I Never Knew Selfridges Was Founded By An American.

[mawnansmiff]

"Harry Gordon Selfridge introduced a whole new shopping experience, one honed in the department stores of late-19th Century America."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40448607
Regards,
Jay.

 

[craiginthecorn]

The BBC/PBS series was really good. Not only was he American, he was a Wisconsin-born Chicagoan who learned his trade at our beloved Marshall Field's. Sadly, Field's is now part of Macy's. At least I have a Field Select pipe in my collection! A prince made for them by Comoy's. Coincidentally, I own the Comoy's version of the very same pipe. I think I'll smoke the Field Select today. I also have an early Kaywoodie Drinkless bearing the logo of another formerly great Chicago department store -- Sears,Roebuck and Co.

 

[warren]

And, may wife preferred them to Harrod's. The atmosphere and, quite frankly, the clientele. Never asked her to articulate why. Wished I had now.

 

[mso489]

To follow on craig's post, I grew up in Chicagoland, where Marshall Fields was THE classy department store. It was like the temple of retail. Long after I left the area, when it was sold to Macy's (which isn't a bad retail chain, but steps below what Marshall Fields used to be) I figured my maternal grandmother was spinning in her grave. Fields was her shopping icon. Lesser stores were the "very nice" Carson Pierrie Scott, all the way down to Goldblatt's, which was sort of an early-day discounter. Fields is on State Street about two or three blocks from the lakeshore, and in the 1950's their Christmas windows were second to none.

 

[jpmcwjr]

The Selfridge's drama on TV was rather long.
I thought that Carson Pirie Scott was owned by Field's.... Anyone know for sure?

 

[condorlover1]

Apparently Mr. Selfridge was quite old goat when it came bonking everything that moved!

 

[mso489]

...like The Young Mr. Grace on the BBC classic sitcom about a department store "Are You Being Served."

 

[craiginthecorn]

No, Carson's was never owned by Field's. Like you, Field's was my elegant grandmother's store of choice. Frango mints aren't the same since production moved from Chicago.
Here's a history of Carson's

 

[craiginthecorn]

As it happened, although we lived in Westchester, we had a Field's, a Carson's, a Sears, and a Goldblatt's within a few miles of home. Another famous Chicago-based catalog retailer, Montgomery Ward, was just a bit further, but it was a notch or two below Sears.