El Paso is #21 best shopping city - Forbes.com

[mistabinks]

I am not sure what that site used as it gauge to rank cities. Still, no one theme or idea represents all of El Paso. It is silly to think so. Does the whole not care about fashion? Can the whole city get by on clothes from Walmart? Of course not. Maybe in one's small circle but that idea or theme doesn't represent the whole city.

[alov0303]

Perhaps the site used percent of residents sporting aviator glasses as a metric.

[jj4003]

RACKED.COM sums it up perfectly:

Forbes has released another one of its lists—this time ranking the top-25 Best Shopping Cities in America. And while we would suggest taking the magazine's ranking systems with a grain of salt—this is the publication that ranks Harvard the eighth best college in the US, followed by Claremont McKenna, followed by Yale (sorry Claremont McKenna, you're a great school, but we're talking about Yale here)—Forbes has completely snubbed New York City, leaving it out of the top-10 altogether. In fact, New York comes in at number 22—sandwiched in between El Paso, Texas, and Memphis, Tennessee. Really?

Writer Meghan Casserly explains that factors that came into play include number of shopping malls/centers, leasable retail space, and wallet-friendliness—the presence of many (6!) Walmarts apparently gave Phoenix a huge boost (no, we're serious, this is the Forbes criteria).

[malamute]

Originally Posted by jj4003

LOL yes I am very familiar with NYC. The "joke" is placing El Paso above NYC in any kind of "shopping destination" list, much less on ANY shopping list as all. El Paso is definitely no shopping mecca and to compare the stores and boutiques of New York to the Wal-Marts of El Paso grosses me out.

Also, is that REALLY a "nice" thing about El Paso: that no one cares about fashion and you can shop at Wal-Mart and "do just fine". This is probably the reason that there are little high-paying jobs here because...well, nevermind that's a whole different conversation.

Basically, all I'm saying is El Paso and shopping should never be mentioned in the same sentence. I do all of my shopping either online or when i travel.

I think you're wrong about El Paso not being a shopping mecca. If you look at the parking lots at the malls and the Walmarts, you see all kinds of license plates. Lots from New Mexico of course, but hundreds from Chihuahua, Durango, DF, Jalisco, Sonora - and all late model SUVs and expensive trucks, Lexus's.

El Paso might not be like NY - but we certainly have people traveling hundreds of miles and crossing an international border to come shop here. And there are certainly big shoppers who come here. They have the big money too and don't blink over paying cash for 3 big screen televisions.

[Texan#1]

El Paso is not a good shopping city. I remember wanting to buy a burberry something and I could not find it in El Paso. I get the city being too small to have a Nordstrom or Neiman Marcus, but a city its size should have a few clothing boutiques that carry higher-end labels. I went to school in Lubbock and they at least had Malouf's.

[Rogarven]

Doesn't Union Fashion have Burberry, Versace, Facconable, La Coste, Armani, and some other high end clothes? I agree, we shop more when out of town but also are value conscious . I like quality but don't want to pay an arm and a leg for it. Brother worked at Saks and we got used to the high end names but never paid retail. We were at the Outlet Mall yesterday. Seemed like they had less stuff left over from Christmas that usual. I guess that is good.

[jj4003]

Originally Posted by malamute

I think you're wrong about El Paso not being a shopping mecca. If you look at the parking lots at the malls and the Walmarts, you see all kinds of license plates. Lots from New Mexico of course, but hundreds from Chihuahua, Durango, DF, Jalisco, Sonora - and all late model SUVs and expensive trucks, Lexus's.

El Paso might not be like NY - but we certainly have people traveling hundreds of miles and crossing an international border to come shop here. And there are certainly big shoppers who come here. They have the big money too and don't blink over paying cash for 3 big screen televisions.

Um just because a bunch of people from Mexico choose to drive across the border to shop at crappy stores in El Paso (rather than get shot while walking the streets in Juarez) doesn't make the city a "shopping mecca".

If they REALLY were "big shoppers" they wouldn't be shopping in El Paso. They're like an "El Paso 9" and a "New York 2".