Harsh. But I remember the JCPenney store in town before it closed. What a mess.
I grew up in retailing. Dad was a JCP guy for 40 years. I was for ten. We went from downtowns, to strip centers, to malls. I preferred downtown stores. Malls were too self-contained and there was no fresh air, but I suppose that was part of the appeal to some--yesterday's bubble. No need to interact with the outside world once you went through the door.
As to the men with tape measures and chalk. There was an art to fitting a guy in a pair of trousers or a suit jacket. Lost now. But to perk things up, calls to mind a skit on an old SNL where two guys are sitting on a park bench and one is perfectly put together. The other's socks are showing, his jacket buttons are popping, completely disheveled. And then they stand up and the perfect guy falls apart.
Macy's has filed bankruptcy two or three times over the decades, as I recall. (Chapter 11.) But they kept picking up store chains that went under: Gimbels, Robinsons-May in California, others. Where did they get the money to do this? I've never understood it.
Three takeaways: 1. I'm with Lileks...*everybody* couldn't have been kung-fu fighting. I mean, that'd be a lot of kung-fu. 2. "The tailors were let go. Eh, that’s okay they probably went to Substack they’ll be fine." Ouch, man. 3. "And like a graveyard, it might have my pants size, but it will take a lot of work to find it." Snrk.
We wandered into the mall on any given day to buy one thing. Just one thing! Maybe we grabbed something in the food court. We often met a friend there who also came to buy one thing. Or nothing at all. We wandered around temped by stories to buy things among giant rubber tree plants and benches facing odd directions. Then we wandered out to cars that maybe didn’t start or had a flat tire, or our car actually started and we drove home listening to a radio that wasn’t in stereo. And not once did we look at a computer in our hands.
I suppose if you search enough, particularly around a big city, you can find a real tailor who can custom fit a suit for you. But it will cost you. I spent a couple of hundred dollars on a suit with the custom fitting a year or two before the fauxdemic. I've only used it once for my dad's funeral but it still fit well in spite of a little extra girth.
We went from casual Friday to everday casual to jammies at home for "virtual" work. Funerals can be touch and go for the under age 40 folks if they even have anything resembling formal wear. You may see some shirts with collars at a wedding. Maybe.
I don't much care for change in general, and I tend to wallow in quiet nostalgia for times (a) that probably weren't actually better than today, overall, but that stand out for specific attractive features, and (b) that I often didn't experience myself and so have colored with my romanticized misperceptions.
I remain nostalgic, but I've been thinking about recent revolutions, things like the smart phone and universal connectivity and AI, and I've decided that some fights can't be won and aren't worth fighting, no matter how much I may dislike where modernity is taking us. Instead, I think the challenge has to be to learn to redirect the impact in positive ways. Technological ju-jitsu, as it were.
And no, I don't have the foggiest idea how to do that.
Indoor malls in California are going the way of the do-do... for the past 20 years or so, it's all about 'lifestyle centers' - outdoor malls, with each retail establishment having their own entrance, and no common interior walkways with stores on either side. But we don't have snow, or freezing temps, so that is why it can work.
The old Florin Mall in Sacramento was torn down in the early 2000s with a replacement lifestyle center "Florin Towne Centre, which when opened in 2008 was anchored by a Mervyn's - which promptly went out of business in 2009.
Since they are now down to closing the myriad of Kohl's that popped up in the 2000s, I can't think of an actual anchor store that a mall would build around. Sears is gone. JcPenny's is just about gone.
The same thing is proposed nearby for Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights - they have been eyeing tearing it all down and replacing it with retail, offices, and a mixed-use residential component - the "Sunrise Tomorrow Specific Plan". The ironic thing about it is that Sunrise Mall and the Sunrise shopping district was the lynch pin of Citrus Heights being able to incorporate as a city in 1996. 80,000 residents, and the shopping/retail center of Sacramento, it was quickly overtaken by the Roseville Galleria. Roseville is still growing in population, and in wealth, and no one wanted to shop in Citrus Heights any longer. And then no retailer wanted to be in Citrus Heights any longer.
Despite the "Sunrise Tomorrow Specific Plan" there have been no takers for that development, and one local property manager has been securing the parcels, and intends to leave the buildings in place and just redevelop without the residential component. The decay will likely last a few more years.
Malls are depressing in our town. Empty spaces decorated to distract is from seeing the lack selection in our online world that will continue to be just us looking down into our favorite radiation device that we would die without, but probably will die with it clenched firmly in our hand.
The best department store today is Dillard's - well stocked, fewer sales people but you can easily rope one to check you out. Lots of sales too. Don't know how they do it (they usually own the real estate) but they are profitable.
If I owned Macy's I'd try bringing back individual store names. I think Chicago would go nuts over the return of Marshall Fields - especially with slightly higher quality merch. Probably would work in other locations as well.
I used to like to go to Macy's to hunt for bargains for my daughter, three nieces and a nephew. But in recent years, the quality of the inventory at any given store has declined a lot and things are poorly organized. However, their online presence is much better and if you buy enough you get free shipping. As long as you do not have difficult sizing you can find what you want and find relative bargains. Basically the site scours the country for inventory in the size you are looking for and the item is shipped from wherever they have stock as opposed to a central location. So no more trips to the three local Macy's in vain hope to find the right size 5t, 8, 10, and 12 girls coats and a size 8 boys coat. Just go online and load em up and they will come from CA, TX, FL, all over the place. I do miss Sears though. Sears had tools and toys too!
Same story with different names for department stores in STL. Famous-Barr in downtown had a restaurant that was famous for its French Onion soup.
Stix Baer & Fuller was another store. Took my kids to see Santa Claus at that store one Christmas. There were two lines to choose, and I was Mr. Smarty, selecting the shorter line to Santa. When we got to Jolly Old St. Nick, he was an African American guy. Kids were satisfied and the wait was much shorter.
Sad to see the demise of the department stores, but your description nails what Macy's looks like today. Instead of those expensive department stores, I shop at Dollar General.
I grew up in Southdale. I remember when my dad and brothers would go duck hunting, my mom, and I would take the annual trip to Dayton's and eat at the restaurant there in the basement level. Being seated and Bam! piping hot popovers with a pat of butter greeted you. There were the occasional birds that would fly by, taking you by surprise as I gazed up at the abstract sculpture in the main concourse (hardly recognizable after a dozen renovations and revitalizations. The McDonald's at Centennial Lakes was a good stop after karate lessons and Q. Cumbers was for the particular ladies too fancy for the Steak & Ale salad buffet down the street.
I read somewhere the animal parking lot markers were heaped in a dump somewhere. Too bad. Probably somewhere next to the old Thunderbird Hotel totem. But the Mall, though the novelty has a lived-in patina, isn't entirely gone. Eden Prairie Center (of Mall Rats fame) is bustling as ever, making itself quite family-friendly. People make the mall, not the other way around. And I realize Mr. Lileks is too busy to bother with a tiny response, but I hope he knows his writing was and is a treasure and a long-time inspiration for measly scribblers like myself. Malls come and go, Lileks' writing is eternal.
"makes Dollar Tree look like Williams Sonoma."
Harsh. But I remember the JCPenney store in town before it closed. What a mess.
I grew up in retailing. Dad was a JCP guy for 40 years. I was for ten. We went from downtowns, to strip centers, to malls. I preferred downtown stores. Malls were too self-contained and there was no fresh air, but I suppose that was part of the appeal to some--yesterday's bubble. No need to interact with the outside world once you went through the door.
As to the men with tape measures and chalk. There was an art to fitting a guy in a pair of trousers or a suit jacket. Lost now. But to perk things up, calls to mind a skit on an old SNL where two guys are sitting on a park bench and one is perfectly put together. The other's socks are showing, his jacket buttons are popping, completely disheveled. And then they stand up and the perfect guy falls apart.
Macy's has filed bankruptcy two or three times over the decades, as I recall. (Chapter 11.) But they kept picking up store chains that went under: Gimbels, Robinsons-May in California, others. Where did they get the money to do this? I've never understood it.
Three takeaways: 1. I'm with Lileks...*everybody* couldn't have been kung-fu fighting. I mean, that'd be a lot of kung-fu. 2. "The tailors were let go. Eh, that’s okay they probably went to Substack they’ll be fine." Ouch, man. 3. "And like a graveyard, it might have my pants size, but it will take a lot of work to find it." Snrk.
We wandered into the mall on any given day to buy one thing. Just one thing! Maybe we grabbed something in the food court. We often met a friend there who also came to buy one thing. Or nothing at all. We wandered around temped by stories to buy things among giant rubber tree plants and benches facing odd directions. Then we wandered out to cars that maybe didn’t start or had a flat tire, or our car actually started and we drove home listening to a radio that wasn’t in stereo. And not once did we look at a computer in our hands.
I brought a roll of film for developing at Walmart and felt like Rod Taylor in The Time Machine.
I suppose if you search enough, particularly around a big city, you can find a real tailor who can custom fit a suit for you. But it will cost you. I spent a couple of hundred dollars on a suit with the custom fitting a year or two before the fauxdemic. I've only used it once for my dad's funeral but it still fit well in spite of a little extra girth.
We went from casual Friday to everday casual to jammies at home for "virtual" work. Funerals can be touch and go for the under age 40 folks if they even have anything resembling formal wear. You may see some shirts with collars at a wedding. Maybe.
I don't much care for change in general, and I tend to wallow in quiet nostalgia for times (a) that probably weren't actually better than today, overall, but that stand out for specific attractive features, and (b) that I often didn't experience myself and so have colored with my romanticized misperceptions.
I remain nostalgic, but I've been thinking about recent revolutions, things like the smart phone and universal connectivity and AI, and I've decided that some fights can't be won and aren't worth fighting, no matter how much I may dislike where modernity is taking us. Instead, I think the challenge has to be to learn to redirect the impact in positive ways. Technological ju-jitsu, as it were.
And no, I don't have the foggiest idea how to do that.
Indoor malls in California are going the way of the do-do... for the past 20 years or so, it's all about 'lifestyle centers' - outdoor malls, with each retail establishment having their own entrance, and no common interior walkways with stores on either side. But we don't have snow, or freezing temps, so that is why it can work.
The old Florin Mall in Sacramento was torn down in the early 2000s with a replacement lifestyle center "Florin Towne Centre, which when opened in 2008 was anchored by a Mervyn's - which promptly went out of business in 2009.
Since they are now down to closing the myriad of Kohl's that popped up in the 2000s, I can't think of an actual anchor store that a mall would build around. Sears is gone. JcPenny's is just about gone.
The same thing is proposed nearby for Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights - they have been eyeing tearing it all down and replacing it with retail, offices, and a mixed-use residential component - the "Sunrise Tomorrow Specific Plan". The ironic thing about it is that Sunrise Mall and the Sunrise shopping district was the lynch pin of Citrus Heights being able to incorporate as a city in 1996. 80,000 residents, and the shopping/retail center of Sacramento, it was quickly overtaken by the Roseville Galleria. Roseville is still growing in population, and in wealth, and no one wanted to shop in Citrus Heights any longer. And then no retailer wanted to be in Citrus Heights any longer.
Despite the "Sunrise Tomorrow Specific Plan" there have been no takers for that development, and one local property manager has been securing the parcels, and intends to leave the buildings in place and just redevelop without the residential component. The decay will likely last a few more years.
Malls are depressing in our town. Empty spaces decorated to distract is from seeing the lack selection in our online world that will continue to be just us looking down into our favorite radiation device that we would die without, but probably will die with it clenched firmly in our hand.
The best department store today is Dillard's - well stocked, fewer sales people but you can easily rope one to check you out. Lots of sales too. Don't know how they do it (they usually own the real estate) but they are profitable.
If I owned Macy's I'd try bringing back individual store names. I think Chicago would go nuts over the return of Marshall Fields - especially with slightly higher quality merch. Probably would work in other locations as well.
I used to like to go to Macy's to hunt for bargains for my daughter, three nieces and a nephew. But in recent years, the quality of the inventory at any given store has declined a lot and things are poorly organized. However, their online presence is much better and if you buy enough you get free shipping. As long as you do not have difficult sizing you can find what you want and find relative bargains. Basically the site scours the country for inventory in the size you are looking for and the item is shipped from wherever they have stock as opposed to a central location. So no more trips to the three local Macy's in vain hope to find the right size 5t, 8, 10, and 12 girls coats and a size 8 boys coat. Just go online and load em up and they will come from CA, TX, FL, all over the place. I do miss Sears though. Sears had tools and toys too!
Same story with different names for department stores in STL. Famous-Barr in downtown had a restaurant that was famous for its French Onion soup.
Stix Baer & Fuller was another store. Took my kids to see Santa Claus at that store one Christmas. There were two lines to choose, and I was Mr. Smarty, selecting the shorter line to Santa. When we got to Jolly Old St. Nick, he was an African American guy. Kids were satisfied and the wait was much shorter.
Sad to see the demise of the department stores, but your description nails what Macy's looks like today. Instead of those expensive department stores, I shop at Dollar General.
Macy's bought out Marshall Fields, a Chicago institution. I never shopped there again.
I grew up in Southdale. I remember when my dad and brothers would go duck hunting, my mom, and I would take the annual trip to Dayton's and eat at the restaurant there in the basement level. Being seated and Bam! piping hot popovers with a pat of butter greeted you. There were the occasional birds that would fly by, taking you by surprise as I gazed up at the abstract sculpture in the main concourse (hardly recognizable after a dozen renovations and revitalizations. The McDonald's at Centennial Lakes was a good stop after karate lessons and Q. Cumbers was for the particular ladies too fancy for the Steak & Ale salad buffet down the street.
I read somewhere the animal parking lot markers were heaped in a dump somewhere. Too bad. Probably somewhere next to the old Thunderbird Hotel totem. But the Mall, though the novelty has a lived-in patina, isn't entirely gone. Eden Prairie Center (of Mall Rats fame) is bustling as ever, making itself quite family-friendly. People make the mall, not the other way around. And I realize Mr. Lileks is too busy to bother with a tiny response, but I hope he knows his writing was and is a treasure and a long-time inspiration for measly scribblers like myself. Malls come and go, Lileks' writing is eternal.