The Death of the Department Store:
‘Very Few Are Likely to Survive’

New York Times thinks they are some god of sorts. You have no idea of America's fortitude and the people who love this country. Sounds like they are salivating and gloating over this aspect. I actually think there is a way for retail stores to survive. One of the stores that I really liked was Boston Store. They did not survive but that was before this virus outbreak. I see something so much different for retail stores and it kind of takes in the new and old. I may put in a phone call to one of the existing retail stores left and maybe someone might want to listen to my ideas. . .

When our local mall was still alive, I marveled at the amount of stuff on shelves or racks. Collecting dust, for the most part.

Malls in America nowadays are mostly repositories for cheaply made, ugly and badly fitting crap from China. Sears and JCPenneys especially. What can I say? It’s really hard to fine quality “anything” anymore.

Department stores are a leftover from our grandparents' generation. Pleasant memories, but outlived their usefulness. At one time they were the best option to shop a wide variety of goods all in the same place. When my grandmother would drag us to Polsky's or Penney's it was as much an event as it was a shopping trip. I still have the first floating decimal point calculator I bought at one such store; on sale for $20. Now though, a far greater variety of products are available on line. You can get exactly what you want, and they compete on the prices. You don't have to drive, or park, or waste any savings on lunch.

To once more borrow from Mark Twain: The reports of the death of the department stores are greatly exaggerated. Sears and Penney have both been on death's doorstep for a couple decades now. I'd be greatly surprised if either of them went under during the current situation, which we are (too) slowly beginning to exit out of.

The newspaper is in far dire straits than American retail.

While I can empathize with the plight of the department store, I cannot sympathize. The cold, hard truth is that we are all in one large case of screwed; and the troubles of the retailers is no more special or tragic than the rest. KRB

I won’t click on a NY Slimes story but I’d be willing to bet that the article doesn’t mention the fact that malls have become the hangouts for feral “youth” who engage in brawls, looting rampages and shootings in the parking lots. It’s much safer to stay home and shop online. Free shipping, free returns and express delivery make it the way to go.

Retail stores can still survive but probably only in the big cities. They need to become more like the Apple retail stores--showcases for merchandise that become a destination for shoppers. To a certain extent, Nordstrom has done this, with coffee bars and their huge displays of shoes. They also have excellent customer service. And people still want to go shopping but how can they, with the continued shutdown?

ah, yes, #1 - the Boston Store! Pronou8inced Bossun Store here in Erie, Pennsylvania, on State Street. I was born in 1939, and remember going there with my mother and my evil big sister, during WWII. I was fascinated by the escalator, its di8sappearing steps, and wondered if it would trap a little kid. I suspect that my sister fed me some bad information about that, such as her wont. And I was fascinated by the way the clerks were allowed to handle money. They were only allowed to put the money into a tube, which was inhaled by an accountant hidden somewhere, who would return your change. the shopping trip to the Bossun Store was an all day event, and included going over to Kresge's 5 and 10 to eat at their lunch counter. Bossun Store had a lunch counter, I believe, but kresge's was less expensive. My mother was a very careful manager of family money, having lived through the depression. the entire department store model began to fail in the 1960s, when women bought into the notion of self fulfillment by work rather than by doing the most important role ever - mothering. There was no longer the time available for an all day shopping trip at the Bossun Store, or Sears Roebuck, or even Monkey Ward. computers and on-line shopping put the final nail in the department store coffin. Kresge's became K Mart, purchased by Sears, and both died. But the 'miles to Boston Store' signs still exist in some roadside ditches around Erie, Pennsylvania. And some people, with long memories, display those signs in their houses.

#10, you bring back fond memories of those trips with my mom. The Boston Store that we went to had the bargain basement and my mom could spend some time down there!

I like to actually touch and try on what I buy. Feel the fabrics, see the fit. I prefer an interactive experience.

Thanks, #10, for the walk down Memory Lane! We didn't have a Boston store in the Chicago Suburbs, but we did have two large Department stores (owned by people who actually lived in the community). They had two floors and an elevator (with a man who ran it). The money was handled the same way as the Boston store. I used to love to go to the second floor (overlooking the first) and watch the Lady who did nothing all day but wrap beautiful gift packages. It's where I learned to make pretty Bows! The stores carried quality items. When my daughters were little I used to buy their Easter and Christmas dresses there. They were beautifully made with smocking (I'm sure the Ladies here know what I'm talking about). The problem with the stores where I lived was the downtown was left to deteriorate and soon became a home for beggars and drunks. Ladies didn't feel safe shopping there and soon stores began to close. Then the first Mall was built and that was the final blow! Some cities have been able to bring back their down towns. My Hometown is in the process of doing just that. But it is more coffee houses and restaurants now than wonderful department stores!

I'm one of the few who does not like shopping for clothes on Amazon. Instead, I shop at Macy's and Kohl's but I don't wander the aisles of those stores, I buy online and I pickup (and return) at the stores. These stores have discouraged the old way of shopping by keeping much of their merchandise online-only. I fear the mandated lockdowns have hastened the end of my favorite stores and of so many retail jobs.

I had a birthday gift to buy this month. Purchased on line from LL Bean.

The only blow that the dinosaur department stores were dealt was in having management that did not jump into online sales more effectively and earlier. Sears has been on its deathbed for a couple of decades and so have some others. Expensive floor space, too many smug, non-helpful employees and exhorbitant prices for clothing manufactured in Asian sweat shops is not a viable business plan. The New York Times should know this, they are following a similar plan, only worse, because they drove half of their customers away on purpose.

All day shopping is something out of the 1960s, when women had all day to shop. As more and more households fell into tow-income families, and the move to living in more distant suburbs disrupted the idea of "downtown". Now the cycle takes another turn. This "epidemic" will force many department stores to face reality and close. It will also show which retailers are most nimble. This current situation will have reverberations for years. There will not be a return to normalcy in the sense there was post 9/11 and 2008. Retailers will restructure their consumer interface and delivery systems based on their experiences. Change is on the horizon in retail and commercial real estate, and that will not bode well for many in the short and medium term.

"J.C. Penney and Sears were upended by hedge funds." Ha. If you want to call Amazon and Wal Mart on line "hedge funds" you go right ahead.