Community Chat

[fortune]

One thing really makes me angry.  Online stores aren't spending the money they need to have workable customer friendly websites.  I often have to try 3 or 4 big name stores just to order and pay for an item.  My hope is that as online shopping gets to be the only way most people shop, these stores will have to fine tune their websites or GO OUT OF BUSINESS!!  Grrrrrrrrr!  

[Q4u]

I've bought my share on line and prefer clothing/shoe purchases from stores I can walk into.  Specialized purchases I tend to buy on line.  I like Christopher & Banks, but I am hard pressed to find items I really want to buy, or fit me well even tho the prices are good.  We  don't have a Stein Mart here, but we did back in San Diego.  Really enjoyed the store.  But the one I keep hoping they'd bring here was Burlington's (especially since they are revamping the old K-Mart)...... *sigh*

I don't want internet shopping to be all that's offered out there!!  

[chrystaltree]

 Why does this surprise people?  The day of the brick&mortar store and shopping malls is not long for this world.  We're living in a transition period, we're seeing them drop like flies.  Good riddance, I saw.  I embraced online shopping years ago and I am not at the point at which I do all my shopping online.  I love it because I am not limited to the paltry merchandise that stores have out on their floors.  I have access to a world of merchandise and I can always find exactly what I want, when I want it and it comes right to my door.   

[jeanlake]

Husband loves Steinmart. Gets great deals there for men's clothes. Hope it doesn't close. 

[Katcat1]

More Sears and KMarts are closing.  I have never shopped in Stein Mart, Burlington or Ross.  I actually hated to see KMart go but Target and Walmart have that market.  I wish another electronics store would open as we basically have Best Buy and that's it.   

[Shorty2U]

Our JC Penney closed a few years back. Our Kmart closed last year. And btw everyone I know shops in stores way more than online except for me. And I just shop online because i cant hike stores really long anymore. But I do go in stores, mostly Target (my favorite) I never go in Walmart (who does well). I cannot stand the place, but I guess? most people like Walmart.

Oh also-Amazon, I only order at Christmas time on Amazon. I used to buy cds records , and books (which I prefer in my hand not on a device lol) before they kept upping their free shipping amount, now I get records and cds at our local record shop. I buy books at our local book store too. 

Bottom line, I dont get how everyone can order everything on earth on line, but i guess they do.

[NAES1]

@Shorty2U,

   We live in a relatively larger somewhat thriving city and have (had) huge shopping malls - about every 20miles any direction start to disappear wher I have always gone.

I will go there.

Now -one by one every favorite store I frequent is or has been closed within the past eight months. We live more to the other side where there are more more working higher paying professionals, so those areas stay afloat.

What did surprise me was out downtown HEADQUARTERS Macy's is closing shop. I was totally surprised. 

 The smaller shoppes are still very active, and there is enough profit that keep those in business. Fortunately, where we live live, we still have four Macy's about 15 minutes by car in different locations. We actually have a nice working JC Penney store close by. Very few discount stores, though.

            I know what is gone or will be is by geography, only. 

What is very strong, here, are the family owned service centers/ appliances/ clothing and speciality shoppes, and car dealers quite heavily.

Personally, I have never shopped or ever wanted to be in any Walmart stores.

Although I did have to buy or send a money gram for a neighbor who was stranded across the country and had to get back.(Long story), but being very serious here I do believe that a Walmart will still be here after roaches become extinct.

I do not want to be an ONLY on line shopper each time, even though it's nice in this weather. I believe it will be a longer time in my district before we see over 50% of what we have close. I thought the topic was interesting that some stores close and others remain.

We do access, now, to several large grocery chains delivering by ordering..just that easier to call in, drive up and your food is placed in your car. For $5.00 that's worth it for us.

 I still like the option to shop locally and actually try clothes on and feel the fabrics.

[onlyshopsonline]

I lost interest in mall shopping long before I started doing most of my shopping online.  They just didn't offer anything that interested me.

When I was in my teens and 20's, I loved a good day of shopping.  Now I don't "shop."  I buy what I want and need.  

I also don't think online shopping is 100% responsible for the demise of brick and mortar stores.  I think they drove some of us to online shopping because they stopped offering what we wanted.

I'm in my 50's.  No debt.  Lots of disposable income.  But, there are no stores, especially in malls, that cater to my wants and needs.  Part of the problem is that they totally shut out a whole demographic of shoppers.  

Occasionally I'll go to Home Goods, or TJMaxx, or Best Buy.  I do like Steinmart, but the closest one is more than an hour away.  And, I like to stroll through Pier 1.  I very rarely even shop at traditional grocery stores anymore.  I mostly go to BJ's, Costco and pick some things up at Walmart.   And, I sew and quilt, so I do shop a lot in those types of specialty stores. That's about it.  Everything else I do online.  

[deeva]

Not surprised. Our Steinmart stores are stuffed with so much merchandise that I can barely walk thru the aisles.

Haven't been in Burlington in twenty years. Christopher and Bank has closed several stores in my area already. Looks as if they will bite the dust just like Coldwater Creek did. 

[RainCityWoman]

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@NameAlreadyTaken wrote:

I really hate to hear this.  I do not like to see anything or anybody filing bankruptcy.  It means people have failed, people have lost jobs, more people whose families are stressed by financial woes.  It also means our clothes may not fit properly from here forward as manufacturers will not care about sizing as we will be dependent on them and we will wear what they halfway construct whether sizing is true or whether it fits the charts shown. 

We will be totally dependent on a machine for what we wear, a machine that will not talk to us, that evil computer which, to me, is the double-edged sword, good for a few matters, but so horrible overall and the worst part is that everything is becoming dependent on it, even to the gas stations, the water works, the farmers. 

I made a living long before computers were the normal, as did others.  I had more personal friends than Facebook friends, I attended church more frequently.  What does the computer have to do with church attendance? When one works from home, either employed or self-employed, employers and self expect a greater commitment to work than to church.  Our society only respects one religion at this time, and that is not mine.

People are more committed to running to Facebook for sociliazation than friends they made or would make in the workplace, in social clubs, through church, volunteer and charitable works, political and social involvement, through their children's or spouse's friends, etc. 

I do believe the computer is the root of all evil.  It has caused lives to be taken through the games that are on line, it has caused jobs to be abolished, caused people to attend church less frequently, to do less volunteer and charitable work and we give money on line to what, and to whom and they can hide how it is being spent because we never see the fruits of our money.  Sorry, on my soapbox today.  I lost my job due to computers a few years ago, way before I retired from my self-employment.  My daughter lost a very lucrative job.  Now my son has been caught in the trap.  These jobs are not going to be replaceable.  These jobs, very high-profile jobs, will never return.  Computers, cheap labor, the end of a great country, a great and charitable self-sufficient country.

If you look at what Bill Gates and his wife do for charity through the UN, all they do is not worth one human life that has been lost due to embellishing their financial status.  Every penny they give is an evil penny.  Even if they gave it all, they could never essuage their guilt due to the lives lost, the financial ruin to those families where the families are destroyed by their financial crisis, families where have been suicides or lives lost by mass murderers, and we see that not only those lost but the damage to perpetrators families.  We did not have all these rashes of mass murders until gaming on computers.  Every mass murderer has been a big computer geek, has spent time on line more than with others, and all the suicides I know of are the same. No amount of pills is going to cure a society of mass murderers, suicide victims or financially and spiritually bankrupt people 

Now off my soapbox.

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Wow. So Bill Gates is responsible for the ills of the world because he dared to think outside of the box and run a business based on his creativity. Sorry, I applaud what he and Melinda are doing around the world. They COULD be sitting on their millions and encouraging the high rollers of the world to take all they can get. They're not. I think it's kind of amusing that you see the computer as the root of all evil and Bill Gates as the fomentor of this evil, but here you sit, posting on a social media chatboard with your  computer. LOL. Thanks for the daily chuckle. I LOVE irony.