Sept. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Macy's Inc. is still feeling the wrath of Chicago shoppers.

A year after Chicago's iconic downtown department store was renamed Macy's from Marshall Field's, some Chicagoans are still complaining.

More than 100 protesters marched near the store's landmark clock at the corner of State and Washington streets yesterday. They called on Chicagoans to boycott Macy's until the company restores the Field's name and a piece of Chicago history.

``Field's is part of Chicago; Macy's isn't,'' said Chicagoan Brenda Beaver, 40, a computer technician dressed in 19th-century garb to honor the store's rise to prominence in the late 1800s. ``I hope that they will recognize that Chicagoans love Marshall Field's and they change the name back.''

Macy's, then operating as Federated Department Stores, enraged Chicago when it acquired the Marshall Field's stores in 2005 and began shifting to Macy's house brands. The flagship Chicago store is a Chicago landmark on par with Wrigley Field, home to the Chicago Cubs baseball team, and the art deco Board of Trade building, said author David Garrard Lowe.

``It's one of the real Chicago institutions,'' said Lowe, whose ``Lost Chicago'' (Watson Guptill Publications, 2000, $29.95.) chronicles the city's vanished buildings and institutions. ``People came from all over. Field's was more than a store to a lot of people.''

Protesters groused about the loss of Field's customer service, which they said was helpful rather than pushy.

Staying Away

``I don't intend to go into the store,'' said Yolanda Imhoff, 89, of Evanston, who rejected a Macy's charge card she received in the mail after the change. ``They don't have the good name brands and they don't have the customer service.''

Art historian Rolf Achilles agreed.

``Macy's is fine for Manhattan, but not Chicago,'' said Achilles, 60, a Chicago native and member of the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois, as he marched with the protesters. ``The quality of the products has dropped.''

Macy's has made merchandise improvements such as introducing an exclusive Martha Stewart product line and is ``more focused on delivering improved customer service than we ever have been,'' said Jennifer McNamara, a Macy's spokeswoman.

A City's Distaste

The company is paying a price for alienating Chicago customers, even though second-quarter profit exceeded analyst estimates. Chief Financial Officer Karen Hoguet acknowledged May 18 that sales at the State Street store were ``doing badly, but we feel we can turn around the performance.''

Shares of Cincinnati-based Macy's have fallen 26 percent since it dropped the Marshall Field's name, from $40.41 last Sept. 11 to $29.76 at the close of New York Stock Exchange composite trading on Sept. 9.

``It's a very unorthodox and major mistake to give the Marshall Field's name the death penalty in Chicago,'' said Burt Flickinger, managing director of New York-based consulting firm Strategic Resource Group.

The store's corner facade still bears brass plates declaring ``Marshall Field and Company.'' Awnings over its windows tout ``Macy's on State Street.''

Catering to `Ladies'

Complaints began soon after plans for relabeling the stores were announced. The Chicago Tribune newspaper wrote in a Sept. 21, 2005, editorial that the switch was as unimaginable as renaming Wrigley Field after Yankee Stadium in New York.

``Macy's on State Street?'' the paper said. ``Yeesh.''

Traditionalists hark back to the role founder Marshall Field played in shaping Chicago as a businessman and a philanthropist. He moved to the city from New York in the 1850s, starting as a clerk in a dry-goods store. Field built the current store, which takes up a city block, after earlier ones were destroyed by fire.

His ``grand emporium'' became a favorite of the wealthy because it imported goods from Europe and specialized in catering to women, according to John Tebbel's 1947 book ``The Marshall Fields: A Study in Wealth.'' Field was the first to put a restaurant inside his store and to provide restrooms for women. Among his mottos: ``Give the lady what she wants.''

Tradition or not, Macy's has no plans to restore the Marshall Field's name, McNamara said. She had no fresh statistics on the store's sales since Hoguet's comments in May.

``The decision is 100 percent decided,'' said McNamara, whose chain is second only to Sears Holdings Corp. in the U.S. based on annual sales. ``It was made well over a year ago and we believe it was the right decision to make for our company.''

`Just Criminal'

Macy's changed its name from Federated in May. Besides 64 Field's stores, it has renamed Lazarus, Hecht's, Filene's, Robinson-May and other former regional chains.

``We researched 40,000 of our customers.'' McNamara said. ``They don't want to be stuck in the past.''

Perhaps some of them do. At the rally, Diane Lassan was one of six women in 19th-century garb. The 55-year-old librarian at Kent State University flew from Ohio to protest.

``This was just criminal,'' she said. ``Field's was Chicago.''

Rally leader Michael Moran shouted into his megaphone: ``Give the lady what she wants!''

In unison, marchers replied: ``She wants Marshall Field's!''

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Harris in Chicago at aharris16@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 10, 2007 12:09 EDT