This is interesting to me because I was just in #1-Least-Likely-to-Succeed, aka Sears, the other day. Having suffered through a few seasons of really cruddy kids' clothes that couldn't stand up to washing, I decided to see if Lands' End could do better for at least a few key items. I buy a lot of Sweety's clothes there because they're classic-looking and they last forever. And the kids' clothes were very nice, but some of them were mismarked. Not wanting to wait another five years for one of the girls to wear a certain cardigan, I readied for returns.
But returning with the included label costs you $6.50. If I understood the woman on the phone correctly, it costs that even if the return is due to their mistake. Returning them at Sears, though, is free. So off to Sears we went.
The return went very smoothly. The items were still tagged; their bags had been opened, but that was it. Everything was pretty close to pristine. And do you know what sticker they put on them? "CLEARANCE--USED." If they're having to do that every time Lands' End screws up an order, then no wonder they're not doing well.
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jaderabbit- jaderabbit
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Sears going down makes me sad. I feel capitalist nostalgia for them. :(
As for the others on the list... My $0.02
Circuit City - I almost never shop there. And the one time I did in the last five years, they were a mess.
Pier 1 - I've commented to people in the last few years that Pier 1 just isn't what it used to be. It no longer seems to really have funky imports. Instead, it's trying to look like Crate & Barrel inside. That isn't what I went to Pier 1 for, so I stopped going there...
Cost Plus - and started going to Cost Plus World Market. :( I don't want them to go out of business.
Tuesday Morning Corp. - Never heard of them.
Gap - Never shop there. Haven't since the 80's, which I shopped there about twice.
Blockbuster - I don't use Netflix, but I don't use Blockbuster, either. We basically decided to just start buying movies, so we wouldn't have to return them. We do so pretty infrequently since Cupcake arrived anyway.
Rite Aid - I go to the pharmacy at the Meijers, so I pretty much only go to places like Rite Aid for cards and toiletries, when I don't want to handle a Meijers.
Funny enough to forgive the sentence fragment. (You see, I'm gearing up for the Freshman comp.) :)
Article here.
I don't really know what the relationship between Lands' End and Sears is. Maybe someone else will provide the answer in the comments.
And that was the late eighties.
I always thought Pier One was too expensive and never had the things that appealed to me. There's a Tuesday Morning in the Hollywood District of Portland, OR where we bought some wash clothes for cheap, but it's not a place I go to seek out stuff. I would miss Cost Plus World Market if it went away.
Cost plus is one of those stores I like to wander through, since they usually have interesting stuff. It's generally not stuff I need, though.
Recently, Sears was the only place I could get my watch battery changed. The store where I bought the watch wouldn't touch it because it was too expensive and they didn't want to be liable for damage - they wanted to send it to the manufacturer to have the battery changed, but wouldn't do it without my receipt. As if I would keep the receipt for 4 years and know where it was! *eye roll*
About 2 months later, I received a bill for the cost of the video and restocking fee anyway. So, I called and they checked and said they had the video, which was rented out to someone else now, but they had to charge me for these things because the video was returned a day late. I know I returned it just before midnight on the date specified and so I argued with the guy about it and, really, was quite angry. He insisted that it wasn't possible for the video to have been checked in after midnight when it was dropped off before midnight. Well, I used to work at a Blockbuster in college and knew that wasn't true - sometimes the videos got checked in after midnight and the manager had to manually take off late fees, if necessary. He countered that they now have some kind of video surveillance in the drop-off box that makes it impossible for that kind of thing to happen. Whatever - it seems like their "no late fee" policy would make them less vigilant about it, not more! So, after arguing for a good 30 minutes, the guy got off the phone with me and said he'd talk to his manager about it. The next day they called and left a voice-mail saying, "good news" and that I wouldn't be charged. But, it was too late. I was already done with Blockbuster.