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For Lord & Taylor, I find that some locations have better merchandise, i.e., 5th Avenue and Scarsdale, than some of the other stores in the chain though they seem to have consolidated some of the stores that made me question where they had purchased the merchandise as it didn't look like any brand you would normally find in L&T. Depending upon the store, they can be mid to upscale. Interestingly, some of the merchandise I have seen/bought in Scarsdale, in particular, does not appear online, and is generally confined to expansions of the core designers that they carry, such as Ralph Lauren.
Bloomingdale's used to have a reputation that was more fashionable, and avant-garde than the current iteration of the store, that I agree has filled Macy's higher-end. Macy's has become more of a mass market chain with expansion, such that it tends to be the higher-end of the mid-tier, above JC Penney, despite offering some expanded upscale collections at Herald Square.
Sears would be lower middle, buoyed by their ownership of Lands End, which would incorporate sensible middle-tier offerings with more moderate fashions. Aside from Lands End, and a long-standing association with Levi's, I am not even sure what other brands Sears would sell, though I'd be surprised if some aspect of the moderate Jones Group lines was not carried in the career/sportswear department. This also varies greatly by store, as some stores have Lands End departments that take up much of the clothing floor space, and others have small LE departments.
Saks, Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf-Goodman, Harvey Nichols, Harrods, KaDeWe, Ogilvy's, Holt-Renfrew, Galeries Lafayette, etc. are stores that I would place in the upper-end/luxury/designer tier. Some Le Printemps stores would also tend to the upscale category, but the stores can vary widely in their scope, depending upon individual store merchandising.
I remember reading (Importer's Wife, this would probably fall within your expertise) that department stores often have A, B, and C stores...much like a teacher has A, B, and C students.
Using L&T as our example...
I like to use the store's website as a "baseline" by which to judge one store from another. My Lord & Taylor (Garden City, NY) strikes me as an A- store. Obviously, the 5th Ave. location is A+. In store, I can find oodles of Ralph Lauren, Lacoste etc. The Tommy Bahama selection in-store beats online by a wide margin. Also found in-store and not online at all (men's department) are Hudson jeans. I could go on, but in general "more selection in store, higher priced lines/brands on offer than online." Of course, the clearance section is epic.
Macys is a better example, really, as they're nationwide as opposed to L&T which operates chiefly along the Boston-NYC-DC corridor. Macys has "eaten" a number of regional retail chains, and for those interested in the retail business, this has not been without criticism. For those who travel, you;ll have observed this. My local Macys (Roosevelt Field Mall, Garden City, NY) shares a mall anchor space with Bloomingdales (bold, but they both enjoy significant traffic). My Macy's sells $1,500 cashmere overcoats and has a handbag "boutique" with Louis Vuitton et al (IE, better than the website). Other locations (especially going west) allegedly aren't much better than outlet stores.
LOL! Maybe in my opinion because I frequent them more. And you've got to admit, the electronics department at Wal-Mart is pretty darn good!
I wouldn't know. I avoid walmart at all cost.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ragnarkar
I'd classify Walmart (and maybe Target) as middle-low.
Low would be something like Goodwill or Salvation Army.
Goodwill and Salvation Army are second hand stores. I don't think you can compare them to the others.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kathleen1971
I don't know. I think I would probably be able to find much nicer stuff at Goodwill or Salvation Army, albeit used of course, then I could ever find at Walmart. I think ole Wally World is the lowest of the low.
I don't know. I think I would probably be able to find much nicer stuff at Goodwill or Salvation Army, albeit used of course, then I could ever find at Walmart. I think ole Wally World is the lowest of the low.
It might be the "lowest," but it's also the richest. Walmart makes enough revenue in the US to make all Americans millionaires:
I remember reading (Importer's Wife, this would probably fall within your expertise) that department stores often have A, B, and C stores...much like a teacher has A, B, and C students.
Using L&T as our example...
I like to use the store's website as a "baseline" by which to judge one store from another. My Lord & Taylor (Garden City, NY) strikes me as an A- store. Obviously, the 5th Ave. location is A+. In store, I can find oodles of Ralph Lauren, Lacoste etc. The Tommy Bahama selection in-store beats online by a wide margin. Also found in-store and not online at all (men's department) are Hudson jeans. I could go on, but in general "more selection in store, higher priced lines/brands on offer than online." Of course, the clearance section is epic.
Macys is a better example, really, as they're nationwide as opposed to L&T which operates chiefly along the Boston-NYC-DC corridor. Macys has "eaten" a number of regional retail chains, and for those interested in the retail business, this has not been without criticism. For those who travel, you;ll have observed this. My local Macys (Roosevelt Field Mall, Garden City, NY) shares a mall anchor space with Bloomingdales (bold, but they both enjoy significant traffic). My Macy's sells $1,500 cashmere overcoats and has a handbag "boutique" with Louis Vuitton et al (IE, better than the website). Other locations (especially going west) allegedly aren't much better than outlet stores.
That's exactly what I have noticed. When you said the clearance section at L&T, that is so very true at the top-tier stores, as there are racks of clearance of higher-end merchandise that are not shipped to L&T's outlet store. The test that my mother has told me works for Lord & Taylor is whether or not the store offers personal shopping services, as those are the stores that have more depth to the collections. Stamford, 5th Avenue, Roosevelt Field, and Vernon Hills (Scarsdale/Eastchester) all have the service in the NY area. Only Chevy Chase has it in DC, and I think the King of Prussia store in PA. NJ and MA have a couple as well, but the majority of the mall stores do not have the same offerings.
Macy's has issues when you head south, too, as the DC locations are lacking, but that's because the majority were converted Hecht Company locations, which was a tier below what Macy's tried to introduce to the DC market during expansion. Unfortunately, the higher-end offerings did not prevail, and Macy's is a solid example of a grade above JC Penney because the stores that Macy's opened appear to have been downgraded a tier. That's because when Hecht's was in operation, DC had earlier to fade local carriage trade stores like Garfinckels and Woodward & Lothrop that occupied the tier above where Hechts finished, but I am not old enough to know if the old Hecht's was a higher-brand store that chased the mass market to attempt to survive in a more competitive environment, or if Hecht's offered anything on par with the better Macy's stores.
__________________
All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
~William Shakespeare (As You Like It Act II, Scene VII)
Macy's | Middle
JC Penny | Middle
Saks 5th Ave |WOW, crazy HIGH
Walmart | Low
Sears | Middle
Nordstrom | High, but not as high as Saks.
Lord&Taylor | Middle/High
I agree with this, though I would put Macy's a *small* step above Sears and Penney's.
Lord and Taylor....well, the last time I was in there was about 20 years ago. Heck, at the age of 18, I must have brought the median age of the clientele down by at least half. My impression of the Garden City store the last time I was there was that it was really OLD, conservative and not my speed. Unless there has been some serious overhaul recently, I'll stick with that impression.
I've also bought some terrific things at the Saks outlets on Long Island. Back about 10 years ago (not sure how much it's changed) you could find some terrific bargains at the Garden City and Riverhead stores. I've not seen comparable merchandise in the stores I've been to out here in the West.
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