I have shopped

[redbird]

Specifically, I have shopped with help. I emailed Macy's last week and set up an appointment with one of their "personal shoppers," who ask what you're looking for and try to find it for you. What I was looking for was suits I can wear for job interviews.

The whole thing was relatively painless. We wasted a little bit of time because I misguessed my size, so everything she'd gotten out for me ahead of time was too big. But once we sorted that out, she got me more things, and I tried a bunch of stuff on, and it fit. For values of "fit" that apply to suits, meaning that I will need them altered to shorten the trousers and the jacket sleeves. I expected this, at least for the trousers; it comes of being short but not the shape that people have in mind when they make "petite" garments. So, I will need to find a new tailor in the neighborhood; the one I've used in the past retired a couple of months ago. (The alternative was to have the alterations done there, and wait three weeks or so.) I came home with two fairly conservative pants suits (one black and one gray), and a bright red skirt suit that I may return.

There's a lot to be said for having someone who knows her way around the store, and even has some idea of current styles, going to get me things, rather than having to find them myself; as a bonus, she was allowed to go into the storeroom and get things, when they weren't on display in my size. (I sat and read my book while she went out and found more things for me to try on; she had offered the choice to either sit and rest a few minutes, or go with her.)

This is one of those odd services that is advertised in the sense that the store has signs that say "Macy's by Appointment," but what's not obvious is that it's free. (If you get as far as the web page for the service, it encourages you to "make a free appointment," but if you expected to pay for the service, you might not even look that far.) You pay for the clothes, at whatever the current price is, but there's no charge for the consultant's time and the use of the private dressing room with the nice mirrors. I'm not sure where "knowing that this service exists and is free" falls in terms of class or privilege, but I think telling people that it's there is a good thing. The service is middle-class in terms of clothing prices, and in the sense that the interview clothes they're selling are aimed at middle- to upper-class jobs, but I suspect it could be at least as useful for someone without that background who has decided s/he can afford a couple of hundred dollars for an interview suit.

Comments

[aedifica]

That's good to know about. Thanks!

[jesse_the_k]

New frontiers! (I've always wondered.)

[adrian_turtle]

My mother pushed this service (much harder than I pushed it to you, because my mother doesn't know how to talk about anything without pushing hard) as a disability accommodation. Which it is in my case, and probably for others who have difficulty reaching clothes on a rack or carrying them around a crowded store.

Class figures into this very strongly, but it's specifically a class thing rather than a money thing. Sliding down the class ladder, I have a lot of background knowledge from the class I grew up in, in addition to the ongoing support I'm getting from my mother. I grew up watching my mother talk with Hudson's salesladies the way you and I now talk with the owners of small used book stores. As often as I rolled my eyes at my mother's behavior, I suspect it made me more likely to believe department store staff might be helpful (rather than irrelevant or hostile.)

When I worked with a personal shopper last month, she seemed perfectly happy to search for casual skirts with pockets and pullovers that wouldn't strain my shoulder. I ended up buying a few things for $10-15 each.

[dichroic]

My MIL uses this service a lot. She lives in a small town with limited shopping options, so whenever she needs a special dress (e.g. for a family wedding) she goes into Portland and makes an appointment with the Nordstrom personal shopper.

I've never done this, but probably would in a similar situation. (Last time I bought a dress for an important event I was in Taiwan so the service level was very high anyway.) On the other hand even in the Gap I often ask salespeople for opinions on fit, so having someone whose job it was to do that kind of thing and offer other suggestions would be very helpful.

[randomness]

I'm glad you're highlighting this service!

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Huh. I'd expect the "Macy's by Appointment" to cost money. I thought there was always a fee for personal shoppers.

And I agree - I wouldn't interpret "free appointment" as "totally free service".

[beginning.livejournal.com]

I used a free personal shopper recently at Nordstrom and had great success with it. It took a while for her to completely understand my style and what I was looking for, but once she deciphered what I was trying to explain, she did such a better job than I would have looking for myself. I was a bit amazed by that, but you're right -- having someone who knows exactly what's available works so much better than me just wandering around the store, trusting my eyes to spot something in the chaos.