Like many good consumers, I was doing my part to stimulate the economy during Saks 5th Avenue's Friends & Family sale. Not that they made it easy for me (other than providing the discount, that is).
It starts with the fact that my local Saks doesn't carry Diane von Furstenberg at all, so I had to order the items I wanted online. It's not a big issue since I didn't pay shipping, but still, it would have been nice to get the immediate gratification. I still went to the store to see what I could find, but their selection is not exactly what I was after (unlike what they offer online). Apparently, I wasn't the only one who felt this way, since the store was mostly dead. The only heavy traffic on the fashion floor was at the Elie Tahari and Theory sections, which are still much smaller than their parallels at Bloomingdale's across the mall (which is where I ended up shopping: they had a pre-sale and offered the same discount % as Saks, and even had my size in stock). Someone up there should take notice what sells and what doesn't, and realize that an empty store during a major sale event indicates more than a crappy economy.
The ghostly fashion floor was depressing, but it didn't stop me from heading towards the light: the makeup counters. Unlike their piranha-esques colleagues from the flagship across the river, the suburban SAs have made ignoring their potential customers into an art form. Not all of them, of course, not for every brand, but several counters were deserted while bewildered customers were trying in vain to get some attention from SAs who have turned into an army of pink lipsticked Helen Kellers with highlights.
At the Bobbi Brown counter, the efficient and gracious Libby was picking up the slack left by her coworkers who had better things to do. The only problem was that I had to wait 15 minutes before I could even test the palette I wanted (more on that later this week). The Estee Lauder counter was buzzing with activity while across the path at Lancôme there was mostly confusion and frustration. I have no doubt that they lost sales as a result.
This isn't just a Jersey issue and I'm not the only one who noticed. Check out this makeupalley thread from three days ago. Someone at Saks should be very worried.
It starts with the fact that my local Saks doesn't carry Diane von Furstenberg at all, so I had to order the items I wanted online. It's not a big issue since I didn't pay shipping, but still, it would have been nice to get the immediate gratification. I still went to the store to see what I could find, but their selection is not exactly what I was after (unlike what they offer online). Apparently, I wasn't the only one who felt this way, since the store was mostly dead. The only heavy traffic on the fashion floor was at the Elie Tahari and Theory sections, which are still much smaller than their parallels at Bloomingdale's across the mall (which is where I ended up shopping: they had a pre-sale and offered the same discount % as Saks, and even had my size in stock). Someone up there should take notice what sells and what doesn't, and realize that an empty store during a major sale event indicates more than a crappy economy.
The ghostly fashion floor was depressing, but it didn't stop me from heading towards the light: the makeup counters. Unlike their piranha-esques colleagues from the flagship across the river, the suburban SAs have made ignoring their potential customers into an art form. Not all of them, of course, not for every brand, but several counters were deserted while bewildered customers were trying in vain to get some attention from SAs who have turned into an army of pink lipsticked Helen Kellers with highlights.
At the Bobbi Brown counter, the efficient and gracious Libby was picking up the slack left by her coworkers who had better things to do. The only problem was that I had to wait 15 minutes before I could even test the palette I wanted (more on that later this week). The Estee Lauder counter was buzzing with activity while across the path at Lancôme there was mostly confusion and frustration. I have no doubt that they lost sales as a result.
This isn't just a Jersey issue and I'm not the only one who noticed. Check out this makeupalley thread from three days ago. Someone at Saks should be very worried.
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