Department-Store Superstar

For 127 years, shopping on Chicago's State Street meant one thing: Marshall Field's, the hallmark department store that has stood at that address since the White Sox were the White Stockings. Come September, the store's new parent, Federated Department Stores, will rechristen it Macy's, and loyal Marshall Field's customers are both angry and genuinely sad. "For some chain to come into Chicago and think we're New York is totally misguided," says June Cuci, 48, who has been shopping at Field's since her childhood. Even film critic Roger Ebert lamented the loss. "I thought the day would never come," he wrote. "I am looking at my Field's charge card, which I just cut up into tiny pieces. They look like little tears the color of money."

Sentimental shoppers will have a lot to cry about in the coming months. With the merger last year between department-store chains Federated and May, 78 stores are going to close. But Macy's, with its name attached to more than 800 stores, will soon expand as big as a balloon in its Thanksgiving Day parade. The majority of the hometown retailers owned by May, including Marshall Field's, will be converted to the Macy's nameplate this fall, among them Kaufmann's in Pittsburgh, Pa.; Filene's in Boston; Strawbridge's in Philadelphia; Foley's in Houston; Famous-Barr in St. Louis, Mo.; and Robinsons-May in Southern California. Federated has already renamed South Florida's Burdine's, Bon Marché in the Northwest, Rich's in Atlanta and Lazarus in Ohio. Only May's Lord & Taylor chain has retained its name--and it is up for sale.

It is all part of Federated CEO Terry Lundgren's plan to make Macy's a truly national department store. "This hasn't been done before," Lundgren told TIME. "Macy's is a great brand that has never been maximized to its full potential." After decades of bankruptcies, closings and consolidation in the industry, Macy's may soon be the last traditional, mid-priced mall-based American department store standing. Its future matters not just to Federated shareholders but also to a $100 billion chunk of the retail economy. Everyone from fashion designers to cosmetics companies to small-town malls is praying that Lundgren's strategy works. Department stores have struggled for years: they've cut service, cut prices, cut inventory and still lost customers to cheaper (Wal-Mart) or more stylish (Kohl's, Target) discounters and to specialty stores (Nordstrom) with top-end service. Millions of Americans, especially in the nation's midsection, will soon have their first chance to shop at Macy's. The company now has to give them a reason to do so.