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Well..... I still buy my clothes in stores 99 percent of the time. Aside from hating to re-ship packages back, I also like to try on the clothes first because I am so fussy about how things fit.
I just returned from vacation where I bought a bunch of clothes at an outdoor market that I like. But I tried on everything first in their make-shift dressing rooms.
There is also another underreported problem. So I have been sizes 14-18 for my adult life. And let me tell you it is a frustrating universe. I’m busty and have big thighs which often means many brands don’t fit me.
Over the past 20 years 50% of American woman’s size has moved to 16 and larger but most brick and mortar stores stop at 14 or 16.
And most department stores have a hideous selection of things over size 14. These clothes are also hiding in the back, dark, dank section of the store.
With the rise of online shopping you get better selection and better customer experience. Why go to stores who treat you like a 3rd class citizen? When only 1-3 stores in the mall have your size - why would you go?
Retailers aren’t waking up to reality and are suffering because of it.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
You can say that again! I often wonder who is doing the buying for many stores, especially mall stores. Seems all they stock is little, tiny sizes, which look nice on display racks but don't fit the majority of their customers! If you want an XL, you have to dig waaaay in the back, and might be lucky to find one. I actually had a saleslady at Macy's need to get an extension pole to fish my size out from way in the back of an upper-mounted display Come on! Demographics indicate the majority of Americans are overweight to obese, perhaps they would like to buy clothes, too, instead of staring wistfully at what they can't have?
I'm not exactly fat, but do run about 12--14 and XL. I find shopping online to be my best bet. I also find better prices, sales, etc online. Add to that problems with mall security, parking, etc, I'd rather stay home and shop online
I want to see the fabric and touch it and try it on. I am willing to pay more to do it instead of ordering online and returning most or all of it. If I am familiar with a line, say JJ Jill's, I am more apt to take a chance on ordering online. Obviously something like getting Levi's jeans for my DH doesn't matter. They are consistently the same.
I would never order a sofa or chair online...... I want to sit on it. I don't like furniture that is so soft it practically swallows a person.
A well writtten article on what happened to the demand for mall shopping
American Malls and Department Stores are Dying Off
Why the death of malls is about more than shopping
Some of those jobs can be found in the massive distribution centers Amazon has opened across the country, often not too far from malls the company helped shutter. One of them is in Breinigsville, Pa., 45 miles from Schuylkill.
But those are workplaces, not gathering places. The mall is both. And in the 61 years since the first enclosed one opened in suburban Minneapolis, the shopping mall has been where a huge swath of middle-class America went for far more than shopping. It was the home of first jobs and blind dates, the place for family photos and ear piercings, where goths and grandmothers could somehow walk through the same doors and find something they all liked. Sure, the food was lousy for you and the oceans of parking lots encouraged car-heavy development, something now scorned by contemporary planners. But for better or worse, the mall has been America’s public square for the last 60 years.
So what happens when it disappears?
Think of your mall. Or think of the one you went to as a kid. Think of the perfume clouds in the department stores. The floating Muzak. The fountains splashing below the skylights. The cinnamon wafting from the food court. As far back as ancient Greece, societies have congregated around a central marketplace. In medieval Europe, they were outside cathedrals. For half of the 20th century and almost 20 years into the new one, much of America has found their agora on the terrazzo between Orange Julius and Sbarro, Waldenbooks and the Gap, Sunglass Hut and Hot Topic.
That mall was an ecosystem unto itself, a combination of community and commercialism peddling everything you needed and everything you didn’t: Magic Eye posters, wind catchers, Air Jordans, slap bracelets. The giant department stores that held its flanks–Saks, the Bon-Ton, Bloomingdale’s, Elder-Beerman–were miniature malls unto themselves, with their own escalators and sections and scents.
This is very true. Malls brought many different types of people together, and had something for everybody. The decline and fall of malls is a further step in the fragmentation of our society.
Well, a lot of times, department stores will not have all the colors in all the sizes, so why bother to waste time shopping there? Just go online, and get the right size in the right color, and it will magically appear at your door step in a couple of days. The same goes for electronics and kitchenware. The last time I went into Best Buy was about 10 years ago. I was looking for a new TV and was willing to spend several hundred dollars for it, but the salesmen were more interested in helping a young lady with a nice figure buy a $10 pair of earbuds. It was back to Amazon for me. Even larger home appliances we purchase online. I can price shop between Lowe's, Home Depot, Sears, etc. online in a fraction of the time it would take me to drive around to those stores and look (and put up with salesmen who do not know what they are talking about sometimes). Even car buying is done online. You can do the research and narrow it down, get price quotes from dealers, then go in for test drives and final negotiations.
True facts:
Clothing attire is best "tried on" to discover fit and quality then any online/catelog. I can absolutely put a price on disappointment and waiting days for a product only to find out I have to return it.
I myself, both enjoy great face to face customer service and at the same time distain a sales rep trying to persuade me to buy an item u have zero value in utilizing.
Blah to kohl's ..Marshalls. .ross's. Only thing I buy at kohl's is their towels ..and that is once a year they have a large quality towels for 6$.
Still can't think of a reason that brick and mortar stores are less affordable. My delight in finding that perfect fitting jacket is worth something.
I reckon if you don't mind returning/shipping things ad nauseum to be a standard in your life...then have at it. I tire too easily in getting some online items only to be deterred by..must have a return label ..
I'm sincerely sorry to read of some mishaps in consumers satisfaction . As a former rep..I had to be lively and respecting. Sorry though if I didn't take to being treated as a 'meager' being. Our time is equally of value.
Department stores are not doing so well here in Australia either. This is despite our rate of internet shopping overall being quite low. Also the Made in China issue is not an issue here as almost everything we buy is made in China or elsewhere. Unfortunately our manufacturing industry has disappeared over many years.
I think here it is because the service in the department stores is so bad. It can be difficult to find anyone to even take your money at times. I also personally dislike the way everything is branded. So if I want a black skirt I have to wander around all over the place seeing if there is a black skirt anywhere. Many of the brands have their own individual stores as well where you can generally find someone to serve you.
YES!! And I am neither. I think they keep trying to get the "young and hip" because they buy what's hot and then throw it out the next season and buy new stuff. Lots of money to be made in that. I'm gonna brag here; I'm about to head out for lunch with a friend and will be wearing a dress winter coat I bought at Brooks Brothers in 1983. It's older than my son and has a Union label in it. It's this, but a knee-length version.
I buy a lot online from boutiques, not cheaper but supporting someone's business and I feel like I find cuter stuff. I also have to drive an hour to get to the nearest decent shopping area, and I don't always want to do that. I can also go on asos.com and get free shipping and free returns (label included, super easy).
Since I discovered Amazon and other online shopping I hardly ever go to a mall anymore.
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Come on! Demographics indicate the majority of Americans are overweight to obese, perhaps they would like to buy clothes, too, instead of staring wistfully at what they can't have? 
I think they keep trying to get the "young and hip" because they buy what's hot and then throw it out the next season and buy new stuff. Lots of money to be made in that. I'm gonna brag here; I'm about to head out for lunch with a friend and will be wearing a dress winter coat I bought at Brooks Brothers in 1983. It's older than my son and has a Union label in it. It's this, but a knee-length version.
