THE END FOR DEPARTMENT STORES? – AT 3:06 P.M. ET:  Department stores, long the symbol of civilized shopping, endless variety and often ornate decorations and holiday displays, are fading, replaced by online buying, discount stores, and stores featuring items from one brand.

Here in New York, probably the American capital of department stores, going to one of these institutions was often considered a special treat, especially for kids at Christmastime.   Ah yes, I remember it well.  But how long will it continue?  From the New York Post: 

I’m going to miss Lord & Taylor like mad when the Fifth Avenue flagship closes next year. It isn’t only because of the unlikely bargains I scored on its often-deserted men’s floors — a red vinyl Perry Ellis-label jacket, marked down from $79.95 to $39.95 that strangers hilariously mistake for Armani, and a wool winter coat as good as any for $49.99.

I won’t miss the once-charming but more recently cheap-looking holiday windows that weren’t worth waiting on line for. But Lord & Taylor, like every big department store, offered a welcoming civility that softened the city’s rough edges. New York will be slightly less human without it, however obsolete its business model. Never again will the public enjoy the store’s grand main floor with its noble vaulted ceiling, arched mirrors and stately columns.

The shutdown is one of up to 10 Lord & Taylor closures of a total 50 stores planned by chain owner, Hudson’s Bay Company. It comes amidst a nationwide department store apocalypse. Hudson’s Bay, which owns 488 stores including Saks Fifth Avenue, is battling high debt, declining sales and falling stock prices.

Another industry giant, Macy’s Inc., which also owns Bloomingdale’s, has closed 14 percent of its stores since 2014, while its same-store sales in 2017 fell 4.3 percent compared with 2016. J.C. Penney closed 138 locations, or 14 percent of its stores, last year.

Jeffrey Roseman, vice chairman of Newmark Knight Frank’s retail-brokerage division, told The Post, “The need for an eight-story, multi-hundred-thousand square-foot department store in major cities is limited at best.”

Noting that most main floors are turned over to cosmetics, Roseman said, “What woman wants to buy fragrance there? They can go into Sephora, Ulta or Blue Mercury and get the same stuff cheaper and be out in 10 minutes.”

COMMENT:  It's sad.  I wonder if the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade will survive.  Here in White Plains we have Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Macy's, and Bloomingdale's.  There used to be a Saks Fifth Avenue, but it closed down.  I rarely go into any of those stores, and they don't seem to have much impact any longer.  The "sexiest" shop in town is the Apple Store.   

Today you can order something online, and get it, often with free shipping, in a couple of days.  Sometimes even overnight.  And you don't fight the crowds.  The in-stock inventories are enormous.

But we'll miss the old places.  Quiet and civilized.  Browse as you wish.  Easy returns. 

And Santa Claus.

July 14, 2018