Check out the Robinsons-May website, read its Sunday circulars or shop in one of the chain's stores, and you'd never know that we're in the final months, weeks and days of the department store's existence.
After all, the store is still hyping its Robinsons-May credit card (hmm, a collector's item soon?) and looking to hire new employees, as if nothing were about to change.
There's sort of a blissful ignorance to their advertising, as if it's not really true -- are you sure Federated is about to eliminate the brand, closing down several shops and turning the rest into Macy's outposts?
Oh, it's true. And these days, the store's "Always Something Exciting!" tagline almost seems ominous -- exciting, as in shutting down a bunch of stores and putting over a thousand staffers at May Co.'s North Hollywood offices out of work? Exciting.
I guess there's no good reason for Robinsons-May to start sounding the trumpets over its impending death, particularly since the stores will mostly look and feel the same, save a freshly slapped "Macy's" sticker to cover up the Robinsons-May logo throughout its stores.
Besides, Federated's decision to eliminate the Robinsons-May brand next year hasn't been met with much opposition in Los Angeles, where I guess we're just used to seeing our institutions disappear with regularity.
The lack of any organized effort to save Robinsons-May makes sense: The store's name doesn't quite have the historic cache, given that it's only been around since 1994 (when the real legendary names, Robinson's and the May Co., merged). Still, it's the last hurrah for L.A.'s department store institutions, which have all now faded from sight.
The mood is much more somber in Chicago, where even Mayor Daley was moved to express his displeasure over Federated's decision to eliminate the storied Marshall Field's brand and turn them into more Macy's locations.
The online Keep It Field's site has already collected 30,000 signatures, and hasn't given up its fight to save the Marshall Field's name.
Mitch Glaser has a thorough roundup of the Marshall Field's efforts here, and also recounts the history of Robinsons-May here.
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