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Lord and Taylor, Oldest U.S. Department Store, Files Bankruptcy
- sct202 6y agoLe Tote the owner of Lord and Taylor was part of ycombinators summer 2013 batch. Sad that a decision made last year dragged them down probably due to covid.
- andrewem 6y agoI see Le Tote purchased it last year from Hudson's Bay Company, which is very old. Quoting Wikipedia: "After incorporation by English royal charter in 1670, the company functioned as the de facto government in parts of North America for nearly 200 years until the HBC sold the land it owned". https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson%27s_Bay_Company https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson%27s_Bay_Company
- graeme 6y agoAs a Canadian, I’ve nervously watched them for years. Their archives have a lot of our history and for that reason I hope they stay in business. (I’m sure someone would take it over, but it’s neat to have the continuity. And nervously, because downtown high street retail is a declining business?
- patentatt 6y agoWhat a sign of the times: a ~6 year old YC-backed subscription box / clothing rental startup had purchased "the oldest department store in the United States"
- mensetmanusman 6y agoPandemics are expensive
- Multicomp 6y agoThis may be off topic, not sure, but will go for it since not a lot of discussion yet. I've never even heard of this company. Perhaps I'm just part of the unwashed masses? I know Dillard's, Neiman Marcus, Sachs Fifth Ave, ummm and that's about it from the perspective of my layman's understanding of department stores. If this company has never managed to inform me of its name over the decades I have been alive and browsing online, perhaps this bankruptcy is not as huge as surprised as one might think poor marketing, poor awareness, poor sales...?
- mac01021 6y agoI think it's more like a JC Penney or Macy's (neither of which you listed)? Or maybe those are all the same thing but I'm not acquainted with the ones you listed. I've seen them in shopping malls in the northeast but never gone in. AFAICT, department stores never really carry anything that I would want to buy. If the number of people who feel as I do is increasing, then perhaps all the other dept store chains are close behind.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- mc32 6y agoI think it was more Bonwit Teller / Altman's than mass appeal Macy's or working class JCP. Old school 5th Ave.
- dylan604 6y agoWhat kind of things do you buy? Department stores carried pretty much everything except Rx. Clothing, furniture, appliances, bedding, tools, etc. Maybe it was a style difference, but to say they carried anything that you'd want to buy seems hyperbolic.
- gojomo 6y agoIt's a luxury store, with its most recent surviving locations in upscale downtown shopping avenues or tony suburbs, on the east coast & midwest. If you're not in those cities and target market, it's not surprising, but many would recognize them as a peer of Neiman Marcus (also in bankruptcy this year) & Saks Fifth Avenue (on brink of bankruptcy). As you've misspelled 'Sachs' & didn't even mention the paragon of American department stores, Macy's, I'm guessing you're of a generation or region where they've been far less important. But before Amazon, & before the WalMarts & Targets, retailers like Macy's (brink of bankruptcy), Sears (bankrupt 2018), & JC Penney (bankrupt this year) were giants of retail through the mall era.
- justinzollars 6y agoThe scary part is this is just the beginning. I took a drive through San Francisco a few days ago and I was shocked to see many restaurants I used to patron are gone already.
- aNoob7000 6y agoI live in Atlanta and went to Ponce City market in downtown and it looked terrible for a Sunday at 2pm. A lot of the restaurants were half full, most shops were closed, and it overall looked empty. I'm truly worried about the economy 4-6 months from now.
- jonathanliu 6y agoI get the sense that this decade will play host to weeks where decades happen. I am not excited. After all, "May you live in interesting times" is a curse, not a blessing.
- hanniabu 6y ago> I get the sense that this decade will play host to weeks where decades happen. What do you mean by this? That what usually would occur in decades would now occur in weeks?
- bfuclusion 6y agoIts an expression in (American) English that means that the amount of change (or number of significant events) in the week was equivalent to a decade in other times.
- perl4ever 6y agoThe original appears to be: "Есть десятилетия, когда ничего не происходит; и бывают недели, когда происходят десятилетия"
- wmeredith 6y ago
- jhallenworld 6y agoFrom 2017: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/24/business/lord-taylor-wework.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/24/business/lord-taylor-wewo... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTI9Yyxqzhs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTI9Yyxqzhs
- 1vuio0pswjnm7 6y agohttps://lite.cnn.com/en/article/h_8bec16d7f6b2bd5acde09e9dcd5b567d https://lite.cnn.com/en/article/h_8bec16d7f6b2bd5acde09e9dcd... Barneys and Brooks Brothers RIP.
- jerrysievert 6y agoI will very much miss brooks brothers. their non-iron shirts were absolutely amazing. anyone have a source for something as good?
- chrisseaton 6y agoI wear Charles Tyrwhitt shirts. But I’ve never seen a shirt that was literally non-iron - they still need an iron to press and put the creases back in.
- jerrysievert 6y agobrooks brothers non-iron shirts can be wadded up for days - when you put it on, your body heat puts it back into perfect shape, including creases. it is absolutely amazing. here's an article about them - note the quote near the bottom that matches my experiences exactly: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-war-over-non-iron-shirts-1462386777 https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-war-over-non-iron-shirts-14...
- chrisseaton 6y agoWell I’m sure you’re telling the truth but I’m extremely surprised - even the best non-iron shirts I’ve ever tried still needed to be pressed to be presentable even straight out of a tumble dryer, let alone after being wadded up. I mean how can they simultaneously hold creases in the right places but resistant to creases in the wrong places? How does the fabric know which creases you need and which you don’t? And even the shirts in the article saying they don’t need ironing... look like they need a good ironing! But I guess I won’t be able to try the shirts you’ve used if they’re going bankrupt.
- zalkota 6y agoOut with the old and weak, in with the strong!