[nkrisc]

When I think of heyday US department stores I think of Macy’s, Sears, Carson Pirie Scott, Montgomery Ward, Nordstrom, and I’m sure offers I’m forgetting.

Of course those are all either shells of their former selves or gone entirely.

Macy’s might have been the last high end department store in the US (that I’m aware of), but even 10 years ago going into their flagship Chicago location felt like walking into a K-Mart. I don’t know if I’d consider stores like Saks to truly be department stores.

[AmVess]

These are gone from many markets due to the race to the bottom. They cut the quality out of clothes so they could make more per item without paying attention to the simple fact that quality is what brought people into the store.

At the end, they all sold the same junk sourced from the same places, but with different labels sewn into them. Consumers saw no value in paying a lot extra for something they could get for a lot less somewhere else. Thus, department stores outside of big cities vanished.

The same thing happened to malls. They used to be full of locally owned businesses that offered a variety of goods. Now, they are all the same handful of stores selling the same things you can get for a lot less online. Even worse, nearly all of them offer a low rent experience because there are only a handful of stores left operating in each one. Seeing a building full of dark and closed stores screams economic decay. Who wants that experience?

[foobarian]

> At the end, they all sold the same junk sourced from the same places, but with different labels sewn into them

There has got to be a way to get good fabrics some other way even if they cost more. Merely going to a fancier store doesn't seem to work, because as you say they tend to use lower common denominator material suppliers.

[ghaff]

You go to specialty stores depending on what you're looking for. They may not be really high-end but I don't have a real argument with brands like Patagonia for the most part for things like outdoor clothing. For dress clothing, something like Joseph Banks really isn't bad and you get tailoring as needed.

And I'm sure there are plenty of even higher-end stores at least in big cities. I'm not into "fashion" as such so can't really speak to boutiques along Fifth Avenue or wherever.

[colechristensen]

You have to be able to determine the quality yourself.

Find these things at actual boutique retail locations which are rather hard to find, or individual manufacturers direct to consumer website, and to find those... I don't know, it's not easy.

[foobarian]

I think I somewhat know how to do this, i.e. feel a fabric and gauge its thickness and weave. What I don't know is how to search for it. What do you filter to get the thicker, densely woven cotton like polo shirts used to be made of in the 80s, instead of thin see-through half synthetic stuff so common today?

Wondering if there are technical specs for this like there are e.g. for paper with their "24 lb paper" etc.

[lotsofpulp]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staple_(textiles)

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-a-long-...

You probably won't find it unless you do a lot of work to reach out to industry contacts and are willing to cough up a lot of money.

The market just doesn't exist, most people are satisfied with Costco/Uniqlo/H&M/Old Navy clothing for 95% of their needs, and maybe Lulu/Nordstroms for something a little more fancy.

[dartos]

I was born in the late 90s and I only remember malls with big brand stores.

Maybe there was like 1 independently owned store at my local mall even I was a kid.

It’s a ghost town now.

[nkrisc]

I think the 80s was a big period of change from what malls were to what malls are now. My beard is only half grey, I wasn’t there for that.

I was born 10 years before you and I remember in the 90s smaller malls still having one-off and quirkier shops, but many of the bigger ones were already full of the same chain stores. Eventually the smaller ones closed or followed suit, until now even the bigger ones have met the same fate, it just took longer.

[decafninja]

I’m curious why you don’t consider Saks a department store.

Do you feel the same about similar stores generally considered upmarket of Macys? Bloomingdales, Nordstroms (which you did mention), Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, to name a few.

YMMV but I wouldn’t consider Macys to be a “high end” store.

[matwood]

As a kid I loved getting the Sears catalog before Christmas. I would pour over that thing looking for something I might be able to convince my mom to get me for Christmas. Thank you for the pleasant memory :)

[booleandilemma]

The Macy's at 34th street in NYC is the flagship and it's still going strong. I went last week, lots of nice stuff.

[nkrisc]

That’s good to hear. The impression I get is that Macy’s outside of NYC is basically gone, in spirit if not physically.

It’s a shame because they took over the Marshall Field building in Chicago (another department store I forgot to mention) which is a gorgeous historic building, so it was kind of nice when Macy’s moved in and fixed it up. Last time I was there it felt like a last-mile warehouse for their online delivery business. Same thing happened to the State St. Sears store just a block away.