Marshall Field's: finally some shoppers!
Things were much more lively by 9:30 this morning. In front of Marshall Field's on State Street crowds gathered around the store's famous window displays.
I cornered one of the Salvation Army bell ringers and asked about the crowd. "The crowds are hyped," he said in-between rings. That was sort of a vague so motioning toward his bucket I asked him how the donations were so far. He frowned, "That's a little slow."
Inside the store was moderately busy as people pressed pass each other. One salesperson theorized that most of Chicago decided to have a big breakfast before hitting the stores and noted that the store had grown, "significantly busy in the last half an hour." He also shot down my theory that the cold would keep shoppers away. "Are you kidding? This IS Chicago."
Outside I saw a lonely busker playing Christmas tunes on his sax. The buskers have definitely been slow to appear this morning.
Watch for my in-depth report on Field's later today.