After reading PM's post 128i, I looked up "Monkey Wards" (as my Dad called it). As far as I could tell, they only exist as an online store now. Sad, as I remember when they were a large brick and mortar chain close to or equal to Sears when it was still doing well. I checked out the lingerie section of the site and found only 36 TOTAL bras and panties available.
This brings me to my thoughts about other stores as well. The aforementioned Sears, which gladly is still around. Kmart which was absorbed into Sears is almost completely gone. JC Penny has been on its last legs for some time now. Mervyn's, a West Coast retail chain is gone, but Kohl's which is very similar seems to have taken it's place.
I do try and support these old retailers and often browse the lingerie when I "just happen" to be walking through that part of the store. Of course as any lingerie freak knows exactly where they keep the good stuff, it's no accident that I'm there. I try to shop Frederick's of Hollywood as well. They're down to one retail shop left that's close by me, and it's not even that close, so when I go there it's kind of a special trip.
I give JC Penny a lot of credit, as the stores are really spruced up and nice. They look a lot like Kohl's now, although with registers laid out throughout the store. Kohl's only has one checkout area at the front of the store so all customers must funnel through there in one giant line. I don't like this method of checkout since I can be spotted by people I know while I'm carrying a bunch of lingerie, which could be embarrassing. Kohl's does have a large lingerie section though and lots to look at and choose from.
2 comments:
The demise of the retail department stores has been especially hard on the "Pantymaven". Many of those that have passed by the wayside used to have their own private label brands. In my collection I probably have close to a dozen. Now, when you go in to the retailers of today... Macy's, Kohl's, Penney's, Sears... they all have exactly the same brands and styles and the Vanity Fair and Olgas are basically one and the same with just a different label (and printed on the material as well).
You're so right PM. You basically see the same items at every store. Sad.
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