With Macy’s I tend to look online for the deals, pay online and then to pick it up from the store. This way I am not roaming around looking at things. I am in and out of the store.
I am not a mall shopper, but I too miss Lord & Taylors. They closed the one here years ago.
The minimalist movement and the less-consumer-debt movement has to be impacting retail. Not to mention, I refuse to go to a retail store to drop $200 and beg someone to help me check out, etc. Drives me crazy.
And what is it with Target and Walmart and the lack of registers open? Walmart, especially, struggles with this. I have flat out quit going to Walmart.
Our Target has registers where you can self checkout.
the 2 macys I have been to have stuff laying around every where but on the racks…good luck trying to pay.(all employees are hiding,sleeping or texting) and if you order on line and need to call …good luck with customer support in india. they hire the people that the cable company would not let answer the phone and those standards are already very low. macy’s kind of has become irrelevant in the 21st century. just like sears/kmart and sadly target has been heading down hill too (IMO)
My Macy’s isn’t that bad. Maybe we have a decent store manager. Although the last time I was in, which had been the first time in awhile, it was very empty of customers, and the salesperson had a bit of an attitude.
@zobroward I agree about Target starting to slide. I used to much prefer Target to Walmart in my area, however, they gave our local Walmart a much needed revamping a couple years ago and its not that bad of a place to shop while Target’s style isn’t what it used to be IMO.
Macy’s at Smith Haven Mall on Long Island where you are guaranteed 40-50% off anything you put your hand on.
Hope that one doesn’t close.
^^me too (Target/Walmart)
So I’m in a college town . . . everyone is gearing up for back to college. Went to Target the other day and every single register had to be a 10-15 minute wait, including the self-check-out.
I’ve never managed retail, and I understand labor costs, but shouldn’t there be a staff-up for rush seasons? Wouldn’t that make sense? I guess the extra staffing may not be worth it cost-wise in the long run, and they figure consumers will just stand there and wait. After all we need that shower caddy. 
It just boggles my mind when you constantly read stories about the decline in retail . . . yet when I visit retail I see plenty of consumers trying to look for and buy stuff. And many people look frustrated.
Loved gouf’s post somewhere up-thread. Can we send a memo to retail management or something?
Regarding the retail rebound . . . Step One: Make it Easier for People to Purchase Your Product
macys and target kind of parallel each other. I still go to target…macys not so much any longer…
target near me is getting more empty of customers(just like macys) by the month. still at target … to pay there is a bottle neck at the self check out and using a cashier.(no easy escape when you are ready to pay) they also have less stock on the shelves, more damaged product on the shelves that would have never been allowed 5 years ago(IMO) and the floors are dirty and the store is unkempt . it really is kind of like macys when I think about it.
And a petty rant, but in my day (sounds like my grandma) we thanked people for patronizing our place of business. Today, most of the time, when I check out - I’m lucky to get a grunt. Usually I thank the employee.
#-o
southfloridamom when I go to a supermarket without self check I always say hello, thank you and have a great day. probably 50% of the time I am barely acknowledged. (a few are friendly) most of time the cashier is looking at her smart phone or complaining to the person bagging about other employees. ( I swear most cashiers are clones) I do not need to make a friend but at least be somewhat friendly.
^^I know seriously.
I live in a place with a better service culture and self check outs are pretty rare. Home Depot has one but there is always, always someone there to help you. People are friendly and I definitely prefer it this way.
Still, Walmart has horrible lines and I avoid it as much as I can.
If you have an overflowing cart that will require 15 bags you should not use the self checkout!
Amen to that one too TomSr.
The Targets around here are still pretty nice, reasonably staffed, and employees smile. Maybe because they’re relatively new.
I do like the Macy’s at our mall, and hope it stays open. But I buy most of my clothes elsewhere, too.
What happened to retail is basically that everything became based on ‘cheapest prices’, and to cut costs the retailers basically gave up on customer service for the most part. It is funny, I remember going into a Walmart near Harrisburg many years ago (was around 1993), long before they came to my area, and I was amazed at the customer service, they had people in all the departments, they were friendly and helpful, were proud to be helping people, the departments were well stocked and so forth. The contrast to today is 180 degrees away from that, the stores have few people in the departments, the registers are always overloaded, and all you see is cheap goods for cheap prices.
Home Depot has been a classic example of that. When Home Depot opened they had people who knew what they were doing, a lot of contractors, plumbers, lighting people and such would work there as a retirement job, and they knew how to do things and were glad to help, they really enjoyed it. Home Depot got sold, and then things went down the toilet and haven’t really recovered totally, at its bottom my local Home Depot was full of minimum wage employees and more than a few employees who literally couldn’t speak English, they would have 2 registers open on a saturday or sunday, it was aweful (the prime reason was Bob Nardini, a beancounter who was one of Jack Welch’s right hand men, and it showed…they basically made cost slashing corporate policy, so stores were hiring LCD employees, not staffing the store,you name it…and it almost took Home Depot with it. They canned Nardini (don’t feel sorry for him, he got 150 million for doing this), and hired back Arthur Blanc (the founder), and it has gotten better, but it isn’t what it was.
Sadly, a lot of us are to blame, people in part because of the internet have become obsessed with paying the ‘lowest price’, but then complain about the lack of service at stores, how bad it is, or want to go to a store, have someone help us pick something out, then order it from someone on the net at the cheapest price. Stores have gotten the impression, not totally without reason, that people don’t care about customer service. High end stores like Nordstrom’s make that part of who they are, but most stores, even some of the higher end ones, don’t care, believing customers don’t care.
It will be interesting to see if people in this day and age of Amazon and so forth, if customer service will become something stores try to get people back in. 20+ years ago banks were pushing to totally get rid of brick and mortar bank branches, Citigroup had this major initiative (I know, I interviewed in that group) to totally have banking be online and/or at kiosks at places like blockbuster (!!!), then along came Citizen’s bank and suddenly you can 't walk 10 feet in many places without tripping over a bank branch, and now banks are open 6, 7 days, longer hours instead of the old “banker’s hours” of 8-3 Monday to Friday, maybe stores will do the same thing.