4 ms·

I have shopped at Macy's, JCPenny, and Sears a handful of times in my life, including for myself and when I was there with other people. These stores carry high

I have shopped at Macy's, JCPenny, and Sears a handful of times in my life, including for myself and when I was there with other people. These stores carry higher quality, but much higher price merchandise and I just don't want it. It all seems stuffy, the sales are never really any good, and the brands can be had elsewhere for cheaper (timing is key here). But the couple of malls near me seem to also have a number of more innovative brands. Clothing stores that sell at much cheaper prices (ethics be damned), like H&M, Old Navy, etc. do quite well with the millennials and younger crowd especially because they change their merchandise very frequently. I read somewhere that H&M has a turn around for a new style measured in weeks from inception to shelf, whereas traditional brands take months. So these guys respond quicker to trend changes. Other types of stores are also interesting. Compare Macy's makeup counter vs Lush. Lush, for those not familiar, is an ingenious brand that sells organic personal care products, made by hand, never tested on animals, and often in very innovative categories. Did you know there is such a thing as "skin conditioner" or "face shampoo" or "lip scrub"? I didn't until someone showed me their recent Lush purchases. These small stores attract a lot of people. I think what's dying is Sears, etc. Not malls in general.

zippergz 9y ago
"High quality" and "high price" are about the last thing I think of in relation to JC Penney and Sears. I've always thought of them as kind of lowest common denominator, lots of private label poor quality stuff that's perpetually on sale.
- IgorPartola 9y ago
  I suppose it depends. I was recently shopping for a blazer. Found a name brand one at JC Penny for $400 (!). I found a very nice middle ground of a sports coat at H&M for $70.
  - Digory 9y ago
    Yikes. If $70 is a 'middle' blazer, what's left for low? Sears and Penney always offered better clothes than discount stores like Woolworth's, Wal-mart and K-Mart; you could get pants or a suit that might be worth tailoring and keeping for more than a season. One of the memorable lines out of the Millionaire Nextdoor was that most millionaires bought suits at Sears. Today, fast fashion and casual office is killing off even semi-formal clothes. In almost every situation, Americans wear jeans or shorts, and don't want to pay much for those. Sears is hopelessly lost, and Penney has been limping since the Ron Johnson debacle.
    - tritium 9y ago
      The thing that kills formal dress is the total bullshit known as dry cleaning. Basically fuck dry cleaning. If clothes can't withstand soapy water and hot air, those clothes can go get fucked and eat someone else's paycheck for no reason. Rot in hell, dry cleaning. I shall never patronize thee.
    - IgorPartola 9y ago
      I mean you can always find good stuff at places like Goodwill or Plato's closet, but that's hit or miss. And a blazer or sport coat and jeans is a classic enough casual look that I wanted to try it. Worked out well for me.
- Larrikin 9y ago
  Its totally dependent on where the store physically is located and some kind of rating of how "fashionable" the area where the store is located. I used to do a lot of my school shopping in department stores. The selection in my mid-size city was decent. Not amazing but fine. Fine enough that I could usually find at least a couple things I wanted even if I didn't want to buy everything there. I visited a friend in a very rural part of my state and found absolutely nothing I would buy at my favorite department store back home. Visiting a Macy's in a major city like NYC or Chicago and they are multi-story buildings with basically every major brand. Nike does something similar, their shoes are put into fashion-ability tiers and only retailers that are at that tier or above are allowed to sell that shoe, be it a certain color way, brand (Jordan for instance), or even a style.

zippergz 9y ago

"High quality" and "high price" are about the last thing I think of in relation to JC Penney and Sears. I've always thought of them as kind of lowest common denominator, lots of private label poor quality stuff that's perpetually on sale.

IgorPartola 9y ago
I suppose it depends. I was recently shopping for a blazer. Found a name brand one at JC Penny for $400 (!). I found a very nice middle ground of a sports coat at H&M for $70.
- Digory 9y ago
  Yikes. If $70 is a 'middle' blazer, what's left for low? Sears and Penney always offered better clothes than discount stores like Woolworth's, Wal-mart and K-Mart; you could get pants or a suit that might be worth tailoring and keeping for more than a season. One of the memorable lines out of the Millionaire Nextdoor was that most millionaires bought suits at Sears. Today, fast fashion and casual office is killing off even semi-formal clothes. In almost every situation, Americans wear jeans or shorts, and don't want to pay much for those. Sears is hopelessly lost, and Penney has been limping since the Ron Johnson debacle.
  - tritium 9y ago
    The thing that kills formal dress is the total bullshit known as dry cleaning. Basically fuck dry cleaning. If clothes can't withstand soapy water and hot air, those clothes can go get fucked and eat someone else's paycheck for no reason. Rot in hell, dry cleaning. I shall never patronize thee.
  - IgorPartola 9y ago
    I mean you can always find good stuff at places like Goodwill or Plato's closet, but that's hit or miss. And a blazer or sport coat and jeans is a classic enough casual look that I wanted to try it. Worked out well for me.
Larrikin 9y ago
Its totally dependent on where the store physically is located and some kind of rating of how "fashionable" the area where the store is located. I used to do a lot of my school shopping in department stores. The selection in my mid-size city was decent. Not amazing but fine. Fine enough that I could usually find at least a couple things I wanted even if I didn't want to buy everything there. I visited a friend in a very rural part of my state and found absolutely nothing I would buy at my favorite department store back home. Visiting a Macy's in a major city like NYC or Chicago and they are multi-story buildings with basically every major brand. Nike does something similar, their shoes are put into fashion-ability tiers and only retailers that are at that tier or above are allowed to sell that shoe, be it a certain color way, brand (Jordan for instance), or even a style.