Observations from the Retail Wars: Uppers are Shopping; the Middle is Screwed

SouthPasadenaDem

(171 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Fri Dec-15-06 02:26 AM
Original message

Observations from the Retail Wars: Uppers are Shopping; the Middle is Screwed

So, this afternoon, I'm covering the phones for the last half hour at our receptionist's desk since she leaves at 5:00 on Thursday to attend class.

My boss calls in, having left in the middle of the afternoon to shop for his kids' presents. He's just been at "The Grove," the newest and trendiest Mall in Los Angeles. For those of you who are not familiar with Los Angeles, The Grove is on Fairfax, just north of the old Farmer's Market, situated within the City of Los Angeles, but within walking distance of the Beverly Hills and West Hollywood city limits borders. In other words, its a very upscale mall, in a very upscale Westside neighborhood, within spitting distance of two municipalities where only people with the big money can possibly afford to live. It's what the real estate ads refer to as "Beverly Hills-Adjacent", if you get my drift.

Jeff has been at The Grove because The Grove contains the only American Girl store in Los Angeles County. His six-year-old has requested an American Girl doll for Chanukah, and Chanukah begins tomorrow. Now, for those of you not in the know (as was I until Jeff clued me in), American Girl dolls are quite expensive. An American Girl doll retails for anywhere from $140 to in excess of $200 apiece. That's not counting the couture, the accessories, et cetera, et al. There's even an in-store hair salon where you can have your American Girl's hair styled. (The doll hair, that is, not your child's).

Jeff has just escaped the American Girl store, just barely with his life, as American Girl is MOBBED like nothing he's ever seen before in his life. And mind you, this is in Los Angeles, the world capitol of shopping-as-a-lifestyle, consumerism-as-an-avocation.

But hey, it's a week and counting til Christmas, right? The height of the holiday shopping season.

Fast forward two hours and twenty miles East to Mervyn's Department Store in Alhambra, California. Alhambra is solidly middle class, largely Latino and Asian, full of small 1930's and 1940's single-family stuccco homes and a decent little Main Street. (it's even called "Main Street"). I am in Mervyn's Department Store because I have an event to go to tommorow night and I really need a new pair of black dress pants for the event. I have avoided shopping since before Thanksgiving, the event is tomorrow, and I cannot put this off any longer.

Mervyn's is the only department store in Alhambra. Sure, Alhambra has a Target and a Kohl's, but Mervyn's is more of a real department store, not a discount store like Target, or Kohl's, or K-Mart, or Wal-Mart. More of a Macy's-type atmosphere. You can find name-brand, middle-class clothing items there, like Dockers pants and Van Heusen shirts in the mens' deparment. No "fine china" department, but an extensive linens and housewares department. There's a cashier's station in each department, not a row of cashiers at the door. Mervyn's is a divsion of the Dayton-Hudson Corporation, owners of Target and Hudson's Department Stores, but higher-quality goods than a Target. In other words, solidly middle-class merchandise, in a solidly middle-class neighborhood. You get the picture.

Now, here I am, dreading going shopping on a Thursday evening, in the middle of the Christmas shopping rush, even more so upon arriving at Mervyn's upon discovering the banners in the front windows proclaiming Biggest Sale of the Year!. Now I know it's going to be miserable, because when Mervyn's has a sale, it's a really good sale. I've been in this particular Mervyn's when they're having a "Super Sale" and it's a mob scene. Their sales are usually half-off regular prices on most items. This sale, I observe, is 40% off some items, 50% off most items, and even 60% off on others. The kind of sale you never see until afterChristmas. The're always short on sales clerks and, during such a sale, the wait in line to pay is often a good half-hour. And I'm braced for the worst.

But not tonight.

The store is not mobbed.

At 7:00 til 8:30 p.m., right after work, a week-and-a-half before Christmas, with a FABULOUS sale going on, at solidly middle-class Mervyn's in solidly middle class Alhambra, the store is poplated by the sales clerks, a handful of other shoppers, and me.

In short, Mervyn's is EMPTY.

Folks, if what I just saw at Mervyn's is happening all over the country, the middle class in this country is in real trouble.