well it ought to help people realise sears dosent own it any more

I think people will always think of it as, and continue to call it The Sear Tower!

I think its capitalism at its worse. Its a mistake for the Willis Co. or water ever they are called rename something that is more than a building, but a iconic symbol of Chicago and the U.S. No one will call it anything else but the Sears Tower because thats what it is.

There is a lake back home in SC. One of the long time Senators passed away years ago and someone decided to rename the lake after him. Well eveyone I know still calls the lake Clark Hill. Its original name

So much for name changes.

I think that we are the only people who are very quick to sell our history.  You don't see the Effiel Tower being renamed or most landmarks in other countries.  As Americans we are so quick to proclaim our pride but even quicker to mortgage it away.

In America, its anything to make a dollar.  Short-sigtedness in the name of money.

I thought for sure this current mess would be the breaking point -- but I was wrong.  I don't see a thing being done to make sure this mess doesn't happen again.  All I see is the poor (us) being left with a huge bill at the expense of the rich. 

At least during the Great Depression we got roads, schools and infrastructure -- this time around all we get it big businesses and banks robbing us blind and telling us we should be grateful.

Until people stand up and say no more this will continue -- people have to realize there is more to the world than their own little piece of it.  That is what really is hurting this country is the "me" attitude.

 

Do you think the impact of the Sears Tower name change is a lot like changing the name of a baseball stadium?

michelina said…

Do you think the impact of the Sears Tower name change is a lot like changing the name of a baseball stadium?

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yea. a lot of sentimental bs that means nothing its still the same place as it was in your memories

This kind of reminds me of our discussion thread "Do you remember" where we talked about all the wonderful old places we used to visit, i.e. Kresgees etc.  I know when I give directions to my good old cronies on how to get to my house in Kansas City where my daughter lives, I tell them to get off the exit where the big old Sears store used to be and turn left - Sure enough they get there for the bbq before going to watch the Royals play ball.  It will always be Sears Tower until we old folk leave this wonderful planet and the new generation takes over:)

Soon it will be the "Capital One" capital bldg, the "sherwinn williams" Whitehouse, we can't even get an instant replay on tv w/o it being called "the viagra" replay. I watch alot of MMA, and those fighters are putting NASCAR, oops I mean NASCAR "Sprint cup" drivers to shame w/ endorsements on their shorts. Its the world we live in or one day to be called "the AT&t" little blue planet we live in. But it is advertising I just wonder if I would have to pay $18.00 for Gillett fusion razors if Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, Deric Jeter and some soccor player wern"t doing the commercials!!!

I can't even think of Sears Tower as anything else. It's just weird. Why would anyone change the name of a building that everyone around the world recognizes?

i have heard about this but have not heard why ? what is the new name supposed to be ?

SpacyStacy said…

I can't even think of Sears Tower as anything else. It's just weird. Why would anyone change the name of a building that everyone around the world recognizes?

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well for one thing sears no longer owns it. they dont even have offices there anymore do they?

Sears lost the naming rights 5 or 6 years ago.  I don't know what Willis (a UK based insurance company) is thinking ... as people worldwide will always call it the Sears tower ... but they had every legal right to.

I would have been more accepting of the "Colbert" Tower myself than something like a British insurance brokerage.

Well, one local mall has changed its name from Vallco to Cupertino Square. Even the Sears store lookup system still calls it Vallco. :)

Sears Tower - forever.

It is a dumb move, even though Sears no longer owns the building and hasn't had presence there since 1995, its still an iconic building and a iconic name, if anything the name of the tower will bring in revenue to Willis Group. They are dumb now they will be hated by all of Chicago and the US in general for changing the name of the building, they also want to paint it silver.

Sears also should've sold the naming rights instead of letting it lapse, they could have at least got some money out of it.

Willis Tower = FAIL!

Note: people in Chicago still forget Comisky Park is now called US. Cellular Field (everyone calls it White Sox Park anyways)

They should call it the Obama Tower for the GREATEST president of ALL time!!!!....

Now THAT's an idea! And there's a Chicago connection, too.

 

Its funny - the name change officially happens today and the world seems to be "abuzz" again. Do you all still feel the same way you did earlier this year? Or has the news kind of settled in?

Nah, its still the Sears tower. And the group who owns it is shooting themself in the foot by changing its name. At the best, everyone will ignore it and keep calling it by its old name, and eventually in a generation or two call it by its new name. At the worst, people will be upset about a european company buying an american landmark and changing its name, and it will just hurt their business, reputation, and image state-side.

Not that i can blame them for changing it - that would be like calling the shopping center down the street from my house the Rickels Center, when the rickels closed down a decade ago and other stores took over. I mean, its not like Sears is still in that tower - but, they were there for a darn long time, during which they were the number one retailer in the country, and that made it stand for something, and turned it into a bit of an icon. I don't think anyone is going to accept the change in this generation.

It is iconic, Gumpo! I also think it will take people a long time to make the change to call it "Willis Tower". Particularly us Chicagoans!

was brick steel and glass then still is now not sure why peeopl get so sentimental over an office building

LOTS of people talking about the Sears Tower name change on Twitter these days and they're in favor of keeping the name Sears on the building. Sears sold the building years ago and with it renaming rights, so it shouldn't be a huge surprise. But, I have to agree with my fellow Tweeters it'll ALWAYS be the Sears Tower to me.

It's still the Sears tower to me.  The same goes on around here.  Our baseball stadium was originally called Jacob's Field or the Jake, the name changed a couple of times over the years.  It is now called Progressive Field, but everyone still calls it the Jake.

Can't be a positive thing for Sears..losing more name recognition..people often equate that to a dying breed...not the same Sears I knew 20 years ago..bought out by venture capitialists to make money...won't put much money into the company, just looking to make a profit and then sell it.....wait and see..mark my words..I use to see the same thing with many software companies....would invest very little to maintain and upgrade software...make their money and then sellout....

Sears Tower will always be "Sears Tower".

Kentucky Fried Chicken

International House of Pancakes

Orchard Supply Hardware

Home Despot

home depot had a name change?

You would rather have it be named after some politician, then the company you work for that had the vision to build it? It's sad that Sears expected growth never occured, and the dream that Sears would need the entire Sears Tower as their headquarters was much too optomastic. Maybe one day, Sears Holdings could become the giant people thought the old Sears would become, and return to their custom built headquarters.

The name change is one that I've been un-aware of. I do not know if Sears has any working offices within the tower any more. Do they?

I'm sure there will be a wide range of emotions on the topic......indifference, outrage, typical capitalist country comments, polls, petitions, and more.

Take California's Golden Gate Bridge for example, it also is an Icon. I never heard of anyone planning to change its name to Red Gate Bridge...(it's far from Golden in color!)

Point is... as far as I know, there is no foreign country bidding for the "Bridge". But if it were up for sale I can see the name changing to Red Gate Bridge! There are plenty of "Political Geniuses" trying to fix the American economy and selling a bridge is within the realm of possibility. SanFrancisco is working out the bugs on that deal (as I've heard on local news!) Some of our country's landmark Icons are and have already been sold to the highest bidders, (who has heard about the United Nations' they have placed sticky fingers into our beloved US National Parks?) 

URL Review    http://www.nationalcenter.org/NPA253.html

It's always a sad day when our US landmarks are sold and renamed by foreign entities that are not American Patriots, but simply investor's with an agenda.

"I Vote: Keep Sears Tower unsploiled and original.......

Well, as long as the new owners "understand" no one is going to know what they are talking about or where the building is, if they don't reference the original Sears Tower name, things should be fine.

Call it anything you like.

All the locals KNOW what its true name is...

What are they calling it now?

The Wilbur building?

Or, is that the Wilson building?