Department stores struggle to stand out

The following article summarizes some of the things happening to our department stores. Audrey
http://tinyurl.com/iwm3

I don't shop a lot of dept stores since they usually ALL carry the same stuff. I started shopping Saks bec they had a line I liked. I have been buying catch as catch can from various places. But if the stores like Bloomies and Macys would upgrade their lines and make the things they carry more distinctive, I would shop there more After all, I hate shopping tons of different stores and Nordstroms has become so homgenous that I can't find what I want there!

The only two things I shop for at department stores are cosmetics and handbags. About the time I came out of my Liz Claiborne craze (mid 80s) I started shopping for clothes in boutiques, usually solely owned boutiques, although I did a bit of shopping at chains like Cache when I was in to highly embellished clothing. I started shopping at Chico's back when it was a relatively new chain with cotton knits and huge leather/metal belts, and still shop there. Other than that I like to shop at boutiques where the owner travels to find great new things. I rarely even glance at the clothing in department stores, as it's usually so boring and predictable.

I love Chicos and have on a sleeveless shell in black in their travelling knit line. This is a good line/fabric, for I have little to no fading of the black color. I do shop the dept. stores for capris and slacks, and yesterday found a Liz pair in black at a very good markdown price.

Thank you Audrey, for listing the link.

Miss J

Excellent topic, Evie!. Zara is amazing in terms of operations. It is reported that it can take a fashion product from concept to being stocked on the shelves in 21 days, which is lightning fast for the apparel industry. The Gap, for example, takes nine months (well, that was prior to their new system so maybe the time has shrunk somewhat, but 21 days is hard to beat, and Zara does a lot of things differently from Gap and it smaller).

Even apparel companies who outsource to global magicians Li&Fung (which uses a web-based IT solution for its clients so they can make changes up to the last minute) for sourcing and production don't come close to Zara's timeframes, from what I have read.

Zara monitors data directly from staff on the sales floor using handhelds so they can tell what's moving, and adjusts production and ship inventory accordingly (in theory). From what I've read, speed is so crucial to its strategy that Zara didn't want to expand into the US much until it could establish a manufacturing plant in No America (Mexico IRRC) so it wouldn't have to ship from Europe.

Claire in SF

They aren't all dead... in fact, one comes to mind in Houston:

Like 50% off merchandise that is already marked down 40$......I don't get that.