Retail apocalypse 75,000 more store closures

[EZ-E]

When Trump came thru Crosby, he bypassed the plywood eyesore nobody wanted him to see. Our Kroger closed recently. left us with wallyworld which is low quality and Arlens that is good but unable to discount much. I hate wallyworld. The Internet can't do small small community food yet, probably never will. We miss HEB too. For us there is not too many grocery stores

I grew up in Huffman in the 80s & 90s, we always had to go to Gerlands in Atascocita. Heck back then all we had was the Dairy Queen. Even now Huffman don't have a grocery store.

 

[karlac]

Pendulums swing ...

 

[66vette]

Huh? Where do you live? Some places I know have fitting rooms and comparison up close:

WalMart, Cabelas, Target, Academy, Columbia, Under Armor, DSW, 5.11, Bass Pro, Wrangler, Converse, Timberland, SteinMart, Nordstrum, Sachs, JC Penny, well you get the idea.

And places I no longer go like Dicks, Field & Stream.

OK B&M is brick & mortor stores.
Still need to learn all the abbrev's

We have no real stores around. Need to drive at least 50 miles to get to a major city & yes that's the cost of living in the country.
The only fitting rooms we've seen in the last 5 years is at Walmart.
No, we don't get out much anymore.

We don't do Walmart much. We prefer real leather shoes over man made stuff that don't last.
I'm still wearing GI boots I bought 10 years ago for working in our field.
I prefer American made over made in China.

Just remembered, does TSC have fitting rooms ?
I don't think so...

 

[baboon]

We have no real stores around. Need to drive at least 50 miles to get to a major city & yes that's the cost of living in the country.

I'd trade you in a heart beat! We get nice weather, but get air quality alerts to go with it. Even with repeat store every few miles they tend to not impress me, with goods or services. Panhandles & vagrants on the corners , thieves ghosting the neighborhood after dark. The sounds of early morning gunfire her means something complete different then in the country. The noise on their crotch rockets screaming around@ night or sirens going to scrape them up afterwards.

 

[birddog]

When I was 5 to 10 years old, approximately, my family was solidly middle class but by no means were we rich.

I still remember sitting around in the women's clothing stores where the sales associate would help out by interviewing my mom and sister about what they needed. Then the sales associate would disappear for a couple of minutes (I realize now that she was grabbing stuff off the racks in the back of the store) while everyone was seated in a salon by her assistant. The assistant would get everyone refreshments and make a bit of small talk until the sales associate reappeared.

Then the models started walking out. There always seemed to be at least three different girls. Mom and sis would narrow down their selections. If things weren't to their taste, things might go on pause while the sales associate started the process over to get a better idea what was needed. Each time something was given a thumbs up, the assistant sales associate would rack those clothes and when a certain number had been reached (I have no idea how that judgement was made), the fashion show would be over.

Mom and sis would go through that rack and eliminate a few things. Then there would be measurements taken and the remaining clothes would disappear to be altered to fit. The family would swing by to pick up those clothes, usually a week later.

Obviously, mom and sis tended to go for more service-oriented establishments. As the boy-child, I was perfectly happy with my jeans and shirts off the rack from Sears. Dad wrote checks and clothed himself with suits that he and my mom would buy together, without the kids present. The man lived in suits. I literally saw him start to mow the lawn in a suit one time before he realized he should take off his coat and tie. To be fair, he reserved for lawn work only those suit pants, shirts, and shoes that were too old and worn to go to the office. If anything greasy was on the schedule, i.e. auto repair, the coveralls went on over his clothes.

My point?

There was a time in this country when a middle-class, single income family with two kids could afford, perhaps twice a year, to update two of the four wardrobes in the house with a private fashion show complete with models in a salon.

There's a political essay in there, somewhere, but I'm too old and out of touch to write it.

I just wanted to set the scene for the youngsters on here, to let you have an idea of what has been lost.

You should write professionally. Seriously.

I enjoy reading your stories, reminds me a lot of my own experiences. Minus the ass whuppins.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

You should write professionally. Seriously.

I enjoy reading your stories, reminds me a lot of my own experiences. Minus the ass whuppins.

You should be so lucky as to spend extended time with him one on one.

Definitely no OOC there...

 

[benenglish]

You should write professionally.

I have but that part of my life is over. My muse is apparently gone; it's been a decade since I've felt a spark of real creativity. The few paragraphs you quoted are little more than dry exposition. Writing seriously again is out of the question unless my life takes some very unlikely turn.

FYI, I'm not the only person on TGT whose work you may have read in magazines. We have (at least) one serious writer for gun magazines on the forum though he doesn't advertise that fact.

 

[AustinN4]

We have (at least) one serious writer for gun magazines on the forum though he doesn't advertise that fact.

Moonpie?

 

[benenglish]

Moonpie?

Not that I know of.

No more guesses, folks. Perhaps I shouldn't have said it but it's out there and I apologize to the person I referenced.

If he wants to out himself, that's this choice and not mine. I won't bring it up again.

 

[Darkpriest667]

Moonpie?

The Magazines Moonpie writes for you have to be 18 to buy.

 

[gdr_11]

I think it's hard for anyone under the age of 50 to remember what real retail customer service was. Those of us who downhill of 70 remember store employees who actually knew about what they sold and cared about the customer. Who here remembers trying on shoes and having the salesperson take them to the back room to stretch them a bit? Or how about having your windshield washed, oil checked and tire pressure measured while the attendant also pumped the gas, gave you sheets of green stamps and some free dishes to add to your collection?

 

[Renegade]

Just remembered, does TSC have fitting rooms ?
I don't think so...

Mine does.

 

[BRD@66]

...while the attendant also pumped the gas, gave you sheets of green stamps and some free dishes to add to your collection?

Ha! As newlyweds, we (foolishly) threw away a gifted set of Depression Glass plates 'cause we like the Melamine plates from the gas station better.

 

[Renegade]

We have no real stores around.

OK, so fitting rooms & compariuson are not really "Gone are the days of fitting rooms & comparing clothes up close", as you say, you just do not live near any stores.

 

[benenglish]

we like the Melamine plates

They've become collectible, y'know.

 

[avvidclif]

Here’s a fun fact:
There are more mattress stores, than there are Starbucks.

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No wonder Walgrens is in trouble.....

 

[45tex]

As late as 1972 I worked at a gas station that would check under the hood, air the tires, all of them, and wash windshields front and back without a purchase. Also free jump starts in the neighborhoods nearby and farther if you were a known customer. Good service kept cars in our bays spending bigger money, as customers thought of us first.

 

[avvidclif]

We stopped by the local antique/junk/treasure store yesterday. We had never been in there but my description was correct. Picked up a complete 8 place setting of Corelle with tea pot for $80. It was a sunflower pattern and DW is nuts about sunflowers. Made some points I did!

 

[baboon]

As late as 1972 I worked at a gas station that would check under the hood, air the tires, all of them, and wash windshields front and back without a purchase. Also free jump starts in the neighborhoods nearby and farther if you were a known customer. Good service kept cars in our bays spending bigger money, as customers thought of us first.

First trip I made to South Africa in 1999 gas stations had one person checking tires, one checking oil, one pumping gas & another doing windows.

 

[pronstar]

I think it's hard for anyone under the age of 50 to remember what real retail customer service was. Those of us who downhill of 70 remember store employees who actually knew about what they sold and cared about the customer.

More recently, Home Depot was like that when it started, until Bob Nardelli ruined the company.


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