is twice as thick).

I don’t envy the thought of whoever had to make those calls.

BUT THIS IS one of those cases where one must really be specific about what question is being asked of those people who are being called and asked their opinion.

For if all one is asking is, “do you support fresh food being available,” then of course the answer is “yes.” I don’t think this telephone survey was that simplistic, but any attempt to portray the Chicago City Council’s past problems with Wal-mart as being that simple is a mistake.

What this really comes down to is the idea that Wal-mart sees Chicago’s inner city and doesn’t see “black” or “white.” They see “green,” as in the color of the money that would be spent by people who would shop at a Wal-mart store bearing a Chicago address.

The problem is that Wal-mart has its history of being rather proud about itself when it comes to engaging in tactics that are meant to undermine the interests of labor unions that would represent the interests of the employees at their stores.

LIKEWISE, CHICAGO POLITICAL people are of a breed that sees the labor unions as an interest that needs to at least be tolerated, if not cooperated with.

So city officials have always been reluctant to have Wal-mart, which has countered by setting up stores in the suburban communities adjacent to Chicago (in some cases, right across the street from the city limits).

If it sounds like I think the hassles Wal-mart is getting is part of the price they need to pay for their past actions with regard to organized labor, then perhaps I’m just too urban in my perspective on life and society to ever be accepted by those who think Wal-mart is a part of what makes this country’s culture so great.

When I see a Wal-mart worker, I see someone who is probably working his (or her) butt off for a low-paying job because circumstances are such that they probably don’t have much in the way of alternatives. Most of these jobs are definitely not paying the kind of salaries that anyone could seriously support a family with.

THIS IS A fact that Wal-mart is trying to obscure by bringing up the food “desert” issue, which is a legitimate one. I have seen the older neighborhoods where going grocery shopping is a significant ordeal because it entails a trip.

It is also an issue that I feel fortunate not to suffer from these days (living all of one block from Jewel Foods supermarket, and within a five-minute car drive from at least four other supermarkets).

But the idea that this problem somehow ought to be used to ignore the serious concerns of Wal-mart employment is ridiculous.

The bottom line is that if Wal-mart were really so disgusted with Chicago politicians that they couldn’t bear the thought of dealing with City Hall, they’d have gone away a long time ago.

INSTEAD, THEY KEEP coming back with proposals because they see the city’s shoppers and they want our money.

If in the process Wal-mart has to make some concessions to the way they usually conduct business in order to get their foot in the Chicago door to sell us goods and get our money, then that is a good thing.

It might very well be that for once, City Hall is looking out for the public’s interests.

We’d better not get too used to it, however. Because it will be just a matter of moments before our aldermen figure out some other issue on which they can benefit themselves.

-30-