Field's of Green

A report in Crain's Chicago Business says Marshall Field's, the department store division of Target Corp. (Minneapolis), is planning to lease significant portions of its State Street flagship in Chicago to outside vendors and designers as part of a broad undertaking known inside the company as the “Green Door Project.”

According to people familiar with the plans, Field's has also tapped Target's advertising team to launch a “green” campaign on St. Patrick's Day aimed at bolstering the State Street store's identity even as the store fractures into many shops.

Crain's says a signature green plaid is in the works, slated to appear on Field's shopping bags, private-label pajamas and handbags and in the store's decor.

Target has evidently been grappling with how to make use of the store's cavernous space since buying the chain in 1990. Over the years, the parent company — which was then known as Dayton Hudson Corp. — has been moving Field's executive headquarters to Minneapolis and closing various elements within the store, such as the Frango candy kitchen.

Currently, Field's reportedly uses less than half the State Street space — about 800,000 square feet — for selling, according to people familiar with the operation. The store generates sales of about $250 a square foot, or roughly $200 million annually, says Crain's, citing industry sources. That compares with what analysts estimate is a $525-a-square-foot sales figure in the 1.2 million square feet of selling space at the Macy's Herald Square store.

“Field's has an opportunity to be something special that you can only find in Chicago,” a local commercial developer told Crain's. “You've got too many department stores that are too homogenized. People are looking for something different.”