Brick and Mortar store-you're retail winners and losers

[kydisneyfans]

This thread becomes interesting every year, and there is a similar online post. The question is straight forward. Who got the money this year and why?

My winners-spent more than usual:
-Kohls-spent more here than ever, but am very disappointed with the new Kohls cash policy. Had to exchange an item that ran small and lost $10 in KC as a result. May try Macys more next year. Overall happy though.

-Dress Barn-found them earlier this year and love the clothing.

-Kroger-new store built-great customer service at decent prices. Gift cards for gas is a big draw too.

-Local shops-found more unique items than usual, spent more than ever.

My losers-spent less than usual:
-JC Penney-my Kohls shopping tripled at JCP expense. Not only does the no sale not impress me, the selection is now poor too.

-Macys-just didn't have what we wanted in the size needed this year.

-Meijer-they just don't compete anymore on the hard goods, the grocery side prices aren't impressive anymore either. Tired of items out of stock, not scanning right, or just the entire customer experience overall.

-Toys R Us-didn't buy 1 thing there this year, not worth the hassle and the prices are the same or higher than everywhere else.

I honestly don't see how JCP can survive with high mall rents with this new format much longer.

 

[jenndisney]

I am the opposite. I spent 3 times as much at JCP. I am not a coupon person when I know the items are marked up. My daughters jeans are now cheaper at the regular price.

I hate kohls. I did not even step foot in there this year.

Target was the other winner for me. The red card savings is nice.

 

[dsneprincess]

Winners- Kohls, JCPenney, Sears, Macy.com

Losers- Amazon, BonTon, ToysRUs, Best Buy

 

[jgreco]

Winners-Amazon, Target
Losers- ToysRus, Walmart ,BestBuy

 

[carebee21]

My Winners:
Nordstroms: I found shopping there so peaceful. It wasn't hectic, I could find everything I wanted and the sales people were helpful. Plus I enjoy having my items placed directly in a box and handed to me.

Basin: I find the quality of their items is far superior to bath and body works and the body shop. So I did most of my shopping for those types of items there. I do love bath and body works peppermint body wash and shea socks though, so that's they only reason they got any of my money...

My Losers:
Toys R Us: I think it's a combination of their prices being higher than other places and my son not being all that much into toys anymore. I did go one time, but they didn't even have the item I wanted.

Macys: The quality has fallen so far that I didn't even set foot in there one time this year, nor did I place any online orders.

Wal-Mart: I hate shopping at wal-mart as it is, but usually find myself in there a few times to pick up toys, games or stocking stuffers. I went once and it was such a mess and a madhouse that I left and never went back. It was so much worse than that place usually is.

 

[AngieMouse86]

Winners-Amazon

Winners-Macy.com

Losers- Amazon

Talking about Brick & Mortar stores here. Separate thread here about experiences with online retailers.


Target was my big winner for b&m stores. Got a lot of good deals on Black Friday and our store was very organized. Kept getting good deals throughout the shopping season. Also helped that I had A LOT of Shopkick kicks saved up, so $50 of my shopping was paid for with that!

 

[bearloch]

Target was winner hands down for me

Kohls Loser !! I had a 10.00 gift card that was hard for me to even find anything I wanted to use if towards

 

[bridget]

I had good luck at every store I shopped at...great customer service and never too crowded.
Kohls
Target
WalMart
Best Buy
Bath & Body Works
Toys R Us

This past week, I bought gifts for all the students at my school that won't get presents, and I was able to get the best deals this week for that at Toys R Us.

 

[Colleen27]

Winners - Barnes & Noble. Excellent shopping experience all around, helpful staff, quick checkout even with long lines.

Local shops - better selection and more finds than in years past, and a new coffeehouse in town that I'm totally hooked on. Our downtown district has really branched our in the last year.

Losers - Best Buy - hate to say it because it is usually a favorite, but stock was a big issue this year. Great staff, as usual for our local store, but that's not much help if I have to go elsewhere to buy what I came in to look at.

Target - maybe a timing issue but the place was a madhouse every time I stopped in, with messy aisles and too few open registers.

Toys R Us - no great surprise, they're always at the bottom of my list but periodically something convinces me to go in there. This year it was a quest for a wooden dollhouse that Target never seemed to have in stock (and which I ended up finding at Meijers - their expanded online selection and order-to-store were a big win). As usual no one knew anything, the computer inventory was wrong, and none of several options that were supposedly available for store pickup were actually in stock for us to look at before we made a decision.

 

[sunshinehighway]

I did most of my Christmas shopping online. B&M I didn't have any experiences that were great.

Walmart was my worst experience. They gave me a hard time about price matching with Target. I brought in the ad and everything but the supervisor on duty thought it was too good of a deal. The other supervisor argued with her about why she was making such a big deal about it. Eventually they did the price match but I didn't go back to Walmart after that.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Winner - JCP - hadn't been in since the change, but buttons got me there...and I did 90% of my non-online shopping there.
Loser - Kohl's - bought my wardrobe from JCP and not Kohl's (better prices and Kohl's merchandise has been going downhill quickly)

 

[mjantz]

I've never had a good experience at Best Buy.

OTOH, Target has never given me any trouble.

 

[rszdtrvl]

My best B&M was a music store an hour away. My father buys all of his guitar stuff there. I saw online that they sold gift cards, but I couldn't see anywhere online to purchase.

I called and they were able to do one by phone for me. I was very happy because my father is hard to buy for, and this is one gift I know he will really appreciate. The employee was not sure if she would be able to do one by phone (and I would not have been shocked, due to fraud and stuff) but she was able to do it with no problem.

They get 2 thumbs up from me!

 

[maxiesmom]

Target was winner hands down for me

Kohls Loser !! I had a 10.00 gift card that was hard for me to even find anything I wanted to use if towards

Really? So you don't buy kitchen towels or underwear?

No matter what store I get a gift card to, I never find it impossible to use.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Winners
JCPenney - the store and online. The stores didn't carry as much stock but what they had was inexpensive and clean and orderly. I was able to find everything on my list, I just had to make sure I got it early.

Barnes and Noble - Always good

Books a Million - a close second to B&N, not a huge fan of the store but it's closer to my house than B&N.

Target - Always. It's pretty much my go to store.

Stop and Shop and Big Y - Got lots of gift cards there that I couldn't find other places.

Tractor Supply - They had a lot of nice stuff for DH and DS16. And their snow boots are $20 a pair for the kids, I can't beat that.

Surprise of the season - Walmart- typically I avoid Walmart like the plague but I actually went there 3 times and got what I needed every time.

Losers
Dick's Sporting Goods - nothing terrible about the store but they were out of lot of stuff I wanted.

Kohls - couldn't find anything worth buying. The store was so jam packed you couldn't move and because of that it was trashed. And I mean really really trashed.



ETA: it did seem that a lot of stores didn't overorder this year. I found out pretty early on that if you saw something you'd better get it or it will be gone when you go back.

 

[superme80]

Target-We got the last of a toy we wanted 4 days before Christmas and they had great gifts for a pirate exchange we had.
Dollar Tree-We got the stocking stuffers for the kids there.

Losers
KMart-I did a store pick up of an item and by morning the item was out of stock and my order was cancelled. Target had the item.

 

[sunshinehighway]

Really? So you don't buy kitchen towels or underwear?

No matter what store I get a gift card to, I never find it impossible to use.

I can understand what that poster meant, Sometimes its difficult to find something with a gift card that isn't costing you oop. I have dish towels and underwear, I don't need to spend an extra couple $ to buy more because I have a giftcard and can't find anything else.

 

[chrissyt27]

I can understand what that poster meant, Sometimes its difficult to find something with a gift card that isn't costing you oop. I have dish towels and underwear, I don't need to spend an extra couple $ to buy more because I have a giftcard and can't find anything else.

I have done this many times as well. They will send $10 in the mail or I will have kohls cash to spend and just walk around forever trying to find something to buy. They never have good sales when they know people have kohls cash. You can only have so many dish towels and underwear, plus they are so overpriced on most stuff.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Winners- Target (red card savings), Walmart, TJ Maxx, Amazon, Overstock, Brookstone
Losers- Toys R Us

Really most stuff was from amazon or walmart.com, overstock, brookstone.com. Just picked up small things at walmart, target, and TJ Maxx brick and mortar stores. Online shopping rocks!

 

[lucky1]

Winners:
Amazon - Found most of the gifts there
Target: This is the only big box brick and morter that that we seem to visit, generally had what we wanted for a price that was okay
Local Stores: I put a focus on shopping locally we could. Hopefully that helped boost their business as much as possible, plus some unique online retail stores


Loser:
WalMart - Did not step foot in the store this holiday season.
Kolhs - Ventured in a couple of times, but never found anything. Actually we got 3 $10 gift cards from them in the mail and had a hard time using them. I think their prices are marked so high, that you should only buy when they are on sale and then they are still over priced
Justice for girls - Never by retail from them as their prices are so high. Also find their justice bucks are hard to use, as you have to purchase over $50 at full price to make them work.