I can think of a few things that the Glam Pass will help me purchase...Although my financial planner will probably have an issue with that :-/

-kb

So when the sales associate at the Macy's on State Street in Chicago asked if he could help me, I told him exactly what I was looking for, adding in the very crucial fact that I was moving out of the country and needed a lot of interior space. I also told him that I would look around and let him know if I had any questions.

After about 15 minutes of perusing, I came across what could have been the perfect set: The Samsonite Aspire Light (it's prettier in person) in sort of a mossy minty green, which if you know me at all, is my favorite color.

I immediately got excited until I realized that I didn't see the carry-on size. I flagged the sales guy over to ask and he told me that all their stock was on the floor. When I inquired about calling another store, he replied "Well, I guess I could call Water Tower," and then walked away without another word.

During this time, I took the liberty of attempting to call a store in Michigan, while Lish did the same. We couldn't get through to anyone.

Fast forward 20 minutes and he's still on the phone, while simultaneously ringing up other customers. He hangs up, waits on two other people and then proceeds to tell me that the other store didn't answer the phone. I then ask if he can call another, stressing that I didn't care where the bag came from - I would have it shipped from anywhere, just as long as I could have the set.

He huffs with an *almost* unnoticeable eye roll and proceeds to run an area-inventory report on the bag from the register. "Well, it doesn't look good," he says as he shows me the receipt. "The lower the number, the less likely they will have the bag." I look at the paper. Listed are about 10 stores numbered zero to five. I ask if we can call the three "fives" that were listed. He then hands me the receipt and tells me that I can do it.

It's at this point that I start to get really annoyed. Just to put some perspective on it, the luggage department at this Macy's is in the basement of, like, a 12-story building, so cell phone reception isn't exactly stellar. I politely explain this to him (as well as how I already tried to phone two stores and also how I don't live in the area) as he exhales loudly and whips around with an indignant stomp to grab the receiver. At this point, I've been in the luggage department for over 45 minutes.

As he's on hold with the first "5" he asks if he can show me some other bag instead. I told him that I would really prefer the carry-on that actually goes with the other bags I'm purchasing. He rolls his eyes.

Finally, after calling two more stores, we locate a bag and I am consequently introduced to "Frank," who was probably about 7 years past retirement, hard of hearing and had absolutely no idea how to do a charge send. After repeating at least three times that my last name was 'Seasons' instead of 'Stevens' and I live in 'Ann Arbor' instead of "Hann Harbor,' my transaction over the phone was complete.

Here's the kicker: during my time with Frank, my sales associate takes the two pieces that I wanted to purchase in-person and puts them back on the floor. Lish had to run over to him while I was still on the phone with Frank to tell him that I wanted the whole set. I mean, seriously? Was he not listening to a single word I said? I'm moving out of the country for Pete's sake - wtf am I supposed to do with one carry-on?

This whole thing took one hour and fifteen minutes. My hands were shaking by the end of it and to be completely honest, I'm still angered by it. What sucks is that I always have problem like this at Macy's and now I'm fed up enough about it to write a rant. It's the sort of experience that - coming from a social media perspective - you want to see if anyone addresses.

I had a few more thoughts about the event that Lish was thoughtful enough to videotape just after it happened. If you made it through the blog post, give it a watch. I promise it's not as long-winded.

Sort of.

]]> http://thefabulousgiver.wordpress.com/?p=168 Wed, 06 Aug 2008 02:35:42 +0000 thefabulousgiver http://thefabulousgiver.wordpress.com/?p=168 We've been having some crazy storms around in Chicag. My power AND water went out last night and haven't yet been restored...So, I'm sitting inside Starbucks listening to Madonna and drinking coffee. Ah, city life!

Anyways, as some of you know, the annual Glamorama shows are rapidly approaching! 

Glamorama is an crazy fashion show slash amazing fundraiser hosted in Chicago and Minneapolis. In addition to a choreographed runway show, energizing music, and videos, this year's show themed "Pop Candy Arcade" will be headlined by Cyndi Lauper and MC Hammer! Um, can you say 80s Baby??? I'm really excited to see the collections of designers such as Marc Jacobs, Celine, and Just Cavalli (to name a few designers).

A portion of the proceeds of the Chicago show will benefit the Art Institute of Chicago, and proceeds from the Minneapolis show will benefit the Children's Cancer Research Fund. Over the past nine years, the Chicago show has raised over $2 million dollars for the Art Institute! My BFF, Dave, and I will be dusting out our most fashionable 80s gear and hitting the show, and I promise to do some type of post-event write up.

However, if you want to experience the craziness first hand, see below for details:

Friday, August 15th @ 8p

Orpheum Theatre (910 Hennepin Ave)

Minneapolis, MN

Friday, August 22nd @ 8p

The Chicago Theatre (175 N. State St.)

Chicago, IL

You can purchase tickets at ticketmaster.com! Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go download some MC Hammer and Cyndi Lauper songs to my Mac. :-)

-kb

P.S. Wish me luck with the whole power situation!

Usually I compare two items that pretty much only differ in price (not looks), but this is such a steal and a blessing, I feel like it's my duty as a woman to post it up. In terms of heels, I swear by Calvin Klein (my number 1) and Ralph Lauren. While I feel that paying $98 for a pair that will never go out of style is a bargain in itself, paying 50% less than that is even better. Macy's is practically giving these away at the price. I ordered them in black on Friday and I think the blue (pictured above) is completely sold out. Peep 'em HERE and see if they have your size still in stock.

We visited the world's largest store, Macy's on 7th Avenue, this afternoon. It boasts one million square feet of shopping space -- a girl's dream! My main goal was to find some comfortable shoes that wouldn't further irritate the blisters on my feet, and while I was there I couldn't resist doing some additional shopping. Yeah, I'll be bringing home some great "souvenirs" from Macy's. ;)

Although shopping was fun, the real highlight of the day was our trip to Ground Zero. After exiting the Subway, it was obvious where we needed to go. A huge empty gap marked the space where the buildings once stood.

You can't see much at this point. Ground Zero is a large hole that is slowly being filled in by new construction. Freedom Tower will replace the World Trade Center buildings that were destroyed on 911. Construction should be complete by 2012. The new tower will pay homage to the twin towers in several ways. The base of the Freedom Tower will be 200 feet square -- the same dimensions as the original towers. The observation deck will be at 1,362 feet: the height of World Trade Center Tower Two. The glass parapet will be at 1,368 feet: the height of World Trade Center Tower One. Freedom Tower along with three other WTC towers, retail development and a performing arts center will occupy 8 of the 16 acres that previously held the collapsed World Trade Center buildings. An 8-acre landscaped Memorial Plaza also will be erected as a place for people to reflect on the events of 911.

As we walked around the site today, memories of that day flooded back into my mind. I know exactly where I was and what I was doing when it happened. I watched live on TV as the second building fell to the ground. It was one of the most horrific things I've witnessed. I can't explain the feeling I had today as I walked around looking at what's left of the site where so many people lost their lives. All I can say is that it was truly a moving experience.

Where the buildings used to stand...the sky seems empty without them:

Ground Zero as it looks today:

Bored in the subway:

I'll be loading more pictures onto the "photos" section in the next couple of days. A few from yesterday's photo tour are up now, but I haven't had time to upload all of them yet. Check back tomorrow for updates.

... catch 'em while you can!

STEVE MADDEN SALE...

 NORDSTROM SALE...

MACY'S SHOE SALE...

ALDO SHOE SALE...

This is one of the classiest shotz I have seen of the Grammy Award winning diva.

Christina Aguilera, Martha Stewart, Tommy Hilfiger, Donald Trump and Calvin Klein will appear in Macy's 150th birthday campaign.

As the company gears up for a season-long celebration of its milestone, Macy’s revealed a first glimpse of the star power behind the celebration today.

The celebs will be featured in a series of commemorative photos shot by famed Rolling Stone photographer Mark Seliger.

We still don't understand why the department store chose this lineup but here are two of the pics featuring The Donald and Xtina.

Between the wedding (yes, I'm a married lady now!) and moving with, oh, just a week's notice, I haven't had time to catch my breath let alone blog. But, I promise you, world wide web, I'm back for good. And because I love you, here's a sneak peek at a wedding pic:

I've missed so much in the world of Hollywood that I'm not about to recap any of it so let's just start from scratch, OK? And let's start with this photo of Christina Aguilera - I know I've been gone for a while, but is it really Halloween?

[photo courtesy of People]

The new mom squeezes out a smile while on the set of her most recent photo shoot in Los Angeles. Speaking of Christina, she's the new face of the Macy's 45th anniversary campaign. Nice to see her back at work but crimping is SO the wrong look for you, love.

Paris Hilton macht jetzt auch Schuhe und die hat sie gleich mal bei Macy's vorgestellt.

Da scheint jemand in der Macy's-Marketingabteilung ein Faible für scheele Blondinen zu haben, oder wie ist das sonst zu erklären? Erst XTina, dann Paris, ... wen darf ich sonst noch erwarten? Pamela Anderson? Brigitte Nielsen?

Foto: wenn.com

Los geht's mit Frau Aguilera:
Das Outfit unten hätte auch gute Chancen auf "Irgendwie daneben" gehabt, aber Christina A. wollte ich mir dann doch noch für ganz besondere Gelegenheiten aufheben.

Jedenfalls macht XTina gerade ein bisschen auf Scarlett O'Hara. Anlass ist eine USA-weite Kampagne der Kaufhauskette Macy's zu deren 150. Geburtstag. Ist denen denn niemand anderes eingefallen?

Foto: Macy's

I can't necessarily control what my parents will buy but I can certainly affect their decision. So... one room at a time...

.

My bedroom:

This my bedroom. The bed frame is a beautiful dark red that's basically black, except a rusted red on the corners. I want the bed sheets and pillows to be a nice neutral color, probably creme to nicely bring out the warm reds in the bed frame. These (below) Lacoste sheets from Macy's are on sale. I love the logo at the edge right along the white borders. The sheets are only 300 thread count, but they're also only $44.99 for Queen size sheets (fitted and flat sold separately). I'd also match two creme pillows, also solid and unlined.

The decorative touch would come from this Style & Co. bedding set, called "Wild Flowers." Usually, I'm not a fan of pink (never have been), but the pink and cocoa duvet, shams and decorative pillows add just the right hint of color. They also happen to match the bathroom set. These are also from Macy's and sale prices range from $24.99 - $79.99.

.

This Lilac Shadow Bath Ensemble from DNKY mimic the same flower pattern on the bed but have a completely different feel. The metallic quality of the flowers contrast nicely with the muted background, especially because my counter is black with shiny yellow bits. I also like that the bathroom accessories are bits of marigold and plum colored, which is just a few degrees away from the cocoa and pink. DNKY bathroom set range from $15.99 - $39.99. The bathroom 'stuff' is all from Bed Bath & Beyond.

To match the accessories, I'd like to see this rug on the floor. It's simple but completely unexpected, since the counter if black. There's a chance it'll look horrible, but it'll be an interesting pairing.

This is called the Eclipse Brown Bath Rug by Croscill retails for $29.99.

The last finishing detail for the bathroom is the shower curtain. I found a beautiful, last one at Bed Bath & Beyond and was so sad that I couldn't purchase it. BUT then I saw it online. It's the Nicole Miller Oasis Violet Fabric Shower Curtain. The fabric's lot lighter and more pink/purple than in this picture. What I love is the slight metallic tint, which goes nicely with the DKNY accessories without being too matchy. Retail price is $39.99

That about does it for my room. My close estimate is that with some nice Lenox bath towels, my grand total for this room alone comes to a whopping $600-800 (depending on how many pillows I get, if I pick up the entire bathroom accessories or just the toothbrush holder and trash can, etc.). WOW

I'm not sure how I can afford all this stuff (I definitely don't want my parents to pay for it... they bought the house; the least I can do is pay for the pretty stuff that goes in it). But a girl can dream... right? :-P

Sean John Underwear has tapped Nelly as their new spokesmodel.

The first campaign features Nelly donning the Fall collection of underwear basics and loungewear. 

And he looks hot!

The campaign was shot by Randee St. Nicholas and showcases Nelly in both interior and exterior shots at a modern home overlooking Los Angeles.

Although he is the first spokesmodel for this category, Nelly follows a long list of past and present celebrity models for the Sean John brand including Dwayne Wade, Nas, Snoop Dog, Lil' Wayne, Penelope Cruz, Cassie, and Lauren London.

The Sean John Underwear, Sleepwear and Loungewear collection includes the core silhouettes as well as signature styles in luxury fabrics and is available at Macy's and better department and specialty stores nationwide.

You know, the ones on the double decker buses with the backpack, digital camera, and video camera trying to capture EVERY joyful moment of our vacation just so when we get back home and have an extra 13 hours with nothing to do we can pop in our NYC video and enjoy the sights and sounds... please SOMEONE out there think Joey in London (Friends reference, sorry!)

So, Day 2 began with us meeting our double-decker hop-on/hop-off tour bus and guide at the first stop (Times Square) We decided to do the downtown loop the first day. Its going to be a lot easier to just show pictures. You know what they say, pictures are worth a thousand words, and by the looks of it I have about 235,000 words to say - but i'll spare you and just put up some of the best shots! 

This is Day 1 - Downtown Loop

Once we hopped back on the bus, we saw...

After we took the Downtown loop (and missed our chance to catch the brooklyn tour) we decided that we would hop on the City lights tour. It was more of a guided tour, allowing us to view the buildings/streets from a nighttime perspective. We did, however, get to hop off after crossing over the bridge to get some great pictures of the Manhattan skyline! Most of the route was the same, but it is amazing how different things can look at night...

 Day 3 - Can't get enough of the Double Decker bus!

We began Day 3 with a Cruise out to see the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the skyline from the water - we decided not to go on either island or up in the statue due to looooooong lines. The cruise was relaxing, and we got to rest our legs! woo-hoo!

I was surprised at how big she seemed. I've heard people say they thought she was smaller in person, but I actually thought she was bigger. It was really neat to see! (excuse the tall guys hair - he's in almost every picture from the cruise... boo)

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="384" caption="Those doors weigh 2 tons each. This is the largest gothic cathedral - still unfinished..."][/caption]

And what would a trip to NYC be without pigeons?

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="512" caption="... don't stand under there too long..."][/caption]

We hopped off the bus at Central Park and roamed the area awhile...

We went into FAO Schwartz and spent an hour (or two) playing with toys and I was being amazed by the masses of stuffed steiffs they had! If you don't know what steiffs are - they are a german made stuffed animal with joints that allow your stuffed animals to be more realistic. My grandma bought all of us a steiff teddy bear when we were born, and they are so cool! After FAO, and a hotdog from a street vendor, we wandered into the park.

 

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="512" caption="Central Park Zoo"][/caption]

 

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="512" caption="Hanging out in the park... In a tree"][/caption]

 At this point my brother was pretty much done being a tourist, so he and dad went back to the hotel while Jeffrey and I decided to hangout and do some more walking, talking, and eating!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="512" caption="Sun setting in battery park"][/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="512" caption="If this is what you get every NYC evening while sitting on a park bench, I think I could live there!"][/caption]

Things have been really rough for me lately so I can't tell you how ECSTATIC I was! It totally made my day. I love productive shopping trips!

Today I busted out the towels I bought and assembled my famous (at least among my friends) Towel Cake. I am so proud of this one, I listed it on Etsy. Here it is...

There are more photos of it In My Etsy Shop. I am so thrilled with how this one came out, I am a big fan of clean and simple and I think this one is just perfect, if I do say so myself!

In gratitude for their sponsorship of this conference (and, by extension, their funding of the twenty women who were awarded BlogHerships to attend the conference for free when they could not otherwise), I would like to take a few minutes to mention them all here. Forgive me for not putting links where I should, but I have more thank-yous than time today, and I want to get this posted quick.

Thank you all for coming, for talking to us, for taking my card (cause, yes, I did give everyone I met a Mothers With Cancer business card -- we all know somebody), and for adding a little excitement to an already amazing conference.

My absolute favorite approach was the one made by Sesame Street. Sesame Street bought a suite upstairs and outfitted it with snacks, water, soda, fruit and nuts (thank you for that; sustaining food was more difficult to come by than sweets), DVDs with full episodes, and a stage set of the apartments' front door on Sesame Street. AND GROVER. Yes, THE Grover. To this PBS fan, this was probably the most amazing celebrity you could have brought to the conference (and we had some amazing ones). PBS had put a lot of thought into this suite -- they even came equipped with their own recording equipment, and we each got to MAKE A VIDEO with GROVER. And not a predetermined video either, but interacting and talking and laughing with Grover. I even got a hug.

PBS also promoted the new Super Sisters site -- a site for parents -- that will be hosted by our friends Kristen, Jen Lemen, and gave away shiny flowery mood rings as swag. Swag from Sid the Science Kid was all over the table too, including science notebooks for kids (hooray!), guides for parents, and coloring books of many of the PBS characters. PBS gets major points for promoting their kids' shows to us, in a reasonable yet really smart way. Their big swag was a thumb drive/bracelet with games for 6-8 year olds preloaded. Very, very smart.

Raggs gave out videos and had a mascot present that made me smile. Sprout was another BIG winner in my book, with little toys, coloring books, and take home stuff that the kids just loved. Winning the Sprout giveaway was so much fun for me, a huge fan of this no-kids-commercials-but-all-preschool kids channel. When I told my roommate I won, she asked excitedly, "Did you win the flip phone?" Nope, I won the stuffed animal mascots (Chica, Boogie, and Star) and I was so very happy. (My little boy FLIPPED OUT over this when I got home. And he doesn't do stuffed animals.)

Leapfrog TAG and DIGI were there, showing off their products and giving out coupons. Thanks for the coupons. They are EASY TO PACK and really will be used for future purchases. Vsmile showed off their new products, which include a new art studio, create your own book, and their new motion activated controls. Way cool. Even cooler than the Nintendo wii, in my book, since the wiis were always in use and never available for me to try. ;-)

Intuit Quickbooks, HP, and Norton had a presence in the pavillion, offering freebies (Quickbooks, Quickbooks tutorial, tuneups, and Norton 360), and advice. I really enjoyed this part of it, as I had just been trying to use an old version of Quickbooks on the plane. One piece of advice, though. If you come promoting software, and you give that software away, it would be REALLY NICE if at least one of you knew how to operate that software.

Tmobile and Snapfish smartly gave away giftcards for things we could really use (and pack easily): Tmobile a week of internet access and Snapfish 50 digital prints. Awesome.

We heard from some well known internet services (Hello, Alltop! Thanks for the wine and paella!), and some that I was happy to learn about (Yedda questions and answers, jumpup.com business site, picnik.com photo site, smilebox photo site), and some that I probably would never have heard of otherwise, like easyprintdesign.com, babyjidesign.com, mccain foods mom squad, herroom.com (again, kudos for the coupon), kidsprotectionplan.com, brainpopjr, milkscreen, and boogiewipes).

Merci sponsored a National Thank You Day giveaway; I'll be blogging about this more as we get closer to Sept. 22. I thought it was a way cool idea, and a great way to spread positivity. Kinda like Kristen's Hope Notes that I learned about in Saturday morning's session.

Other great giveaways came from the Military Support Blogging Project (USB drive), the Experience Project (although I didn't get any), and several other vendors.

Mom Central brought books. Awesome. Could not BE any better swag.

The Silicon Valley Moms Group and the Kirtsy chicks procured some amazing swag, in ADDITION to all of this. Bags from Land's End and Scholastic, t-shirts, stuffed animals (Russ has a new Bright Beginnings doll that has snaps, buttons, zippers, velcro on it, just like the old Dapper Dans), diapers, bottles, onesies, an internet password planner (this sent my roommate into happy overload), a day planner, DVDs, clown noses from Barnum and Bailey (these went over BIG with my kids), moisturizer, teeth whitener, soap (hey, what are they trying to say?), dentaburst teeth cleaners (there that is again), pens, baby shoes from See Kai Run, and many, many other things that totally didn't even fit into my bag on the way home.

Like the yoga mat from Boca. And the full-size jars of Jif. And the carpet cleaner boxes that you can see on Alexis Neely's video.

There were several products, though, that I'm not going to mention. Because I just don't agree with their existence or their approach. (I didn't take the swag.)

Well, there it is. The not-so-dirty little not-so-secret. Advertisers are turning to bloggers these days, if not with cash then with gifties. As long as it's something that I can support and am happy to hear about, I'm okay with that. Bloggers are a force, in many ways, and it's nice to see corporate America taking notice.

Dancers: Karen Chuang, Johnny Erasme, Ashley Galvan, Shane Harper, Aubree Storm, Hefa Tuita

Having heard news that there were chances of thunderstorm in Las Vegas, I was prepared to spend my stay in dreary rainy weather. But no. What kind of meteorologist says that it'll rain...in the desert. Take no heed to anyone who says it'll rain in Las Vegas. Today I baked and toasted under the hot desert heat like an omelette on a grill.

I arrived yesterday to our modest but rather very large hotel 15 mins off the strip at South Point Hotel Casino & Spa. The rooms are large and comfortable, very clean, huge plasma screen and a great view over the hotel's pool.

But enough about hotel and comfort talk, let's talk fashion and shopping in Las Vegas.

As I mentioned in my previous post, Las Vegas is building CityCenter on the Vegas Strip right next to the Bellagio Hotel. It's slated to open in 2009 and construction has already been underway and had progressed much faster than I had anticipated. This patch of land already has the infrastructure to a near completion, a few of the buildings are already halfway through putting on the glistening silvery windows. CityCenter will definitely stand out in the Strip as I noticed many other buildings may be flashy with lights, but many are covered in gold mirror like windows. CityCenter will be all silver mirrored.

Caesar's Palace : The Forum Shops

Not exactly knowing why Caesar's Palace was deemed la creme de la creme of shopping areas, I understood the moment I set foot in The Forum Shops. A gargantuan maze of marble floors, winding escalators at the entrance, fountain center pieces galore with painted sky domed ceilings, and well over 100 high end brand names including Emilio Pucci, Christian Lacroix, St-John, Roberto Cavalli, Tourneau (a luxury watch store) and even a huge Trojan horse at FAO Schwartz. Tourists crowd the Italy flavored hallways as they are mesmerized by the beautiful sculptures and captivating lighting. The luxury stores were scarcely empty except for the venerable Louis Vuitton store. However, it isn't to say that they weren't making any money. I've seen dozens of tourist carry shopping bags from Gucci and Dior.

In general the atmosphere was completely commercial, enticing shoppers to spend their precious money at every stop. It was very hard to resist even for someone like me to simply pass by.

Fashion Show Mall

This huge mall is more catered to the general public but remained less crowded than The Forum Shops. The main concept for this mall is that there is a huge center runway in the middle of the mall, with a control room on the 2nd floor which controls the lights above it. From what I saw on the screens, there are regular fashion shows at the mall and models strut down the runway. I call it the Vegas Panache. They always have to add a lil form of entertainment value.

Here you'll find many generic mainstream brands like Abercrombie & Fitch, Steve Madden, etc. There were also the high end department stores like Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue, as well as the lower end like Macy's and Dillard's. There were a couple of stores that caught my eye, mainly a store I fancy called White House & Black Market. I especially liked their strapless bubble skirt dresses, and the quality looked satisfactory. My main problem with this store is the fit, just a tad too big even as a size 0. A shame, it's a really lovely store.

Style? What style?

There's not much to speak of in terms of fashion style in Las Vegas. Everyone's wearing board shorts, thonged sandals and tshirts. Only at night can you see the few who bother to dress up for a night out on the town, but there's nothing really relevant to say about American style dressing (sorry). From my experience so far, most American cities are not quite into fashion eventhough they have a huge spending purse for luxury goods. But like many affluent shoppers who love to buy luxury items, they can't dress themselves to save their lives (I am being biased of course, but if you want a city with style I would say Montreal, Tokyo and New York are the most fashionable I've seen so far). I am hopeful that I'll see more interesting styles in Los Angeles and San Francisco though.

I'm on current a mission to find toy slot machines, the kind that acts like a bank and also serves as an entertaining slot machine. Anyone happen to know where I can find one? It's for a friend since she couldn't make it to Vegas with me.

I'll also be attending a Cirque du Soleil show called "Ka" at the MGM Grand. Originally I had wanted to see "O" at the Bellagio, but unfortunately they don't play Mondays and Tuesdays. Oh well, at least just one show will be enough.

No one's really sure. Although it certainly makes me think of the movie "Groundhog Day": Wealthy American purchases Canadian iconic retailer and names a senior American retail executive to run the show. Repeat. Again.

It hasn't worked before so why does anyone think it will work again?

They really should change the script.

I happen to understand that things were at least more profitable these days under the late American Jerry Zucker's reign. But no one really knows for sure as it is a private entity. One thing is for certain, the dilemma of what to do with an out-of-date department store concept and a second fiddle of a discount chain (whose stores come in so many different shapes and sizes) is still not resolved. Everyone wants to talk about real estate values, but they only actually own one location in downtown Toronto. There may be some favourable terms negotiated on some of their leases but the landlords won't just let them sub-lease at the drop of a hat.

The Bay department stores haven't really changed that much. Their exclusive apparel licensing arrangement with U.S. department store giant Federated (or Macy's I forget which) may be terminated seeing as Lord and Taylor is now stepping into HBC's deerskin slippers. The aisles are still crowded, the merchandising is a bit boring and every other retailer, specialty and big box alike, has taken market share from them. There is no compelling reason to shop at The Bay.

Zellers is another story. Wal Mart has absolutely decimated all retailers that deemed to play even remotely in their arena. Now they are coming after another Canadian icon, in groceries this time. G-d help Loblaws.

Zellers, with about 380 doors, caters to that same audience and has been unable to gain any traction like Target has been able to glean south of the border. Their stores are still uninspiring, their mix is eclectic at best and a lot of their stores are way too large for their markets.

If anyone has a shot, I guess a real estate expert and his already burgeoning retail empire might be all that's left to try and salvage this beast. They were quoted as saying that this is not a real estate play (although everyone who has looked at this seems to claim that's where all the value is) and that they can probably open 12-15 Lord and Taylor stores in Canada. Where, pray tell, other than maybe 2 in Toronto, 1 in Vancouver, 1 in Calgary and 1 in Montreal (if it's even worth it to translate everything for one store).

I certainly wish them luck but I have thought for a long time that Zellers needs extra cool factor and wow merchandising and The Bay should look at the Japanese department store model which actually rents out space in their stories high stores to the best, hippest and most productive specialty retailers and makes a very tidy profit doing so. If you aren't productive (and we are talking close to $2000/sq.ft. minimum) they terminate your lease and replace you with someone who is more so.

Maybe that is what we should do with the new owners...they should have 12-24 months to become productive or their time in Canada should be terminated...

TheRetailTherapist :)