@skieurope true that.
When the flagships in Manhattan close…that’s bigger news than when they close in…Cleveland.
Unless you’re in Cleveland. 
But even still, the L&T flagship is not the first NYC flagship to close. There’s Gimbels, Bonwit Teller (both mentioned above). B. Altman, Abraham & Straus, Alexander’s, among other’s I’m sure. And the earth continued to rotate on its own axis.
I must admit feeling nostalgic at the thought of the closing of the Lord & Taylor flagship store. This store was a favorite of my mother’s for decades. In the late 60s/early 70s there was a restaurant in the store called The Bird Cage and it was the ultimate treat for me and my sisters to accompany our mom on a shopping trip into Manhattan (we lived in Queens) and then lunch at The Bird Cage. Like @Marilyn we always dressed up. I’m pretty sure I can trace my life long love of chicken salad all the way back to that restaurant.
In other news, it looks like Sears is finally done. According to various news sources, bankruptcy filings are being prepared this weekend. I never shopped there for clothes but Sears was the go to store for tools and appliances for many decades.
@Marilyn -
OMG! That’s my family’s line, along with the famous Passover toast of “Next year - in Miami Beach” which my parents’ generation closed out every Seder with.
B. Altman! It was B. Altman, not Lord and Taylor, where my mother and I bought the “ancestral” portrait.
I loved the grand old department stores of my youth - and the chicken a la king of their restaurants (the only place I ever ate that).
The B. Altman flagship is now the CUNY graduate center or one of them.
When B. Altman was closing, I was pregnant with my first child. I went over one day and bought a beautiful Chanukiah for the baby in a closeout sale. It was the only thing I ever bought there. My D was given several beautiful coats from B. Altman as hand me downs when she was a little girl.
It’s also the Science, Industry and Business Library (SIBL) of the New York Public Library.whose president and CEO is Anthony Marx, who was president of Amherst. Sooner or later we can tie any thread back to colleges.
Union Square in SF isn’t the same without the towering displays of toys at FAO Schwartz. I never purchased anything there as the prices were high, but it was always so festive-looking.
Oh @sabaray , did you have lunch at the tick tock club at Kaufmann s ? That was an essential part of downtown shopping throughout my childhood!
I was never a L&T fan. Occasionally found a treasure there - especially on sale - , but felt like there was no clear vision for their merchandise. Surprisingly, their mall stores seem a little better curated.
I am so beyond sad about the flagship L & T store. Just last year they extensively renovated the store and the 5th floor dress floor was outstanding, a real pleasure to shop there. I think for my d’s and I, we bought all of our dresses we needed for various events there. Younger d just picked up a stunning gown for a black tie wedding reduced to $65 from $380. Very helpful sales people with the redesign and spacious fitting rooms where you could call your sales associate from the fitting room to ask for a different size. We also did well on the second floor shoe department, bathing suits and lingerie departments. I’ve bought so many things there-gloves, handbags, evening bag, make-up, Kate Sapde fun jewelry. The sales people in the bra department were helpful to fit you and if you brought the dress you were planning to wear with you, they could fit you properly. Good tights/sock department. I have shopped there regularly for so many years. When the d’s were younger we could shop in the Garden City store and that was a part of their growing up department store experience and we also did well there too. That store will still be open but not the same and never was as the flagship. While I’ve ordered online from them, I have found that not so easy to return things. Ordered shoes last spring and Garden City store would not take back as they did not carry in inventory but the flagship store did.
Fond memories of always going to see the holiday windows as a kid and taking my d’s in as well to see all the windows.
By the way, I also never head of Hanukkah Harry until this thread. When I was a kid Hanukkah was not a big deal holiday, was never Christmas for Jews and you got a token kind of a gift - a new Nancy Drew book, a new pencil case, barrettes, etc. Even with my kids, I might get some bigger gifts for them but one night was puzzles, one night was books, one night was a new board game time of thing. Now that they are grown, last year I got tickets for them to see “Come From Away” along with older d’s boyfriend.
Bookmamma, that was the fun part of Hanukkah. There would be at least 8 gifts, but some were really nice and others could be underwear or pens. Sometimes small gifts would be wrapped and put into larger box. Kids would shake the packge but never know what they would find.
Saturday Night Live had a skit (maybe a couple) about Hanukkah Harry, played by Jon Lovitz. I did not know that HH “existed” outside of that show. Can still remember the song urging on the donkeys that pulled his vehicle: On Moishe, on Herschel, on Schlomo!
Meeting my d’s tomorrow for one final fling at Lord & Taylor flagship - I have a feeling that it will be a sad experience. I remember going to Bonwit Teller just before closing as a young working person and there wasn’t much to be had and sadly when Bonwit Teller was torn down to make way for what is now Trump Tower, the limestone bas relief on the buiilding exterior that were promised to the Met Museum somehow never made their way there. Even more sad. I can’t recall when B. Altman closed exactly but I recall shopping there after I came back from maternity leave with my older daughter and buying baby clothes there. My mother always enjoyed shopping there for end of season sales for quality children’s clothes, etc. It was a wonderful store.
So here is the update on the status of the shopping at the flagship Lord and Taylor… the first floor is intact, cosmetics, handbags and accessories, jewelry. For the most part, things here are either 10% or 20% discount. Shoes on 2 feature long tables arranged by size with shoes in boxes although there are still displays of designer shoes and dress shoes and you can get waited up. Older d bought a nice pair of Dansko shoes , black low heels at 20% off of $150. The clothes for the most part except for designer sections are all in long racks with varying discounts but disappointing in that the sizes are all jumbled together and none of us had the patience to look more than a quick browse. We went up to look at winter coats and there was a fair amount of stock but limited to certain brands and also pretty jumbled up making it somewhat hard to look. We did well in lingerie as that floor is intact as is, and they each bought socks, tights and leggings at 20 or 30% off. Between the three of us we spent over $500 on new bras and the discounts depend on brand. See we mostly wear Wacoal that was only discounted 10%. Older d bought a sports bra that was 50%. Younger d’s roommate bought deeply discounted lingerie as well as an evening gown that was reduced from $480 to less than $50.00. With the evening wear you really had to sort through. No displays whatsoever that we located for the Lord & Taylor cashmere sweaters. So I think that they either did not receive much fall/winter merchandise at flagship beyond a certain point which is why only certain brands of winter coats were there. With both dresses and coats, you do have to watch out because there is still a good amount of Ivanka merchandise. Didn’t look at bags but I might go again to see about a new wallet/gloves.