A friend from Paris was visiting this week, and since we both were on vacation and had long lists of clothes shopping to do, we had plenty of time to discuss shopping patterns and customer service, a favorite topic of mine.
Bloomingdale's flagship Men's Store on 59th Street used to quite unpleasant to visit -- dark, creepy, crowded and disorganized labyrinth in the basement. The utterly revamped and redesigned Men's Store, however, is much better, starting right at the subway door and moving up three levels from jeans to designer collections, suits and beyond. Lighting is improved, there is more space between collections, better grouping of collections, better signage and a more comfortable flow to move one self through. On the weekday morning of our visit, it was also semi-empty which was depressing for them but convenient for us.
Our first sales guy in jeans proactively told my friend about a perk neither of us knew about and from which he could benefit: Bloomingdale's 11% discount for out of country visitors.
This is really terrific and Macy's might have it as well.
Meanwhile, I was using my tax return money to get a new suit with a 30% discount as part of a pre-sale the following week (I can get the discount now but won't be charged or can't pick it up until then). The sales are confusing but at least the staff tried to help me figure out which one was best for me to use.
Over lunch — after visits to Calvin Klein and the required pilgrimage to Barney's — we discussed service experiences between the US and France; my friend noted that in Paris, one would never have "pre-sales" event like that; it's an American invention. In Paris, the sales person would simply tell you to come back next week. Pre-sales, though, seem great for businesses getting you to buy stuff ahead of time and perhaps more of it.
Calvin Klein's flagship store on Madison Avenue, in comparison, was clean and sparse but the tomb-like design and sterile feel was uncomfortable and life-less. Staff were friendly enough, but followed you around like you were going to steal something. Clothes were displayed on hooks hanging from the ceiling. Men's underwear were the only thing on sale and were displayed coldly in recessed shelves, leaving little reason to buy them here when you can get them on sale nearly everywhere else from Bloomingdale's to Century 21 (suggestion to CK: hire models for the flagship store. Now there's a reason). Leaving, unimpressed and hungry for the real world of emotion, we took the elevator too far down and found women in the Home department who seemed like they were in prison. We didn't spring them free, though; we simply left and with our many bags, went downtown to SoHo for more stores and a lovely lunch.
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