Who loves Marshalls, Ross, TJ Maxx, etc.?

[ir_dizzle]

These are my favorite stores - I'm just curious if people here feel the same way.

I don't mind digging through the racks to find "steals".

[bjl584]

Big Lots is my favorite place for deals.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by ir_dizzle

I don't mind digging through the racks to find "steals".

This is exactly why my wife can't stand these places. She doesn't want to spend half her day flipping through unorganized racks looking for a style, color and size that appeals to her. If she wants blue slacks, for example, she wants to walk up to a rack of blue slacks in order by size and take a pair to try on, not spend 20 minutes flipping through rack after rack only to find that they don't even have a pair of blue slacks in her size.

[MonkeyMama]

I love Ross and Marshalls.

Frankly, I find them more organized than any regular store. I suppose I don't remember the last time I went to Ross. But Marshalls puts everything together by size. MUCH BETTER than however other department stores arrange their clothing (by brand???).

My complaint is that the line always takes forever. So, I haven't been in a while. If you have nothing better to do than to stand in line all day... I think I have come to a point where I just value my time too much. & so I don't go very often, and then I forget about what great deals that have over there. I should probably just try to go over there at off times.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

. She doesn't want to spend half her day flipping through unorganized racks looking for a style, color and size that appeals to her.

Interesting you should say that since you also have said your family does shop at thrift stores. But guess what? I feel the same way about clothing at these stores, yet am also happy to shop at Goodwill, St Vincent de Paul, Salvation Army.

I guess part of it is that I really do have slightly higher expectations for organization in retail stores selling new. The named stores (except Ross, which I cannot speak of since I don't recall having shopped there) just have their clothes jammed in so tightly and too many things are drooping off the hanger or even fallen to the floor. Supposedly, they are roughly sorted by size, but in my experience, it's all a big mess.

I don't mind as much browsing through the non-clothes sections. Usually it feels very much like browsing at a thrift store anyway.

Isn't Home Goods part of that galaxy of stores? Home Goods seems less junky and disarrayed, but neither do they sell clothes.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by MonkeyMama

MUCH BETTER than however other department stores arrange their clothing (by brand???).

Yes, she complains about that. You need to search all over the store to find what you're looking for.

Actually, I have the same complaint about supermarkets. Each vendor pays to have certain space so one type of product might be found in 4 different places in the store. One brand might be in the health food department. Another might be in gourmet aisle. Another might be in the regular aisle and so on. Just put all the similar stuff together so we can find it and compare brands to each other (which is just what they don't want you doing).

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by Joan.of.the.Arch

Interesting you should say that since you also have said your family does shop at thrift stores.

I guess part of it is that I really do have slightly higher expectations for organization in retail stores selling new.

Exactly. And my wife won't go clothes shopping at a thrift shop unless she is in the mood to do so. Sometimes all 3 of us will go together and split up the racks to search for size x jeans rather than one person having to do it all. Our local Goodwill has 2 full aisles of jeans so it can be quite a search.

[jadet]

If you have credit card points most of them can get you gift cards to these stores.

[ir_dizzle]

Originally Posted by bjl584

Big Lots is my favorite place for deals.

Big Lots was never my favorite but they do have good deals there.

[ir_dizzle]

Originally Posted by MonkeyMama

My complaint is that the line always takes forever. So, I haven't been in a while. If you have nothing better to do than to stand in line all day... I think I have come to a point where I just value my time too much. & so I don't go very often, and then I forget about what great deals that have over there. I should probably just try to go over there at off times.

I don't spend too much time in Marshalls, Ross, etc. usually when I go; I love t-shirts and athletic apparel so I usually run through the medium and large sections of both; usually takes me around 10 minutes (and I check the shoes so add another 2-3 minutes).

As far as the lines; most of the time they're not that bad at the locations I go to so maybe I'm just lucky with the timing...?

[ir_dizzle]

Originally Posted by Joan.of.the.Arch

I don't mind as much browsing through the non-clothes sections. Usually it feels very much like browsing at a thrift store anyway.

Isn't Home Goods part of that galaxy of stores? Home Goods seems less junky and disarrayed, but neither do they sell clothes.

I went to Home Goods for the first time the other day and they have some good stuff there! It reminds me of the 'home' section in Ross and Marshalls. I believe Home Goods is in the TJ Maxx & Marshalls family.

[ir_dizzle]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

Just put all the similar stuff together so we can find it and compare brands to each other (which is just what they don't want you doing).

Good idea - I hate how they spread stuff around in different areas of a store like you mentioned.

[ir_dizzle]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

Exactly. And my wife won't go clothes shopping at a thrift shop unless she is in the mood to do so. Sometimes all 3 of us will go together and split up the racks to search for size x jeans rather than one person having to do it all. Our local Goodwill has 2 full aisles of jeans so it can be quite a search.

I went to Goodwill for the first time in a long time the other day and found some killer Express Shirts - I know they cost ~$40 each brand new in Express and I found 3 of them for $3.99/ each.

I love deals like that - it gets me so excited!!!

[ir_dizzle]

Originally Posted by jadet

If you have credit card points most of them can get you gift cards to these stores.

That's true!

[ir_dizzle]

I love Ross, Marshalls, TJ Maxx, Nordstrom Rack, Goodwill - BUT like some of you mentioned it takes a lot of time to find a great deal (that you want) and you have to literally go there everyday to see if new inventory comes in.

I WISH they sold their items on-line so I wouldn't have to go to the stores so often and deal with the long lines. OR I wish I was notified when inventory I like comes into their stores.

Am I the only one wishes for these things? Are you guys interested in this too?

[jadet]

Originally Posted by ir_dizzle

I love Ross, Marshalls, TJ Maxx, Nordstrom Rack, Goodwill - BUT like some of you mentioned it takes a lot of time to find a great deal (that you want) and you have to literally go there everyday to see if new inventory comes in.

I WISH they sold their items on-line so I wouldn't have to go to the stores so often and deal with the long lines. OR I wish I was notified when inventory I like comes into their stores.

Am I the only one wishes for these things? Are you guys interested in this too?

I think shipping will be a downfall for these stores. Their products are also not consistent so it wouldn't make sense to list something online when they will be out of stock and moving to another product every 2 days or so.

[ir_dizzle]

Originally Posted by jadet

I think shipping will be a downfall for these stores. Their products are also not consistent so it wouldn't make sense to list something online when they will be out of stock and moving to another product every 2 days or so.

They could list some items on their website (rather than shipping them to their stores). However, I think they get a lot of [extra] sales from people who look around and dig for deals; and ultimately buy things they didn't plan on buying in the first place - similar to Costco. This element of "treasure hunting" would be gone if they sold items on-line I guess...

[SeanH]

I like TJ Maxx and Marshall's and I strikeout ...90% of the time. I use them to buy Ralph Lauren dress shirts which they sell for ~$35 and are normally $80-90. I think one of the big things to keep in mind with hit or miss places is that you still only want to buy things you actually really do like. I know that sounds like easy common sense, but I have occasionally found myself saying "well, its in my size and its on sale." That philosophy will fill you a closet of things you don't want to wear and keep you buying more. I'm also a fan of home goods - you can buy nice cooking wear at at excellent discount.

[ir_dizzle]

Originally Posted by SeanH

I like TJ Maxx and Marshall's and I strikeout ...90% of the time

Wow... how could I forget to mention that! I'm glad you brought that up!!! Most of my trips to those stores are empty-handed trips! I'm glad you brought that up - that's another reason why I would love to see Ross, Marshalls, Homegoods sell their stuff on-line; to save us from empty trips and empty gas tanks!!!

[thefrugallery]

I love those stores too, but I do caution against buying cheaply made items there. True, cheaply made items can be found anywhere, but I seem to have found many more at discount stores. Just because something is inexpensive does not mean it is a good deal. Make sure that the materials are going to stand the test of time and are easily washable. Otherwise you'll find yourself back at the same store a couple of months later to buy the same thing over again!