Worthless Wardrobe Boxes

I’ve always liked the play on words of Men’s Wearhouse. If you’re familiar with MW you know they cover more ground than just formal wear. They’ve set aside an area for tuxedos and such, but they have other sections for dress shirts, accessories, and even shoes. It’s like walking through a miniature department store… which is probably why MW is destined for the dust bin sometime in the coming year.

Just eighteen months after Saks Fifth Avenue acquired bankrupt Neiman-Marcus (for the “bargain” price of $2.65 billion) Saks itself filed for bankruptcy; just yesterday.  The 2024 merger of these big-box luxury retailers (which included Bergdorf Goodman) never really came to fruition. Chalk it up to biting off more than they could chew, or more likely to the impact of the changing habits of consumers.  Today’s shoppers want smaller, more specific brick-and-mortar options; that is, whenever they can drag themselves away from online purchasing.

The shuttering of department stores is not limited to the high-end verions, of course.  Macy’s is in the process of closing 150 “underperforming locations”.  JC Penny, Kohl’s, and Marshall’s are closing outlets here and there.  Even Carter’s, the popular option for children’s clothing, is calling it quits on 150 locations.  And Sears, which had almost 3,000 locations just fifteen years ago, is down to a mere five.  Frankly, I didn’t know Sears had any locations anymore.

Chicago’s Sears Tower

Sears (or the Sears, Roebuck and Co I remember as a child) was my family’s go-to-department store for just about anything.  My brothers and I were outfitted in Sears-brand clothing.  My mother purchased all kinds of items for her kitchen.  My father built up his workshop with dozens of Craftsman tools.  And of course, the Sears catalog was not only a kid’s dream-book of Christmas wishes, but its arrival in the mailbox was a sign Santa was on his way… not to your house but to the toy department at Sears.

Like many other things in the States, department stores were based on the originals in Europe.  Harrods of London has been around since 1849 and boasts of 1,100,000 square feet of selling space, making it the largest department store on the continent.  Paris hosts several stores I’ve never heard of yet many have been around as long as Harrods.  And Australia’s David Jones is considered the world’s longest continuously operating department store (since 1838!)

As you read this post – and if you’re Millennial or older – I’m sure a department store of your own experience comes to mind.  Towards the East Coast: Gimbels, Hudson’s, or Wanamaker’s.  Towards the West: May Company, Bullock’s, or Robinson’s.  In Chicago alone: Marshall Field’s, Carson Pirie Scott, or Wieboldt’s.  In Canada: Eaton’s.  The list is endless, even as most of them are downsizing or closing altogether.

In deference to my former department store habits, I also prefer more specific retail these days.  My shoes come from shoe stores.  My shirts come from stores of particular name brands.  But with shopping malls closing along with their aforementioned “anchors”, my stores of choice are now stand-alones or in outlet malls.  Now that I think about it, outlet malls are kind of like outdoor department stores, aren’t they?

I may be nostalgic for the department stores of my past, but I certainly understand why the concept has come and is about to be gone.  We have more convenient, more tailored options these days.  Which has me wondering about supermarkets.  Supermarkets are also under the threat of the changing habits of consumers.  No, I don’t expect a return to those wonderful merchant-driven street markets you find all over Europe.  But we are getting more comfortable with placing orders ahead of time and having groceries delivered to our car or front door.  In other words, enjoy shopping in “food warehouses” while you still can, because department stores are about to become nothing more than worthless wardrobe boxes.

Some content sourced from the CNN Business article, “Saks Global files for bankruptcy protection…”, and Wikipedia, “the free encyclopedia”. 

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Author: Dave

Five hundred posts would suggest I have something to say… This blog was born from a desire to elevate the English language, highlighting eloquent words from days gone by. The stories I share are snippets of life itself, and each comes with a bonus: a dusted-off word I hope you’ll go on to use more often. Read “Deutschland-ish Improvements” to learn about my backyard European wish list. Try “Slush Fun” for the throwback years of the 7-Eleven convenience store. Or drink in "Iced Coffee" to discover the plight of the rural French cafe. On the lighter side, read "Late Night Racquet Sports" for my adventures with our latest moth invasion. As Walt Whitman said, “That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.” Here then, my verse. Welcome to Life In A Word.

28 thoughts on “Worthless Wardrobe Boxes”

  1. This is all rather sad, and I don’t quite get it. Are people buying clothes online instead? I would hate that for not being able to try stuff on. They still sell clothes at Walmart and Target. We typically go to Marshalls. If people want nice options, where are they going? Man, end of an era.

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    1. I’m with you, Ilsa. Until manufacturers agree on the definition of “large”, “medium”, etc, on-line shopping for clothes will always run the risk of wrong sizes. That’s frustrating enough for me to continue using real stores. Not to mention, gone is the relaxing experience of simply wandering through a store and “window shopping”. As you say, the trend is all rather sad.

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  2. I guess that makes sense why the Saks show was a little subdued this year. I hope Nordstrom never goes under, they make online shopping and returns so easy. I thought Gimbels was just a made up name from Elf ha. My parents still talk about their days working at Hudsons.

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    1. It’s been interesting to live in several parts of the country (raised in the West, college in the Midwest, now in the South) and discover department stores are largely regional. I only knew Macy’s (and Gimbels) by mention in Miracle on 34th Street. I never even went into a Macy’s until I was well into my twenties. There’s my choice for “hope it never goes under”, especially that wonderful flagship store in downtown Manhattan.

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  3. When my wife was putting me through school, she was only paid once a month. We had a gas credit card and a Sears credit card. I can remember looking around Sears for food and charging some popcorn on the card so we could have something to eat at the end of the month!

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    1. I forgot about department store credit cards, Geoff. Dillard’s still asks if you want to open an account when you purchase, even as Visa and Mastercard make it a moot option with their better points programs. I’m all about fewer cards in my wallet anyway. Charging popcorn to a department store card… that’s a new one on me 🙂

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  4. We had a Sears store just a mile away from where I live and it was the same for our family – Kenmore appliances, Craftsman tools and Sears clothing, bedding, etc., the latter from the catalog or in the store. Our Sears store was the anchor store in a large outdoor mall. They demolished it in 2024 after the store sat vacant for about five years due to bankruptcy.

    Last year, a huge office building was opened downtown called the Hudson Building and it is on the site of the former J.L. Hudson Department Store that was there for many years. You might have seen this high-rise, mixed-use building when you visited with your brothers in 2024. They might have been partially finished at that point. The J.L. Hudson’s store was demolished in 1993. I went the day after the implosion – it was quite something to watch the implosion on TV. Hudson’s had nice clothing, but then rebranded as Marshall Fields, then Macy’s. I never cared for their clothing (too modern) as Marshall Fields. It was better as Macy’s, but I find everything in the store way too trendy and expensive now. Perhaps if I still needed a work wardrobe it would be different.

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    1. I had no idea Hudson’s was a predecessor of Target. I must’ve gone into one of their stores during my college years because the name is certainly familiar (even if I can’t remember a location outside of the area). I did go into Marshall Field’s in downtown Chicago once, just for a look. My college budget couldn’t begin to afford anything they had to offer 🙂

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      1. Yes, Marshall Fields and Target were affiliated. I remember I got a letter inviting me to get a credit card with them as I already had a Marshall Fields credit card. They rebranded twice since I first got the Hudson’s credit card in 1981. Macy’s is not affiliated with Target now though. They were pretty pricey for a college student’s budget.

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  5. I’ll admit that the rise of online shopping and cheap/easy shipping right to my front door has really limited the number of times I want to go shopping at a department store. I’ve had projects where I needed a specific part and knew it would take hours of my time to find locally, but a few clicks with a mouse and it’s in a digital shopping cart and on it’s way.

    But I do have fond memories of wandering Macy’s, JC Penny’s and our local shopping malls. Oddly enough I think I spend more now online than I ever did in person — it’s way to easy to just keep clicking, after all someone else will have to carry to my house.

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    1. How does our time spent on online retail compare to the shopping we used to do in person? That’s a great question Andrew (and one we’ll never know the answer to). It’s a good bet online retail is the bigger number.

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  6. Folks our age can barely remember when every decent sized city had its own department store. In Fort Wayne it was Wolf & Dessaur. They sold out to (or had their locations taken over by) L. S. Ayres from Indianapolis around 1969 or so. Ayres got swallowed up by a bigger company (May?) and our Ayres stores became Macy’s.

    I agree that stores like Wal-Mart (and the midwest competitors like Target or Meijer) have become the modern department store where you can buy a television set, a bedspread and a pair of pliers in one place.

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    1. I used to think of Home Depot as a home improvement store, but it’s a great place to buy cleaning supplies, packing materials, light bulbs, batteries, stuff for the garden, and on and on.

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  7. With this post, Dave, you conjured up many delightful memories from my childhood. Visiting Marshall Field’s and other department stores in downtown Chicago was a special treat, especially at Christmastime when the windows offered spectacles to behold–colorful and sparkling displays with moving figures that mesmerized, just like in the movie The Christmas Story. Today’s children would no doubt find such “window-looking” to be BOR-ING!

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    1. I’m glad Macy’s and other stores still create those window displays at Christmas, Nancy; kind of a throwback to years long gone by. Of course, the time and money invested in those displays suggests the department stores are still doing pretty well!

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  8. This reminds me of when bookstores disappeared, but then they made a bit of a come back. We still need stores, when I go, they are always full, but I guess not full enough to stay open. Let’s see what the future brings. I certainly miss the days that it was FUN to go to a department store and browse all their departments.

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    1. It’s a good comparison! So many (myself included) are reading from e-readers instead of books these days. Can’t think of the last time I was in a bookstore, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t jump at the opportunity if I had one nearby. There’s something comforting – and adventurous – about being surrounded by all those books.

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  9. In Canada we had Simpsons Sears, Eatons and Hudson’s Bay. The first two are gone, The Bay is on it’s way out.

    Women’s clothing sizing is a big joke. Every manufacturer seems to use a different standard!

    I have shopped online for clothing for a few years now because the stores I shopped at have disappeared. Of the ones left, I do not need plus sizes, ‘trendy’ or the teen scene!

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  10. I’m still mourning the death of the Bay here, the last of our 3 department stores…..but I have to admit I enjoy online food shopping, which I started doing when I was recuperating from heart surgery….now I’m wondering if grocery stores might start to disappear to and be replaced by giant food warehouses.

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    1. We haven’t embraced online food shopping yet Joni, but like most changes I’m sure it would take just a few dips in the pool to get comfortable with it. We tend to go up and down the supermarket aisles in addition to our list of necessities, so maybe it’s as much about enjoying the experience as fulfilling the need.

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      1. I found it very convenient during the 3 months post-op that I couldn’t drive – and surprisingly they picked out the best produce, expiry dates etc, and the store employee would call if something was backordered and ask about a substitute, so the Customer Service part was great too. I would pick a time that was convenient for my PSW to pick it up, and it would always be ready, as I would get an email/text half an hour before that it was complete. Over all I was very impressed. This was with our local No Frills (part of the Loblaws chain) grocery store, not Walmart, but I know a lot of people who use their service too, especially busy working moms, but I tend to avoid Walmart. But now, I have gone back to shopping in the store, for the deli specials and as you said, just to see what appeals to you ….and lately an outing, just to get out of the house as we woke to a snowstorm again today!

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  11. Dave, I thought I’d share this link on your last Lego post, but comments were closed (30 days, same as me). Anyway, it works on this post too. I heard this story on the news this morning. These are not available until mid-February, but can you believe Crocs has designed a Lego brick-type clog? I’ve never worn regular Crocs as I’d likely wipe out on them, let alone square Crocs. Check out the price tag on these.
    LEGO® Brick Clog – Crocs

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    1. I saw an ad for these on social media and thought it was a joke. Even if the insides are designed for comfort they look miserable to move around in. They also look like something you’d use with a Halloween costume at best. If the standard price of Crocs is any indication they’ll cost more than $50 which (sigh…) people who are not me will gladly pay, just to be a part of the hype. Thanks for sharing, Linda. “No comment” 😉

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