An adman seizes the chance to make everything right
By Katie Pelech
Children wailed and gnashed their teeth, with nary a piece of penny candy to grind between them. Women shrieked and tore at their hair, helpless without a cache of ribbons to bind their locks. Mournful cries echoed the city over: Why have you forsaken us? How could you leave us, Spicer’s?
Truly those were dark days—but rejoice, for we have entered a new era with the second (OK, technically fourth) coming of Spicer’s of Ladue, which reopened under new ownership in November.
Doug Murdoch, vice president and account director at the Cannonball advertising agency, was just another of the longtime patrons devastated by Jim McNulty’s decision to shutter the beloved 60-year-old variety store last February. But Murdoch went a step beyond mourning and bought the old shop. He’s confident that the new-and-improved Spicer’s will prove a sound investment.
“This is like the Starbucks of retail,” Murdoch jokes, trying to explain the comfortable appeal of the store, which induces patrons to linger and browse at their leisure. “That was part of the nostalgia and part of the reason for wanting to keep this place alive ... It’s an emotional thing.”
Tapping into that emotion is a delicate exercise. One must pinpoint and recreate its triggers, yet avoid marring memories through unwelcome changes. After all, of what use is an icon if it can’t be recognized?
“It means a little something different to everybody you speak with.” Murdoch dared not disappoint, so he retained McNulty as a consultant. “Virtually everything that was there will be there again,” Murdoch says proudly.
That’s not to say he’s averse to change. The new Spicer’s sports such additions as an expanded toy section and a more shopper-friendly layout. As he first became enamored of Spicer’s as a youth, Murdoch is particularly excited about his efforts to make the store more child-friendly, which include a plush new play area.
Rest assured, your childhood memories are safe in the hands of this child at heart.
