Missing True Deparment Stores

[michaelman2]

I know we have touched on this before, however, just got back from trying to shop at a local Macy's for a gift..oy! It was as though I was in a land of no service. Nothing was priced with anything but a barcode, I asked the "salesperson" the cost of an item and she pointed to a scanner for me to use. I really miss knowledgeable, helpful salespeople and customer service. I miss not being able to go to the restaurant in the store for a nice lunch. I fully remember the now defunct Richs/Davidsons/Sakowitz stores had great tearooms with nice food. Now we have Target with popcorn and pizza.

 

[toggleswitch]

To be fair to sales-help:

When I first got hired at Macy's in my youth as "temporary" Christmans help. (I was there for 5 years and it got me through college).

Once that ID badge is put on you are expected to know everything. Of course the key to longevity is responding NICELY to the customer.

e.g. You have to.... should be... would you please.
That aint my area..should be.....I'm not sure, but lets find someone for you who and answer that question.

There are times when one woman in the shoe dept. (my dept) watches the other and says *I want what she has.* You really can't say *She has gential herpes. Can I show that to ya, hon?*

...or when the shoes bend (gap) when walking. *Oh no these gap.* You really can't say it's a SHOE not a diaphragm. If it's comfortable, it doesn't have to fit perfectly.

The best part of it all was, if a woman was giving you a hard time, you'd pick the manager that most looked like her,page that manager, get her involved-- then the customer coudln't play the race card. Such as *You don't like me because....*

*SIGH* Retail

 

[partscounterman]

I so agree!

I hate those scanner things! The one at Sears I could find didn't work anyway so I left in disgust.
The old department stores I remember were huge and beautiful; the best ones had a major appliance dept (or at least some vacuums and small electrics). The lovely displays for the children at Christmas....

Around here everyones idea of a great store is Costco, a place I cannot stand.

 

[Washinsheen]

I was hired by JCPenney in 1981 and worked there for 2 years. I had to wear a shirt and tie every day. We were trained to basically pester the customers to death. I remember asking a customer, for example, if she needed help with anything, and she would make it clear that she "was just looking," and acted as though she didn't want to be bothered. But I knew to stay in the area, in case she had a question. Then, a manager would walk by and point out the lady, saying I should help her, to which I would reply how I'd already greeted her and she wanted to look on her own, etc. Of course, the manager would say for me to point out that such & such was on sale, etc. I also recall a customer coming in 5 minutes before closing, and the manager and me staying for an additional hour while the customer finished selecting her purchases.

Now, this is the other extreme from your Macy's experience. I get irritated whenever I go to Penney's and see the kids working there dressed less than casual and not even greeting me, much less being of any help. They're basically extensions of the cash registers. I recall having to size garments or windex fixtures, if there wasn't a customer. And if there WAS a customer, then drop the Windex and transform yourself into an aggressive, manipulative salesperson.

So, where's the happy medium??

 

[Cybrvanr]

The problem is that people want the cheapest price. The cheapest price means that stores cannot hire clerks and pay them enough money to stay hired for extended periods of time. The result? A continuous turnover of teenage help that doesn't really know much about the store because they dont' have enough experience.

Other issues crop up from the low price issue too, like the simple fact that the stores don't hire enoug clerks to handle the work that needs to be done. The local Wal-Mart will have checkout lines backed up all the way to the rear of the store, and they will only have two regesters open! Forget nice architecture, these stores run at such a slim prophit margin on their chinese junk that stealing a pack of gum could put the place under!

My audiovisual shop has a group of well-experienced technicians that have worked in the field for years, and really know their stuff. We try to run our business like the traditional department store. Yes, we charge a little bit more for the equipment you buy than some of the mail-order places, but we will ensure you get set up with the right gear for your job! We will also make sure that equipment stays working after the sale.

I was in the New York Macy's store last year, and I was quite suprised that this store is one of the last remaining bastions of the classic department stores. The place was HUGE and had all sorts of stuff from furniture, appliances, electronics. The architecture was beautiful in that place, better than the big box stores I had ever been. The place was a trip back in time to the way classic downtown department stores were like!

I just can't stand it when someone goes out and buys a product out the back of a magazine, then brings it to our shop and expects us to install it and instruct on it's proper useage for free! (yea, but you're an authorized dealer!)

 

[maytagbear]

Ohhh.....

The tea room, the book and stationery department, the delivery at no extra charge, staff who stay for years and say "Hello, Mr. Prichard,"---even before I hand over my charge plate.

 

[michaelman2]

Agreed on the fairness to the salespersons..I think everyone should work as a salesperson or wait tables at least once in his/her life. Believe me this would change attitudes greatly. I truly believe that when customer service becomes paramount again, that store will be very successful. As someone mentioned about the Manhattan Macy's, there is a push in that store for better service regardless of how the customer acts/reacts. There are stories about the old Rich's in Atlanta and how really small efforts produced loyalty and love for the store and its staff.

 

[Brneyedgrl80]

I can remember shopping with my mom when I was real young at Nordstroms and The Broadway (before it got bought out) and other department stores like those in the mid-eighties and one thing that truly stands out to me is the shoe department.

I remember how it was mainly men who worked in the shoe department and they were always dressed like they were going to a nice dinner. They also helped size your feet and put the shoes on your feet for you. Now, they don't do that. They just hand you the box of shoes.

I also remember that Nordstroms would hire a pianist for the Christmas season, now they just have an automated piano. That was always such a nice touch having an actual person play the piano.

 

[toggleswitch]

Work that tearoom Mr P!

 

[michaelman2]

Nordstom Atlanta still has a decent level of service. The Saks here is ok and Neiman Marcus is ok if you spend plenty. The cafe/tearoom at NM is still good.

 

[toggleswitch]

Shoes was commission + base salary @ 2% ==> so a buck for every $50 pair of shoes.

My dept was near the ladies' room, so they'd come to sit down and rest while the rest of the posse tinkled. And you KNOW that they had to work you with no inteniton of buying.Sorry to say, potenially paying customers got the better service.

The best tourists? Southern belles. CLUELESS as to how to behave in large and fast cities.

Excessively high-hair make-up and flashy gold jewelry. We'd warn them nicely to mind their purses, and they'd still leave them on the seating bench as they admired themselves in the mirrors. They could not figure out why in a city full of new immigrants and other just-as-poor people why a purse full of $4,000 cash, credit cards, plane tickets, passports and even more jewelry would grow legs and walk by itself.

These are the same people that stand in busy doorways, and at the top of the escalator trying to figure out which end is up.

Sorry to digress. But i was trying to earn a living to survive. I had no desire to coddle, selfish, nasty, spoiled rude, ridiculous customers.

I actually always did very well with "mystery" shoppers
who did incognito check-ups on the help. I gave back what I received (in terms of atitude and treatment) and NEVER had a problem.

 

[dalangdon]

Service only exists for people who can/want to pay for it...

And that means Nordstrom, Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton, etc, etc, etc. The rest of us folks are stuck with box stores and Applebees.

A hotel that I used to work at (It's initials are the Seattle Westin) used to have very high standards, all enforced by a Swiss Food & Beverage Director with an explosive temper and a 62 year old British Banquet Captain who had accumulated quite a vocabulary during her 40 years with the company. They ran a tight ship, but were both "retired" when Starwood took over and discovered they could pay younger people less.

Now, when I walk through the lobby (and I do almost every day, since I work across the skybridge from them) I see these goofy male middle-managers walking around with their suit jackets unbuttoned (which always makes one's behind look big, as well as being just generally sloppy) and shoes scuffed. The female non-uniformed employees look just as bad: mis-matched pantsuits (in MY day it was all skirts and dresses - for the women, that is ;-), sloppy shoes and hair and NOBODY smiling. Yet, people still pay a lot of money to stay there.

The award-winning formal dining room? Gone, in favor of a "casual dining" bland-o-mat. People didn't want to pay the premium prices (although the current restaurant isn't that much less expensive), and they didn't know how to behave anyway.

But the most annoying thing is how illiterate the "management" sounds when they are talking to guests. We were expected to sound like adults, speak in standard english, and in well-modulated tones. Now, anything short of the seven words you can't say on radio is acceptable.

You still find that demeanor over at the Olympic Hotel (where I also toiled for many years when it was a Four Seasons) but you're also paying at least a couple hundred more a night. Things generally are just dumbed way down.

 

[Kevinpreston3]

Michael, a great truth

I miss them too. They were a big part of my life when I was young and would go shopping with my mom. (I loved shopping with my mom because I would at the least get candy at the candy shoppe and needed batteries for toys, and at the best, GI Joe gear--I only hated going clothes shopping and trying on stiff, scratchy new "dress" pants).

Mom would take me to the cafe in May D and F (May Company). It was on the second floor and had windows and looked out to the mountains in Denver. Of course, it was opposite the toy department, so you can't beat location. A Macy's at a mall is just not the same...too mall-y. Just another store that people wander into. The old fashioned ones had real departments that had walls around them...not just everything together out in the open. And I loved the store because the toys did not just come out for Christmas, they had a whole department.

 

[kenmore1978]

Window shopping

I know exactly what you mean. Many a day was spent with my Grandmother wandering through the May Co., Robinson's, The Broadway, Bullocks in Los Angeles

 

[veg-o-matic]

Where I grew up, the local department stores were Parke-Snow and R. H. White. I definitely remember P-S having an elevator with an actual operator. I was always fascinated by the weird display that was in the cosmetics department right opposite the front door. Didn't know what it was until years later. It was 4 or 5 Lucite cylinders filled with stuff in various shades of tan. Turned out to be face powder that they would custom-mix.

And here we go on department stores--again!

I can't stand most of the stores that are out there now. Two measly floors of ladies' wear, women's wear, female wear, girl wear, chick wear, shoes and makeup. Men's department? It's shoved way in the back corner and even then, it's mostly jock wear with sports logos on it.

Gimme a department stores with a housewares department! Major appliances! Books! Furniture! TVs and stereos! Records! Toys! Cameras! Notions! Domestics!

Closest thing to that nowadays is Boscov's, which sells most of the above. It's still not very "department store-y", though.

When I want cheap, I'll go to Whatever-Mart. When I want service, I'll take Bloomingdale's or Lord & Taylor.

veg

 

[fnelson487]

Marshall Fields!!!

In the good old days. They just announced that they are changing the name to Macy's. Old time Chicagoans are in mourning. In the 50's the toy department had Lionel and American Flyer train layouts as far as the eye could see. In the appliance department you had Hoover, Maytag washers and KitchenAid dishwashers. I think that that was where I fell in love with them. You could have your fine oriental rugs and furs fixed by the craftsmen right on site. And nothing was on display. The matrons brought the merchandise to you. And you could always say "Charge and send" and the green Field's truck would pull up to the house to deliver. What lady would want to schlep things around downtown, especially if you were going to the Walnut Room for lunch or tea?

 

[fnelson487]

Wow! I just reread my post

I really date myself. Oh well, when I moved back to Chicago, I needed some window treatments and matching bedding. Called Marshall Field's Shop at Home Service and had all the samples brought here and installed by an old line craftsmen. I guess that will be history as well.

 

[jetcone]

Oh Fred

I love your memories of Marshall Fields. In Schenectady we had Barney's ,and Carl's. Barney's was OLD but it had the best toy store on the top floor which had a wooden floor that creaked when you walked across it so the Toy Lady ( who was there for YEARS) would always know just where you were on the floor!
Barneys' also had new Easy Washer Spin dryers on the floor at all times and had a terrific soup in their Caboose styly luncheonette.
Carls had the bestluncheon counter and they made the BEST EVER Strawberry Ice Cream Sodas! There was only one other place that had as good and that was the old International Inn on Douglas Cirle in Washington DC!

I got my first Flubber to play with at Carls after seeing the Absent Minded Professor!

 

[gyrafoam]

To us Atlanta natives------

The dissapearance of the Davison's (Davison-Paxon, Co.) name was bad enough but the dissapearance of the Rich's name was sacrilege!!!! I, like most natives won't step a foot in those stores now that they have been taken over by that conglomerate and it's lack of customer service.

Rich's was founded by German-Jewish immigrants who canvassed the contryside around Atlanta selling shoes to poor folks on credit so they could afford to have them. They then opened a "dry goods" store in Downtown. They continued to offer credit to the poor for all their merchandise and had the added reputation of excusing a debt if a family fell into hard times. They also cancelled ALL credit debt at the start of the great depression. During the depression Rich's kept a soup and bread line open non-stop for almost ten years to feed the poor! Rich's had a "no questions asked" return policy. I know some rather shady folks who would return items years after they had purchased them and got all their money back! Needless to say, over the years the Rich family endeared themselves to Atlantans. Oh, and the Coconut Cake from the bakery at Rich's was the best I ever tasted anywhere! (And I can make a decent Coconut Cake!)And the in store restaurant had the most wonderful Chicken Shortcake served with fresh turnip greens, a cup of pot liquor and hoecakes! Awesome!

Nordstrom's is the closest thing we now have to a decent department store. I agree Saks and NM are good stores and if I shop them right and look in all the hiding places, I can find some bargins at those stores as well.

Time changes everything!