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Yeah I think that’s the issue. Dressier wardrobes just aren’t in demand anymore. In most of the offices I’ve been in during this decade, every office has been business casual or casual. Most have been at the lower end of business casual, and my current office is basically anything goes except shorts or spaghetti straps/tube tops. There is a range though and some people do dress up, but it’s certainly not required. There is no discernible split between position type and who dresses up.
It's a shame because they were one of the few places that sold clothes made for grown up women.
Just as it was a shame when JCPenney got Apple-ized. I knew several women who routinely bought basic clothes from their extended talls line; I understand it is nearly impossible for a woman who is tall or has a long torso or arms to find any kind of form-fitting blouses. With JCP out of the game, there are next to no suppliers for this market.
And now no clothes for women who no longer wish to wear mall styles.
But, I guess, who cares about all those old, oddly-shaped women anyway? Or anyone outside the idealized 28yo of any gender who wears what the Kardashians tell them to?
Sad that people will be losing their jobs but I was never a fan of Dress Barn - they didn't carry my size (except in tops), while some had a Petite section, the smallest size wasn't my size and I found that what they did sell was a little pricey and too trendy. The employees (at least in this area) didn't seem to care whether you purchased, needed help, etc. - Do wish Petite Sophisticate would come back though.
People don't want to buy all these clothes anymore. After the recession years, people learned to live with less, and found out it wouldn't kill them.
At any rate, I never cared for the name "Dress Barn". I just assumed the clothing would be unsophisticated.
I remember a Dress Barn that was a big open space with racks of stuff and it was a very unsophisticated place to shop, but you could get a heck of a bargain. I got my dress for high school graduation in a Dress Barn that really did look sort of like a barn. One of the first Dress Barns really was in a barn and I guess they used the theme for a while. I can see how the name is removed from what they've become now.
What's going on with these failing retail chains is their websites. Let's face facts. Online shopping continues to grow as traffic problems increase, fuel prices rise, and with the proliferation of smartphones.
This is the reality of things. People are going to shop where it's cheapest, most convenient, and where they can get the merchandise they need for the lowest price, easiest searching for that merchandise, and cheap delivery.
This is because although employment is high, wages are not that high, and most people work for the dollars they get.
If the retailers want to compete, they can. But they have to remove their heads from their behinds when it comes to online sales at their websites. Clumsy, poorly-constructed sales sites that fail to compete with Amazon haven't got a chance.
The same demise happened to the folks who invested in buggy whips after Henry Ford came along.
But I have some input on this matter. General input.
Retail chains (specifically clothing chains) keep closing because commercial real estate rents are through the roof. Everyone thinks they can get a Starbucks, Chipotle, and Panera in each of their strip malls paying five figures a month to rent. Not because the SPACE is worth it, but because "they make so much money, what's it to them?"
Except:
"Commercial Observer reports that a Starbucks at the corner of Fifth Avenue and West 33rd Street was shuttered after they declined to release the space for $1 million a year."
I have a friend who works at a Starbucks in OK (drastically different than NYC) and the take is roughly $40k a week. Now, is the space WORTH $5-10k a month? Probably not.
I don't know what you call this part of economics... I've always heard that you charge what the market will bear. Well, this is beyond charging what the space is worth, it's charging what the space is worth to THIS TENANT. By accepting leases like this, it gives commercial property owners validation that they can expect that for every unit. Driving out franchises who have always had lesser margins.
Not everyone can be an Apple store, Tiffany's, or Jamba Juice. And not everyone will. But we're suffocating everyone who's not.
there is a dress barn by my office. i thought it was for plus sized women until someone pointed out how offensive that would be. i agreed, it was a stupid assumption.
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