Graywings wrote: I think we all sort of knew that the home-town stores like Marshall Fields in Chicago, Hechts in Washington, DC, Kaufmann's (or was it Hornes?) in Pittsburgh were owned by conglomerates. But speaking as a shopper, I think it was a mistake to homogenize them as Macy's. It felt like we were losing part of the city's identity. I'm pretty sure most people don't know and it's evident if you listen and read to what they say and write. Who cares what a store is named? So, basically it would be okay to shop at Field's even though it's a 100% Macy's store? Where was all of this clamor when the discount mass merchandiser, one small step above WalMart, Target owned Field's for over 10 years? Why weren't people crying then? Oh wait, they left the name alone. So, even though you were shopping in a glorified Target/Dayton-Hudson store that wasn't anything close to the original Marshall Field's, it was okay because they *called* it Marshall Field's? Got it. People with handouts about bringing Marshall Field's back in front on the State St. store are laughable and silly at best. How exactly are they going to accomplish that? I'd love to meet some of these retail geniuses. From their website: Our group continues to work hard to restore this icon's distinctively Chicago quality, service and culture, as well as the name "Marshall Field's." What? There has not been a Marshall Field's culture in Chicago for at least 30 years - where have all of these brilliant business people been?

I bought 2 beds from Jcpenney for my boys (the Canyon) but they are out of stock until 11/30 so I can't speak for the quality. However, this bed is the clone of PB's Sumatra and cost 279 vs 1500. For children's bed I would go cheap (especially w/ girls) because once they hit their teens they surely want something else. I have a lot of furniture from PB and not all of them are good quality. For example, I have the large ARIS desk (retail 1200) and last night, the keyboard broke off when my DS leaned on it. The wood piece that held up the bracket is actually made of very soft wood and splintered to pieces. I am surely glad I only paid 100$ for that desk (via Craiglist)otherwise I would cry! :-) My friends all have PB's beds for their kids (it's a yuppy thing) and they told me PB doesn't hold up very well for the price. If you want heirloom quality furniture, I would just get it custom made. I got the price quoted and it's about 600-800 for a full size bed (also depend on the wood species but if you are getting painted it would be cheaper). Sorry for a long post. For me, PB is not worth the price. I either go really cheap or just go custom (if you want to keep the piece for future grand kids). My DD has a handcrafted 2ndhanded bed and it's still going strong at 20+ years. I bought it from a lady whose DD was going for college and doesn't need the bed anymore. Have you checked out this site? http://www.laylagrayce.com/searchresulthome.aspx?CategoryID=45 They sell beds by this company -- bradshaw kirchofer which I totally love. The price is in line w/ PB but you can also get your carpenter do it for cheaper, or if you have a designer friend, I think they give designer discount. http://www.bradshawkirchofer.com/500CAN.htm good luck and sorry for the long post. ;-)

Thanks, everyone! It's nice to hear from people who've had good experiences. Now I'm even more eager to receive that lamp. Hope other people find this thread and get that free shipping, esp w/yayagal's code (not sure how long mine is good for). I think Fortunoff is having a huge sale right now, if I remember right... saw an ad in the NYT.

I'm sure that corporate JC Penney isn't even aware of how this advertising is done. They have no idea that there are pop-us that are annoying to people--all they know is that either their in-house ad folks or most likely their contracted-out ad people are advertising in online blogs and forums and on facebook, twitter, etc. So don't think for a moment that deciding not to shop there because you have pop-ups here is going to get any kind of message across. Just try to fix your browser. (And as another poster has said, this is the "price" of "free" Internet.) (And I have Firefox, on a Mac, with no JCPenney pop-ups.)