 Suffering from an overbuilt flagship, the abandonment of Downtown Cleveland and overexpansion into the outlying areas, the company was sold to Marshall Field's in 1970, under which it deteriorated, falling behind local rivals Higbee's and May Company.Attempts to lure less upscale patrons with mid-priced goods failed, forcing the 1974 resignation of then-president/CEO Chisholm Halle—Walter's son and the grandson of Samuel H. Halle who had died in 1954.In 1969, Under Chisolm Halle, The Halle Bros. Co. retired their traditional "Old English" script in favor of a more "modern" look with simple block lettering and shortened their name on printed material to just "Halle's".