Retail Watchers

That article is spot on.

Stores lost their way in certain categories. Some lost big & tall sections entirely, some are just terrible due to a lack of staffing, and then you have issues with stores locking up inventory which highlights lack of staffing.

And, at least here in Washington, as minimum wage has crept up, some retailers have not kept up and are now basically paying minimum wage, and a lot of people have changed careers or are considering it due to the rising cost of living. And a lot of new applicants have entitled attitudes and this leads to a lot of turnover.

There was once a time when I would head out of town to do shopping due to a lack of local options. The options that exist in the larger cities are experiencing the same issues these days and it is largely a waste of time, I would rather shop online so I at least can find what I need.

Re wanting a good in-store experience---had to call out Nordstrom two summers ago. We were in the Coachella valley desert two summers ago. We were getting a bit stir crazy in the condo, and wanted to do a "mall shop"...cool off, get lunch, window shop, etc etc. The mall out here in Palm Desert wasn't going to suffice, to say the least.

We wanted the closest big (not failing) mall and don't particularly know the mall situation (or suburb names, in LA/San DIego). Truly didn't care which mall or if it was toward Pasadena, Orange County or San Diego---NW, W or SW...just closest.

Figuring that a full-line Nordstrom would be the best/easiest proxy for that, looked on their website---there was no way to segregate Rack stores from full-line stores! Madness! You can hardly equate the two. Even calling their customer service number--they couldn't figure out a way.

We ended up at Brea Mall perfectly happily....but IT SHOULDN'T BE THIS HARD!!!