My first summer job was at Lord & Taylor in the sheet and towel department in Stamford, CT. I learned a lot there and not just about sheets and towels. I remember telling my mom after my first full day that all I could think about was getting in one of the sample beds and going to sleep. I worked full time that summer and I remember I made, after taxes, $57 a week. They gave me an envelope of cash. I really disliked one of my coworkers, who was an older woman who probably shouldn’t have been working. Another co-worker was a mom of six sons (!) who hosted a kids get together every Friday night. Wow, good memories from when I was 17. I haven’t been back to Stamford or Lord & Taylor for about 50 years.
@thumper1 My kiddos don’t mind shopping at Nordstrom… when I am there… with my credit card. 
@Wellspring: The Stamford L&T is still there. One of my friends works there now.
@Thumper1: The L&T on Fifth Ave was a mess a month ago because []everything was on sale. I got off at the second floor to find the Ladies Room and was met by an entire floor of shoes on sale – boxes open, shoes thrown on the floor, handwritten signs designating what size shoe each grouping was, people trying on shoes willy nilly, with no place to sit down. I looked for my size for a minute or two and realized that shopping that way would be so unpleasant that it wouldn’t be worth the few bucks I might save.
We liked L&T’s shoe department in NYC. They had the biggest everyday shoe selections. I was there yesterday to see what I could pick up. I was hoping to get some Max Mara, but they have moved most of the expensive stuff out. I bought few pairs of pants and some workout clothes for D2.
My kids and I still go to Saks and Bloomie for clothes we need to try on, like suits and dresses. Like Thumper1, I am not one for ordering multiple outfits to try on.
My girls were more sad about Henri Bendel than L&T, and I am more about L&T. I am going to miss their holiday windows.
The L&T in my area closed many years ago. I still miss it.
My s’s order clothes front hat thing on line (I forget the name) where they tell them their dimensions and general likes/dislikes, and the company sends them clothes. They return what they don’t want/like. I cant imagine buying clothes on line. I would rather try them on in the store.
For both sons’ weddings, I bought my dresses online. For S1, I bought and returned probably 30 dresses. For S2, the first one was the right one. Returning them is no big deal to me. I have the packing tape, so I just fill out the return form, tape them up, and drop them off at my local UPS dropoff place. For places like Nordstrom, Bloomies, Saks, there is no return shipping charge. It’s easy peasy for me.
My younger D always found a dress at L&T for the winter semi-formal dance at her high school. I didn’t shop at L&T very much, but I do shop at Nordstroms or Bloomingdales–mostly online, but sometimes I will go to the store.
When I was young my parents took us to visit my cousins in Chicago (we lived in Detroit)–we would go at Christmas to see the downtown Chicago department store windows that were full of Christmas decorations. All of the cousins would go (6 of us) and we loved it. We would have lunch at Marshall Field’s Walnut Room. I knew Macy’s bought Field’s a number of years ago, but hadn’t been to the flagship store in the city since then.
Last March, I went to the wedding of my cousin’s son in the Chicago area. H and I were in the city early and went to the flagship Field’s store (now Macy’s). The store was run down and not very clean; the Walnut Room was empty–we were the only people there at lunchtime on a Saturday. The food was mediocre at best. The only thing I bought were Frango Mints–which I loved as a child. What a disappointing outing!
Growing up in NYC, it was fun to walk through the stores on 5th Ave. I couldn’t afford, like L&T. As an adult, I saw it as being just a step above Macy’s. Having said that, it was also where I ultimately found my MOG dress.
@VeryHappy
I can certainly see how a going out of business sale would make a store look like a tag sale at 3 on Saturday!
I was there before this sale…and really, LT was fine. Remarkably, so was Macy’s…which doesn’t win my organized store reward either…even when there is NO sale.
@oldfort not surprised that the good stuff was shipped out to other LT stores…or placed elsewhere for those ordering online.
I’m surprised that the L & T in the mall near me is still open. Nice store but I never see anyone shopping there.
The Nordstrom in the same mall closed last year and I was/am bummed about that as is my D. It’s the only departmant store she would shop in.
I know people rave about Nordstrom. I remember shopping in CA at one and really liking it. This was before they did their huge expansion east of the Mississippi River.
I was so excited when they announced they were opening at our mall…but I was VERY underwhelmed with the store when it opened. Even the shoes…expensive and not a huge selection. Both Macy’s and LT in the same mall had a wider selection of everything. The Nordstrom store was “pretty” but really that’s where it ended for me.
Never a L &T shopper. We had a store in the mall here years ago which closed, but a few years ago they built a new beautiful store at the same mall. I’ve only been in it once and only because I had time to waste while waiting for my number to be called at the Apple store.
I do shop at Saks occasionally- but mostly do all my clothes shopping at boutiques.
Do they have Saks at Albany?
Precisely why I like going there when I need to go to a store.
@soozievt You must be quite a bit younger than I am! I don’t remember a Lord and Taylor in Philadelphia. Going ‘into town’ to shop was to Bonwit Teller, Wanamakers or Gimbels. Maybe Lit Bros. 
Nope. 
I shop at the 5th Ave store or on line.
Perhaps she’s referring to the one on City Line Avenue, although technically it’s on the Bala Cynwyd side. They did have a Center City store for about a hot minute in the John Wanamaker building
@soozievt @alwaysamom The only L&T stores I remember in the Philadelphia area were in Jenkintown (a big stand alone store that closed years ago) and in Ardmore (I think this one is still there, but that’s the Main Line so makes sense). King of Prussia mall has one now (maybe it did years ago?), a nice store but I only stop in once or twice a year.
In town, we went to Strawbridge’s (with the bronze boar) or Wanamaker’s (now Macy’s but at least they kept the eagle). I’d forgotten about Lits and Gimbels!
Lord and Taylor was in the Wanamaker’s store (currently Macy’s) for a while, as was mentioned. I used to take my kids there for an annual holiday outing. Macy’s closed the restaurant from which you could watch the light show.
I loved the Lord and Taylor in NYC when I worked there for a couple of years. It was a bit of a walk from my job, so I didn’t go too often, but I bought both my wedding dresses there (just off the rack dressy white and ivory numbers).
Before that, there was an outpost at an NJ that I occasionally visited with my mother in the 80s (FWIW, I was an adult then, not a child). We bought a large framed print there of an old-fashioned little girl who I called my ancestress (superficial resemblance, and we’re not the kind of family that has old family portraits on the walls). My tastes changed over the years, and I didn’t even take the picture after my parents died.
Wow, I am surprised so many people liked L&T. In my book it was the most boring department store. I rarely went in.