Among Friends

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@ECBG  We live about 10 minutes drive from our closest mall.

 Sadly, it has changed and not for the better.

    At it's height, we had Jordan Marsh which had beautiful   clothing and a great petite department that featured Jones New York, Liz Claiborne, Ralph Lauren and several other designers.

They sold beautiful lingeree and sleepwear and a nice shoe department. Beautiful jewelry and accessories.

      It had housewares, small appliances, fine china, crystal

and silver in their bridal registry department.

It also had lovely furniture and Oriental rugs and a wonderful

linens and bath department. We had bought beautiful luggage there and also handbags.

   It had a great men's department as well as childrens. The infant department sold the beautiful Carter's baby clothes and accessories and toys.

   On the top floor was a Hair Salon and a lovely restaurant. It was such fun to shop and then have a nice lunch. They also had a bakery and a little cafe where you get their delicious croissants, cakes and their famous blueberry muffins.

   Macy's took over Jordan Marsh and many of the brands are no longer found there. I find some petite clothing that they offer and I buy online. A lot of the clothing is just cheap synthetic imports, so disappointing. They no longer carry Liz Claiborne or Jones New York. They overbuy and there are messy racks of stuff on sale. I still buy house wares and linens and some very nice towels online.

  No more restaurant or bakery. It has never been that nice since Macy's took over. A lot of cheaper, but not inexpensive

merchandise is sold there. And you have to go to at least four departments to find a sales register to pay.

    Filene's was another high end store that left the mall as did

our wonderful Lord and Taylor.

    Sears left a few years ago and that was where I had bought some appliances and children's clothes.

   J.C. Penney is still there and years ago I bought men's sweatshirts and underwear there.

    We have Nordstrom's and at one time it had a nice petite department where I bought cashmere sweaters and wool coats.

Now, the clothing offered seems to be very trendy and appealing to the 20 something crowd, not clothing classics.

   I have bought Birkenstocks online from Nordstrom.

    So the three large stores left are Macy's, Nordstrom and J.C.Penney. There is a Chico's, but the nice little boutique

stores and shoe stores are gone. The mall is just a shadow of what it once was. I shop online.

[ECBG]

@Enufstuff 

You must live near a big metro area to have had such commerce.

We are the largest in our area if the Bllue Ridge part of the Appalachian mountains.

[lil spot]

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@SloopJohnB wrote:

Back in the day, we had 2 major malls in our area.  One mall had Sears as the anchor, unfortunately this was the Sears that Adam Walsh was abducted from.

The other mall had Jordan Marsh, Burdines, Richards and JCPenney.  It was great.  Nowadays the malls we now have are more of a ghost town, partially thanks to businesses a la Amazon.  

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@SloopJohnB 

I grew up at those two malls. We called the one The Sears mall and the other one was The Fashion Center. 

I was afraid to go back to Sears after that dreadful day Adam was abducted.

[ScrapHappy]

I have Macy's, JCP, Von Maur and Dillards.  Sears closed a long time ago and remains empty.  JCP looks like it can close at any time, but it has looked that way for a very long time now.  Macy's has really turned junky.  Von Maur is usually like a ghost town.  Dillards doesn't draw a lot of people either.  Another mall, an upscale, outdoor mall opened a couple of years ago.  Stores like Tesla, Apple, LuLuLemon, Crate & Barrel, Lilly Pulitzer, etc....very high end, expensive stores.  It's a mixed use space.  There outdoor space, condos, townhomes, movie theater and a lot of restaurants.  I usually don't go there but did for a pizza place there.  It was beyond crowded.  There are plans to make the old mall more like that but it's been years in the making and the powers that be can't seem to come to an agreement.  But, in the meantime, more and more stores close in our mall.  

[SloopJohnB]

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@lil spot wrote:

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@SloopJohnB wrote:

Back in the day, we had 2 major malls in our area.  One mall had Sears as the anchor, unfortunately this was the Sears that Adam Walsh was abducted from.

The other mall had Jordan Marsh, Burdines, Richards and JCPenney.  It was great.  Nowadays the malls we now have are more of a ghost town, partially thanks to businesses a la Amazon.  

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@SloopJohnB 

I grew up at those two malls. We called the one The Sears mall and the other one was The Fashion Center. 

I was afraid to go back to Sears after that dreadful day Adam was abducted.

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@lil spot   Yes, we called it The Hollywood Mall and The Hollywood Fashion Center.  Good times back then except of course in 1981.  It changed the way parents went shopping with their kids.  No more letting them browse in the toy department while mom and or dad would shop for clothes or housewares.  😔

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@ECBG  Thank you, but I have looked at those websites and many more. If I see a coat that might work, it is not offered in petite. I already have a Joan Rivers tomato red quilted jacket that was from one of her last presentations, before she sadly passed away. So I don't want a quilted coat.

  Ideally, I would like wool, but would buy a wool blend. I have seen coats with a stand collar or  double breasted, that I do not want. If I see a petite coat in a style that I like, it is in that very dark blue red that seems to be popular now. I also don't like hoods.

  I've gotten picky in my old age. I'm patient, something will turn up. It's not as if I dont have a coat to wear. I have 11 in different colors and styles, three of which are faux fur.

  I don't even go out that much since Covid and being retired.

But I would love to have another Max Mara and would be willing to pay the price if it were the right shade of red in petite

and the right style.

[Group 5 minus 1]

We havent'n been to a mall or large or even small dept. store since BC (before Covid).

Just do not want to bother.

[ECBG]

@Enufstuff 

You are not picky at all!  We all have styles and colors we don't or do like, and it's totally ok.

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@ECBG  I live in a large city just north of Boston. There is also

another mall about 10 minutes away, in the other direction.

  Their Sears closed and now the only large store there, was once

Jordan Marsh and now is Macy's. Twenty years ago, I loved mall shopping, not anymore.

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@ECBG  Maybe I'm just more selective.

   That does sound better than picky.