urbanSTL

Great pics (as usual), Matguy. Some of those storefront windows probably haven't seen the light of day in years - I hope Macy's opens them all up!

mcarril wrote:I noticed today that the Famous Barr plaques on the corners have not been replaced with Macy's plaques. I wonder if they are going to leave those few plaques as a remembrance of sort or if they just haven't been switched out yet.

They are leaving the Famous Barr plaques on the corners of the building.

Am I mistaken to think that Famous Barr/Macy's is the same building as the "St. Louis Centre" ? When visiting about 2 weeks ago, I noticed the construction and things, then walked to an exit in to what appeared to be a mall at one time. An associate of Macy's told me that they were getting ready to turn them in to lofts. It was quite creepy, really, the entire building was empty, and one of four escalators were running, making a horror-movie creaking sound.



I was also told that the walkway that leads to another building across the street was being torn down. What is on the other side?



I'm sorry, I'm not from St. Louis, so I am usually driving too timidly to take notice of these things!

Juice13610 wrote:Am I mistaken to think that Famous Barr/Macy's is the same building as the "St. Louis Centre" ? When visiting about 2 weeks ago, I noticed the construction and things, then walked to an exit in to what appeared to be a mall at one time. An associate of Macy's told me that they were getting ready to turn them in to lofts. It was quite creepy, really, the entire building was empty, and one of four escalators were running, making a horror-movie creaking sound.



I was also told that the walkway that leads to another building across the street was being torn down. What is on the other side?



I'm sorry, I'm not from St. Louis, so I am usually driving too timidly to take notice of these things!

http://www.urbanstl.com/viewtopic.php?t=2035

http://www.urbanstl.com/viewtopic.php?t=2037

Juice13610 wrote:Am I mistaken to think that Famous Barr/Macy's is the same building as the "St. Louis Centre" ? When visiting about 2 weeks ago, I noticed the construction and things, then walked to an exit in to what appeared to be a mall at one time. An associate of Macy's told me that they were getting ready to turn them in to lofts. It was quite creepy, really, the entire building was empty, and one of four escalators were running, making a horror-movie creaking sound.



I was also told that the walkway that leads to another building across the street was being torn down. What is on the other side?



I'm sorry, I'm not from St. Louis, so I am usually driving too timidly to take notice of these things!

Famous and St Louis Center are two different buildings, connected by a ghastly skybridge. St Louis Center is also attached (by another ghastly skybridge) to the Dillard's building at the other end.



And yes, it is quite creepy, especially when you see some of the people who shop in there.

The Central Scrutinizer wrote:

Juice13610 wrote:Am I mistaken to think that Famous Barr/Macy's is the same building as the "St. Louis Centre" ? When visiting about 2 weeks ago, I noticed the construction and things, then walked to an exit in to what appeared to be a mall at one time. An associate of Macy's told me that they were getting ready to turn them in to lofts. It was quite creepy, really, the entire building was empty, and one of four escalators were running, making a horror-movie creaking sound.



I was also told that the walkway that leads to another building across the street was being torn down. What is on the other side?



I'm sorry, I'm not from St. Louis, so I am usually driving too timidly to take notice of these things!

Famous and St Louis Center are two different buildings, connected by a ghastly skybridge. St Louis Center is also attached (by another ghastly skybridge) to the Dillard's building at the other end.



And yes, it is quite creepy, especially when you see some of the people who shop in there.

Juice, there are several threads discussing various aspects of Saint Louis Centre -- I won't go into them all, but a brief recap on the center:



It was built in the early 1980s, to connect St. Louis's two remaining local department store chains, Famous-Barr and Stix, Baer & Fuller. By the time the project got underway, Dillards had bought Stix from Associated Dry Goods, and they never seemed to be as committed to the project as Stix was. The mall itself was nice and busy when it opened, and it had things like St. Louis's first Abercrombie & Fitch -- this was in a time when Abercrombie was more upscale and didn't have a store in every mall. However, the project failed to take advantage of its downtown location. No stores opened to the streets, and in fact the main level of the mall was on the second floor. Parking for the center was adequate, but complicated for suburban visitors to find. Then the Galleria expanded, and that was the end of it.



In any case, repurposing the building as office / condos and street-level retail is the best idea, except maybe tearing the whole thing down and building a new highrise. I'm glad Macy's appears to be committed to making their DT store a destination. The only things that is sad about this area is that Stix didn't make it. The Baer and Fuller families were quite involved in St. Louis philanthropy and culture. Dilliards just operates stores here.

Grand opening this Fri or Sat.??? Is there any online advertisement for this?

People in my office received an e-mail from Macy's - there's a block party on Friday from 11:15 to 1:30, with a ceremony at noon. They're serving hot dogs and there will be music and other stuff.



I'll be stopping by for a little lunch - anyone else going?

connected by a ghastly skybridge

Well, they are ow - but Macy's has closed their entrances to the mall - thankfully. as of Sunday 09/03

We all know the St Louis Centre Washington Ave bridge is coming down. Does anyone know if the one to Macy's is? I assume so. I just haven't heard anyone say it.

^

I believe that Pyramid is removing the Macy's connection as well.

DeBaliviere wrote:People in my office received an e-mail from Macy's - there's a block party on Friday from 11:15 to 1:30, with a ceremony at noon. They're serving hot dogs and there will be music and other stuff.



I'll be stopping by for a little lunch - anyone else going?

I'm not working on Friday, but I'll have my 3 year-old in tow wherever I go, so I may be there. We'll see.



Have you- or has anyone else- heard anything about other events planned for Macy's stores around the area? I was thumbing through this month's Chicago Magazine, and Macy's had four or five pages of ads, including a list of events at the State Street flagship and suburban locations. I know the activities won't be as extensive here as they will at the erstwhile Marshall Field's stores, but I hope there will still be some events throughout the weekend at the downtown and suburban stores.



I figure Macy's will at least run ads in the print version of the Post-Disgrace, but I almost always read the online edition.

Just strolled through the DT store and hope that if there is an event planned for Friday, they have some sort of plan to announce it??? Seems odd there's no mention or signage in the store.

They announced the Macy's street party on KMOV TV the other night and they have invite cards in the store... one was handed to me upon arrival at the doors Sunday. I have seen postings online too.



This was in the Biz Journal too:



http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/ ... rround=lfn



Miracle on Olive Street

St. Louis Business Journal - August 23, 2006



Workers prepared the storefronts of downtown's Famous-Barr store Wednesday for the transition to Federated Department Stores' flagship nameplate, Macy's.



After months of preparation, more than 400 former May Department Stores locations across the country will officially relaunch Sept. 9 as Macy's. In St. Louis and elsewhere, analysts and industry insiders are generally optimistic the moves will benefit both Federated and consumers.



Federated plans to throw a block party Sept. 8 outside its downtown store on Olive Street. Celebrations will be staged at all Macy's locations the next day. Over the following week, Macy's stores will feature fashion shows, cooking demonstrations and children's activities to lure customers through their doors. A Macy's hot air balloon will participate in the Great Forest Park Balloon Race Sept. 16.



Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores (NYSE: FD) operates nearly 950 department stores and more than 700 bridal and formalwear stores in 49 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico.

Thank you for the info as we had confusion in the office over what was the date for the DT opening (8th or 9th).

The new black awnings are up and they look really good!

KTVI (of course) had a story on tonight's 5:00 news about the changes.

I haven't been downtown since Saturday night, and it's been almost two weeks since I've been inside the store, so I was blown away by the changes I saw on the news tonight. The main level looks better, and the windows and awnings have given the street elevation on all sides a new lease on life. These are changes and improvements Famous should've made years ago.

I don't know if I'll make it to tomorrow's events, so hopefully they'll have some events at the downtown store on Saturday as they are doing at their other stores in the area.

EDIT: An ad in Thursday's Post-Dispatch states that a ribbon cutting ceremony will be held Saturday at 9:30 a.m. at all Macy's locations.

And I guess I'll have to buy that Macy's exclusive John Pils print, since I own several of his prints already.

I think this is great for the city. Personally, I think Macys is a more recognizable brand name across america (think Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade) and will resonate with tourists more so than FB used to. I know people will miss the old FB name, logos, history etc., but life moves on. Plus, if they're really going to give it a real department store look and feel, and it succeeds in the face of internet shopping, 'lifestyle centers' like the boulevard and other retailing competition, then it will prove that downtown can handle other large-scale pseudo department stores (like borders, best buy, old navy, etc)

^Yep, my thoughts exactly, miguel.

Watching TV last night here in Chicago, I saw a commercial for Macy's. It was pretty cool, it was a flyover of sketched cities including STL. In fact, STL had it's name mentioned multiple times in the ad "jingle". It definately sounds like they are proud of the STL transition and want to make the nation aware of it.



I think I also mentioned that I saw a huge advertisement in the Marshall Fields in downtown Chicago. It showed a sketch of downtown Chicago, STL, and NYC (maybe ?) all scrunched together. Very neat.

Ch. 4 interviewed the Macy's Midwest president this morning. The party today is to be high energy dancing-in-the-streets themed with different bands including Nikko Smith.



I'd guess it will also have a feel of resurrection from the dead; a Lazarus theme would have also worked!

Interesting! This seems to fit with the menswear ad booklet I received yesterday. The cover has a white-and-gray silhouette of NYC on the cover (Empire State and Chrysler building), but when you open it up, the inside front cover features a composite skyline with the Sears Tower, Arch, Spaceneedle, and some palm trees. I guess there aren't any noteworthy buildings to represent Los Angeles.

http://www.macys.com

^ The Macy's main page has an animation that includes the skyline mix. It goes, from left to right: California (palm trees), Seattle (Space Needle), St Louis (Arch... in the center), Chicago (Sears tower), and New York (Empire State Building).