Terry Lundgren threatens to strangle America’s retailing history with his bare hands:

Well, it looks like fewer than 100 malls are truly threatened by the merger. What I’m worried about is the forthcoming death of perhaps a dozen regional department store names — each of them with a longstanding connection to regional histories and, for Filene’s and Field’s, a strong connection to some great American stories. In fact, I’d be genuinely mad if the Field’s name were axed–I’m not even from the Midwest and moved to Chicago precisely because it seemed distant and unknown, and yet the brand still meant something to me upon my arrival. Macy’s, on the other hand, never excited me.

The newspaper accounts I’ve scanned from Chicago, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, and New York are pretty evenly split about the chance of Federated retiring Field’s, although the analysts who predict its death seem more certain. In the press conference, Lundgren left the possibility of keeping Field’s and Lord & Taylor alive after market research. On the other hand, there may not be enough ex-May stores in the Upper Midwest to permit Federated to do a full rollout of Macy’s while keeping one or two other brands around.

Interestingly, the Economist wrote in 2003 that Field’s should focus on making State Street into a showplace — and made the inevitable link to Selfridges. As recent accounts have pointed out, though, Selfridges has all of four stores, and Federated now has nearly a thousand.

The trick for a showcase, typically a flagship store in a big city centre, is to keep the customers rolling in. That means being an attraction in its own right, and a place where interesting things are always happening…

To find a role model for the future, Marshall Field’s should look to its own history. A century ago, Gordon Selfridge worked his way up from stock boy to a partnership in the Chicago business before setting off to make his fortune overseas. In 1909, he opened what eventually became a similar sort of department store in London. Called Selfridges, it put London’s Oxford Street firmly on the map.

Selfridges is today the undisputed champion of the showcase business model. From a dowdy me-too store going nowhere, its transformation was led by Vittorio Radice, a former chief executive. Mr Radice has since joined Marks & Spencer, with a brief to transform its home wares. About half of Selfridges’ floor area is now occupied by concessions. True, many department stores have areas within them dedicated to different brands, but the difference at Selfridges is that the vendors are strongly encouraged to be creative: the store wants exciting, vibrant areas that not only look very different, but do different things (such as body piercing).

The story also had this cheeky illustration of how Americans shop: