My company prides itself on customer service, but we are in a niche market (and have nicer customers…with some exceptions…).
Even the flagship Macy’s can have weak service. For those who haven’t been there since the huge store redesign, the entire first floor except for the men’s department on the 7th avenue side, has been reconfigured into designer handbag boutiques, with the large jewelry area and cosmetics/fragrances. The designer handbags are all for the tourists as the regular non-designer handbags are now on the lower level. A lot of what was previously casual kitchenware and boxed candy shops and the best salad bar in midtown on the lower level has been moved up to various other floors in favor of a food cart/restaurant area. For me I used to always pick up tights and socks and hose in the mezzanine area of the main floor which also had a Met museum shop but all that is gone, as socks and hose are now up on the 7th floor or somewhere and no Met store any longer.
I was with younger d to pick up a gift for one of her friend’s bridal registry. They printed out the registry but we were on our own to wander around and that was okay but they we had to hunt down a cashier as they no longer process payments in the bridal registry. You used to get free gift wrap when you bought from the registry in-person but no more. We actually had the gift gift-wrapped in-store for whatever the charge was and the clerk absolutely refused to take a tip from me.
Any Bostonians remember Jordan Marsh’s blueberry muffins? First thing Macy’s did when they acquired JM was to shut down the best bakery in Boston outside of the North End.
I’m sure I got this reference from someone on CC, do if it was you please say so:
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=a9_sc_1?rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Abooks+the+shockingly+high+price+of+cheap+fashion&keywords=books+the+shockingly+high+price+of+cheap+fashion&ie=UTF8&qid=1471146420
It’s why we can’t get quality fabrics or clothes: because we mostly want good prices over good quality. The chapters about disposing of this huge glut of useless rags are especially compelling.
And why hasn’t anybody mentioned the biggest Macy’s horror in their takeover in the Pacific NW, the destruction of the real Frango.?
I did mention the demise of the Bon, but I forgot about the Frango, because I have not bought them in a while… Macy’s made them inedible.
This is also evident in the decline in the air travel experience.
I’m guilty too. I loved browsing in bookstores. If I found an interesting book I’d go home and order it on Amazon. Sigh!
I do NOT do that at a bookstore. If I’m browsing in a boostore, and decide to buy a book, I will buy it there. Before buying it, I might check out the reviews on Amazon while sitting there in the bookstore, so I guess I do the opposite: use Amazon to help guide my in-person purchase. But to use the bookstore as a showroom and then buy on Amazon to save 5 or 6 bucks, at most? Nah.
This thread has brought back several fond memories.
My first post college job was in downtown Los Angeles. I thought my office building was the coolest place. It was an office tower and a hotel tower connected by a shopping center. The Broadway department store had several floors, dining and even a hair salon. I remember once a month the store and another department store across the street had a month end sale. The stores opened early, my coworkers and I would sneak away mid morning for a quick look in.
Another older memory- going to the mall with my Mom. She was an all star shopper. Going to the mall was her hobby. Though she wasn’t a reader she would always give me an hour to browse the bookstore and let me buy a few paperbacks.
Now I only go to a mall if I need something specific. I don’t browse. I do love to go to our local bookstore and browse. Both my girls love to browse bookstores. We do buy. I’m appreciative that I still have a bookstore to go to. All the chains that came into town have closed up shop and what remains is one local shop. If everyone browsed and went home and bought online it would close its doors. That would be a sad day. Granted I also buy books on Amazon and at Costco. I also use the library.
My childhood memory is of doing back to school shopping with my mom followed by lunch at the Jordan Marsh restaurant, which was a treat as we didn’t eat out much back then. I remember I often ordered quiche which seemed somewhat exotic to little me. 
I remember getting all dressed up to go downtown to the main department store special dining room. It was a special event we did only once a year.
The Bon had the best blueberry muffins.
The frangos turned to wax when F&N went out of business
Of the books I buy, 99% are from my favorite indie bookshop. The other 1% come from Costco or half price books.