"Don't Mess With Lord & Taylor!"

There's a wonderful feature on department store Lord & Taylor by Toni Schlesinger in the Observer today. Earlier in the summer, it was announced that the Lord & Taylor chain had been sold to an investor group including the folks that backed the Time-Warner Center; though the deal isn't finalized yet, when Schlesinger wonders if condos could be built on top of the 424 Fifth Avenue location, lead investor Richard Baker says, "Yes, we could build on top. But we have made no decision what to do with the existing building." And he added, “I’m getting a lot of e-mails: ‘Don’t mess with Lord & Taylor!’”

It'll be intriguing what happens with Lord & Taylor in the future, because it's such an afterthought of a department store. One tends to think about Macy's for most anything (even though it's almost prohibitively crowded), Bloomingdale's for nicer things and Barneys for even nicer things. But Lord & Taylor will never be considered - at least, not amongst our friends. Who shops there, in that huge 600,000 store? Our mothers and grandmothers, it seems. From the article:

[O]ne Wednesday evening Lorna Stevens, 62, with short white hair and comfortable black suede shoes, who has worked for the last 20 years in humanitarian relief and lives in Peter Cooper Village, was staring at the store directory looking for “Intimate Apparel.” She said she has been coming to Lord & Taylor forever. “I was just looking for Jockey shorts for my husband. They have Polo, Ralph Lauren—no Jockey. They used to. I’ve been shopping here my whole life. Barneys, Bergdorf’s? It’s not for me. This is where I go. Before I came here, I went to B. Altman. Here, you can count on being able to get normal clothes for normal people.”

Also shopping was Nora Loke, 58, who lives in Chinatown with her husband, an accountant, and who moved from Hong Kong 20 years ago. “I like the classic clothes—very American,” she said, indicating a Nine West mannequin. “Saks Fifth Avenue? That’s very expensive. An umbrella is $24. Here it’s very quiet, you feel comfortable. Sometimes my husband comes. He sits in a chair and goes to …. ” She put her head down and mimed sleep.

Yeah, the brand is probably in need of a shake-up to attract customers without gray hair - and apparently the store has been making strides in appealing to younger customers (who knew?). But knowing that it's pretty empty is very tempting, as a calm shopping environment is pretty hard to come by.

Do you shop at Lord & Taylor in the city? We used to shop there in the suburbs, but that's because that's the suburbs. Its third store in the city, on Broadway and 20th, is gorgeous. And it was the first department store to move to Fifth Avenue and to name a female president, Dorothy Shaver.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in Arts & Entertainment, News on September 6, 2006 2:21 PM

Comments [rss]

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Very helpful. I thought my posts were too brief, but based on your advice some of them could use trimming.

guest

you can tell that there was one person who is not the sharpest tack in the box when they can not even spell "GIMBELS"

Dona Bain-Lynch

Please pass this on the appropriate person!

I am a designer of men, women and children fashion and comfort footwear. My interest is to exclusively design and make shoes for Lord & Taylor stores. My company name is Dona Dona/dbl int. inc. I will like to meet with the right person in person to present my designs. The children's department needs it. I have many ideas for your company. Please contact me at 718-346-4199 anytime.

Sincerely,

Dona Bain-Lynch

dbl Int. Inc.

Dona Bain-Lynch

Please pass this on the appropriate person!

I am a designer of men, women and children fashion and comfort footwear. My interest is to exclusively design and make shoes for Lord & Taylor stores. My company name is Dona Dona/dbl int. inc. I will like to meet with the right person in person to present my designs. The children's department needs it. I have many ideas for your company. Please contact me at 718-346-4199 anytime.

Sincerely,

Dona Bain-Lynch

dbl Int. Inc.

ROBERT

in a world where everything increasingly feels the same, Lord & Taylor is a breath of fresh air.

annac

(At the risk of bringing in more converts) here's another twenty-something who shops at L&T.

And I totally agree with #24: "At least L&T has some class."

boo

other than the historical value of the building, they could raze L&T and i would never notice.

but i hate department stores, and i can get everything much cheaper -- and much cooler -- at many other places in the city.

my friend (who is in the cult of L&T) dragged me there to try and convert me -- i had managed to avoid the place for 11 years. most of the offerings were frumpy and expensive for what they were. also, even if i could have found something i liked, the smallest size would've been to big because they seem to specialize in vanity-sized brands.

NJ2Chicago

Lord and Taylor sounds a thousand times better than Macy's. FYI. Today is a sad day for department store lovers in Chicago. Marshall Fields, once a classy, quiet, upscale, relaxing, and entirely midwestern shopping experience has been turned into a Macy's. When I grew up in New Jersey I used to avoid Macy's like the plague. In fact I'd never enjoyed shopping at a classic department store until I moved to Chicago. Bergdorf's was too eurotrash, Barney's was too expensive, Macy's was just nasty and crowded. Bloomingdale's was nice, but just a bit intimidating. In Chicago I fell in love. Marshall Fields on State Street really picked out the most fashion forward men's collection every season, and always seemed to know where to draw the line between high fashion and accessible fashion. It was a very special place. Now that State Street has been turned into a Macy's, which everyone knows sells lower quality menswear, I feel like I'm having a flashback to my east coast childhood. Chicagoans are bitter about Marshall Fields. People are quietly boycotting Macy's. If you want a quiet department store experience in Chicago, Saks has a nice men's store on Michigan Avenue. Nordstrom is alright. But nothing will ever replace Marshall Fields. Good luck Macy's. "Way to shop!" or "Way to schlock!"

bak office mate

Interns? where da heck you get that from?

It's retail, retail is the trenches.

I love hearing their loss prevention stories. I miss my friend's employee discount.

On top of the employee discount, I got the coupon discount on top of that.

what?

who ever heard of an internship at a department store? that is just dumb.

X

Wow, L&T has a lot of interns! And, it seems by the comments above, they are all spending their time plugging the store..."under-40 set" gimme a break. L&T is destined to go the way of Gimbles and A&S...anyone miss 'em? Bring on the condos!

CM

dang, gothamist commenters. i guess i've found a new store to check out. not that i haven't noticed their ads for ages, i've just never happened to go there.

D

I went shopping at L&T for the first time this weekend, after seeing their multipage ad in GQ. It was, without a doubt, the best shopping experience I've ever had. I spent four hours in there. DKNY, CK Jeans, Lacoste, Marc Ecko, Lucky Brand, Sixty, 7 Diamonds, Ben Sherman, Puma.. I'm missing a few. Holy crap.

Hopefully they stay around. I was totally psyched.

M

Lord & Taylor is definitely the place to go and the under-40 set will hear about soon enough - oh no! :0

kwanito

well, I'm converted. But I'm guessing so too are the masses who read Gothamist comments.

schmod

Alright, so Macys or Bloomingdales were never really my thing, and I definitely can't afford Barney's. If I'm forced into a department store, it's probably going to be L&T.

The commenters here are right. It's always incredibly clean, never overcrowded, and the salespeople show the right amount of enthusiasm (they're willing to help, but definitely not in your face all the time). Sure, it could use a little "hipping-up", but then again, none of the major department stores are exactly "hip" these days. At least L&T has some class.

Although I've got to ask the NY crowd:

Are the Century 21 stores in Brooklyn/Manhattan as weird as the ones in NJ? The one in Morristown is easily one of the most bizarre department stores I've ever set foot into. (Not necessarily eclectic... just a really bizarre selection of clothing, albeit with fairly decent prices....)

verismo

Add me to the list of Pro-Lord and Taylor shoppers. I go there for the fabulous shoe selection and help, the best party frock selection in the city, and a very nice accessories dept. Most of my favorite gloves have come from Lord and Taylor.

Oh, and I buy my "never-you-minds" exclusively at Lord and Taylor. Anywhere else in our fair city sends me into homicidal rage within 10 minutes.

N9

I've been declaring my L&T love for years! The dress department is awesome, the shoe sales (and the sales in general) rock, and they have a great selection of costume jewelry (one of the few department stores still carrying old-school Miriam Haskell). If you need cosmetics you can avoid the choas of Sephora and walk out with loads of samples as well. I've strolled through L&T on many a lunch break, enjoying the calm, no-bullshit atmosphere and the friendly but not aggressive salesladies. Most are old enough to know when you really want help, and will leave you alone with your thoughts otherwise.

The only thing that would make it absolutely perfect would be the addition of a linens department.

jen

An "afterthought of a department store"?!?!?!? Are you guys over at gothamist crazy! You have been missing out. Lets be honest here. Macy's is for tourists and so is Bloomies. The deals and sales at the Lord and Taylors are the without a doubt the best. And just because that the Observer observed only folks above the age of 50 shopping there doesn't mean that that article is a realistic survey of L&T's regulars.