And A Happy 5th of July To You!

Hoping everyone is having a wonderful July 4th
weekend. Another anniversary occurs this weekend, albeit one far less
significant – today is the 7th anniversary of Pleasant Family
Shopping, which began on July 5, 2007.



Over those seven years, 315 posts have appeared (a too-small
percentage of them appearing in 2013 and 2014 – a trend I hope to reverse), and
as always, your comments have

My Trip to the French Market.

It was the happiest of coincidences. In the late summer of
2010, I spent a day in the Kansas City area visiting customers with a co-worker
who was based there. Most of our meetings were on the “Kansas side” of town (as
opposed to the “Missouri side”), which was largely new to me at the time.  We wrapped up in the late afternoon and
adjourned to a local

Chicago's "Big Snow", January 1967

One of the most storied events in Chicagoland history took
place 47 years ago this week. From early morning on January 26, 1967 through
about 10am the following day, 23 inches of snow fell, and a city that had long
prided itself on an ability to push through harsh winters was brought to a
standstill. There have been other record-setting snowstorms in Chicago in the
years since – in 1979, 2011,

Christmas at Macy's Herald Square, 1962

Hope that everyone is having a great Christmas Eve! Today was
unusual (read: awesome) for me in that I didn’t have to do any last-minute
Christmas shopping, save for a few items from the grocery store.



One thing’s for sure, though – if I could shop in a store like
the one pictured above, I wouldn’t have minded a bit!



This, of course, is the renowned R.H. Macy & Co.
flagship store

A Jewel of a Thanksgiving

Picture this:  you’re
seven years old, and living in an apartment complex with indoor corridors. One
fine November morning as you step outside to leave for school, you notice a
newspaper with your Mom’s picture on the front page, sitting on every doorstep.
Well, that’s exactly what happened to me in November of 1970.



It wasn’t a newspaper in this case, of course, but rather a
weekly

Dominick's on TV in the 70's

“And if you’re looking for squid…”



I thought these would make nice companion pieces to the
Dominick’s post from last week. Three early 70’s-vintage TV commercials for Dominick’s,
shown here courtesy of Rick Klein’s incredible Museum of Classic Chicago Television ("Fuzzy Memories")website. Believe me, anyone who grew up in Chicago in the late 20th
century could while away days there, and

The Dynamic Dominick's

Last Thursday, a couple of longtime PFS friends clued me in on some important breaking retail news from Chicago, before I noticed it in the business headlines myself. Dominick’s Finer Foods, the number two traditional supermarket chain in Chicago, is being put up for sale by its owner of the last fifteen years, Safeway. 

That night, I put up a few comments