No matter how
carefully I’ve planned, this time of year always seems
to necessitate one or two extra shopping trips which, more
and more I have come to view as a distasteful chore, rather
than a pleasant excursion.
In reading the Business section
of the paper, I’ve learned that some venerable retail
stores such as Lord & Taylor and Saks are having financial
difficulties and are "rethinking their customer philosophy."
I’m not surprised … what I want to know is,
who took the fun out of shopping?
I can remember when buying,
even a small something, at B. Altman in New York or G. Fox
in Hartford was a major event. One dressed up for the occasion
and then strolled down wide aisles, looking at tastefully
displayed items behind glass in polished mahogany cases
… "May I see that one please?" … and
a smiling clerk would respond with a polite, "Of course,
Madam."
No pushing through overcrowded
aisles jammed with clothing racks while balancing, coat,
purchases and pocketbook … there were coat rooms in
which to leave your coat and other packages, floor walkers
(recognizable by the carnation in their jacket lapel) to
direct you and when lunch time approached, a spacious and
quiet restaurant where you could sit and recover your energy,
while being graciously served your lunch.
Altman’s even had a white-gloved
doorman to greet you and shelter you with a big yellow umbrella,
in case of rain. The memory of how lovely shopping was then,
almost makes me want to cry. There is also a sameness of
merchandise in most of the stores, today, a direct result,
I believe, in the American consumer’s overdependence
on so-called prestige labels.
Time was, when I wanted a red blouse,
I headed for the blouse department where blouses were arranged
by color and then by size. Beautifully simple, wasn’t
it? Now, shopping is more like a treasure hunt … there
is no blouse department but a succession of individual designer
"shops" requiring me to decide initially if I
want a blouse by Liz, Calvin, August Silk, Bill Blass or
Ralph Lauren.
If I finally find a suitable blouse
in one of the above departments, I’m in for an equally
difficult search for someone to help me. If I have been
so foolish as to go shopping alone, I may find myself partially
dressed in the dressing room on the horns of a dilemma.
Do I really want that blouse badly enough to get re-dressed
and fight my way back to the department to see if they have
the next largest size?
Sometimes lady luck is with
you and you find the color and size you need. Now the only
remaining obstacle is to find a cashier desk with a cashier.
It is often tempting to stand in the middle of the selling
floor, madly waving a fistful of money to see if that gets
anyone’s attention.
If I should have the audacity to request
a box for my American name designer but made in China blouse,
I’m in for a trip to another floor, where a sign reassures
me that there is still a lonely outpost known as "customer
service."
Local boutiques do still offer personal
service. But since, unfortunately, I’m no longer a
slim, young thing, I enter the local shops to gingerly finger
short skirts that would barely cover my you-know-what and
sweaters cut to expose my no-longer-firm and ring-less navel.
Finally, summoning courage to inquire
about anything more suitable for a mature type, I’m
quickly dismissed with an almost scornful, "We don’t
carry anything over a size 12, Madam."
Hoping to recapture some semblance
of dignity, I grab madly for a scarf and mutter, "I’ll
take this, please" before making a hasty exit. Some
of my friends do well with catalog shopping, but I miss
seeing and touching what I am about to purchase. And I still
remember ordering a long list of mostly clothing items from
a well known catalog, all of which with the exception of
a small iron frog doorstop, had to be re-wrapped and bundled
off to the post office to be returned.
One friend seems able to find unusual
and reasonably priced clothes on the QVC shopping network,
but I found spending that much time watching TV till my
eyes glazed over from the endless procession of products,
was not for me.
Guess I’ll just pull
out some perfectly good things from a year or so ago and
bank the difference.
Meanwhile, Mr. Retailer, if
you want me back in your store, you’ll have to figure
out a way to make it fun for me to part with my hard-earned
dollars.
Jean Cherni
is founder of Senior Living Solutions, a retirement advisory
service. Contact her at jeancherni@sbcglobal.net or
15 The Ponds, Branford 06405. H. Pearce Company REALTORS®
is a full-service real estate company with more than 100
agents and branch offices in greater New Haven and the Shoreline.
Corporate and & Commercial offices are located in North
Haven, where the company was founded in 1958. All listings
can be found in color on the web at: www.hpearce.com. |
