Yeah, Same for Dayton's in Minneapolis. I really feel like Dayton's and MF were more upscale than Macy's. Macy's feels almost tacky compared to those stores. Anyway, they carry on some of the old Daytons traditions at the Minneapolis store...but it isn't quite the same. For example, each Christmas there is a sort of walk through diorama presentation on the 8th floor...before Macy's, it was custom made each year with a different theme...different fairy tales usually. Since Macy's, it is the same one every year "Life of an Elf" or something like that. They still put some money into it, they added a puppet show this year. It just isn't the same to take your kids downtown each year to see the same presentation.
They also still do the flower show on the 8th floor auditorium each year.
Haha, here is a kind of funny commentary on the situation by a local:
http://minnesota-life.tumblr.com/pos...istmas-display
History of Dayton's...yes the same Dayton family that is the governor of MN right now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayton's
To summarize, opening in 1902, Dayton's became quite the entity...started Target in the early 60s, took over Hudson's out of Detroit in the late 60s, started B. Dalton book stores in 66(to later be sold to Barnes and Noble, and then closed), acquired Mervyn's in 1978(Making Dayton's holdings the 7th largest retailer in the US)...bought out Marshall Fields in 1990...Changed the name of the whole company to Target Corp around 2000, and then sold off all of the traditional dept stores to focus on the big player, Target. I think not a ton of people know the relationship between all of these places.
With such a history, a lot of Minnesotans are still sad that Dayton's is no more.
The original 1902 store (with 2 large additions that were added in the 40s and 60s you can see wrapping the original) still stands as macy's on Nicollet Mall.
The store has now been pared down to 5 levels of retail, from the former 7+. There is also the "Skyroom" on the 12th floor, which is a popular food court with great views.