When Macy's took over MF, I thought it would have been smarter to make it a Bloomingdale's, as that was Macy's high-end store. Instead, they made it a regular Macy's (albeit a gargantuan one), and went from selling super high-end clothing to essentially making Polo by Ralph Lauren their premium offering.

I remember my mom dragging me to the MF in Oak Park (Harlem and Lake), and even that location was pretty fancy. It's sad to drive by it now....I don't even know what store is occupying the building now.

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sounds hot. she probably sold a lot of high end jewelry!

They had like a whole army of full time gift wrappers. you'd drop off your stuff, come back in a bit and they'd be all wrapped up nice and neat. I think it was free for a basic service, but you could get big elaborate bows and ribbons etc. if you wanted to pay extra. I *think* all these people may have been unionized.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

My office.

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When I moved to Gurnee back in 1991 Gurnee Mills was just opening. The place to go as a high schooler was still Lakehurst since Gurnee didn’t get a movie theater until years after it opened. My first wife worked at Lady Footlocker at Lakehurst for a number of years in the mid 90s. I worked at Foot Locker in Gurnee Mills from 93-95 or so back when it was essentially a huge outlet store. Good gig overall and good discounts of shoes.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Terry's Peeps = colonizer

I've tried a couple times to get to the roof and raise my flag above all of Oak Park/River Forest to no avail.

Maybe 2020 is the year.

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Be careful what you wish for when heading to the rooftops in Oak Park. spmack has seen shit that will turn you white!

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That was me, and I believe it was in Austin.

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Peeps has good eyesight. He can probably see all the way to Austin from his office's roof.

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My Dad had a lot to do with the development of Gurnee in the late 80s/early 90s. The Almond Road Extension, widening of Grand Avenue at Gurnee Mills, The Walmart & Sam's Club, Basically everything from Hunt Club to the west.

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@audioidkid

well that's a hell of a commute.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

I lived in Evergreen Park from 2001 to 2006...but grew up and currently live in Lake County.

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@audioidkid

where'd you grow up?

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

Round Lake until 1983, then Fox Lake until I graduated H.S., parents moved to Vernon Hills in 98. We're in Grayslake now near Renwood Golf Course.

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@audioidkid

jeez, for 10 years I'm thinking you're a south sider.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

mostly the Plaza
and occasionally Chicago Ridge or Ford City

the Plaza had Peaches and later Coconuts right across the street in that strip mall

I asked the bagman about changing my profile name but he said it couldn't happen or some shit...so, I left it as is versus starting a new account.

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@audioidkid

Did any other northwest suburbanites go to the Town & Country Mall back when it was a small indoor mall? I remember the arcade, of course, and a Kroch's & Brentano's, but not much else. It got redeveloped into a plain old strip mall by 1996 or so; I think the whole interior concourse just became an Old Country Buffet or something.

EDIT: Garibaldi's, of course! I always got the chocolate-vanilla soft serve swirl.

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My memories are from the late 70s and early 80s. So, I’ll stick with the simpler time.

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We all have private ails. The troublemakers are they who need public cures for their private ails.- Eric Hoffer

Does the guy know what a Stinkin Lincoln used to refer to?

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Interesting. I've always found Gurnee an interesting case study. They have a 4-way interchange on 94, all the commercial and industrial businesses a town could hope for, yet they still seem very much run like a mom and pop shop.

No indictment to your Dad, as in terms of civil engineering, I'd say he kicked ass. Just seems they're schools should be a hell of a lot better.

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There's a blast from the past. They had a store on the corner of Clark/Jackson near my office at the CBOT. When they went under, it became an Osco's Drug store for a while, but that space been empty for over ten years now.

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I grew up in Greenbriar (Palatine and Kennicott)....spent a lot of time at T&C...it was still a mall, albeit akin to the dirt mall in Mallrats around 02-03...became a strip mall around 04-05. Good movie theater. The Old Country Buffet. Garibaldi's...I can remember there being a pet store when I was a kid. There was a Waldenbooks that got turned into a used book and music store around 97-98...used to get some good finds in there. Don't forget the Service Merchandise as one of the anchors.

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I remember the Service Merchandise near the HIP. It was like a poor man's ABT...pick out your items and then wait by the conveyor belt.

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the only one i remember at all was across from Ford City
But i do remember being in there a few times. It definitely felt different

Northbrook Court or Hawthorne. Deerbrook for the movie theater. Deerbrook was the first dead mall that I remember. It was dying back in the 90s.

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Service Merchandise went into the old McDade's in Palatine I think. I recall McDade's had a great toy selection, at least I thought so when I was about 6 years old. I think I got the Happy Days board game there.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

Same. No clue why they tried to be Kohl’s (everything on sale/coupons galore) rather than going upscale closer to Nordstrom. As an aside, Macy’s was my worst performing trading stock last year. It is sitting on real estate worth more than its market cap. I am in it for the crazy dividend yield.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

Yes. They had the pet store with a mean monkey named tiki. That thing was a song of a bitch. We went there for the arcade and buffet.

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Hawaii (fuck) You