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As if I were entering a cathedral

Posted by Robin on 21 December 2019 3 Comments

And so I marched into the department store to try on dresses. Like a growing number of global consumers, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d done so—I even bought my wedding dress online. De Bijenkorf was quiet. Blissfully so. After the double onslaught of rain and the crowds lining Amsterdam’s streets, it was as if I were entering a cathedral, albeit one consecrated to a retro kind of consumerism. Like all the best cathedrals, it even had its own fragrance. The ladies’ department (my status as a “lady” being a question for another time) was curated by someone with an actual design sensibility, rather than an algorithm trained to offer me Instagram’s fake news in fashion form. A limited selection of items makes for fast shopping. Instead of sifting through an infinite number of items online, I quickly spotted, tried on, and purchased a dress...that I’ve worn multiple times since.

— Read more in The Forgotten Glories of Department Stores at The Atlantic.

Filed Under: on another subject
Tagged With: brick n mortar store

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3 Comments

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  1. flopper says:
    21 December 2019 at 3:36 pm

    I really miss the department stores of my youth. I remember Lichtenstein’s, where as a pre-teen I would buy a small amount of white chocolate. As I got older, Frost Bros was a very glam place to shop.

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    • Robin says:
      21 December 2019 at 5:46 pm

      My favorite fancy store in DC was Garfinckel’s, they are long gone. I think Woodward & Lothrop, along with Hecht Co, both got folded into Macy’s, which did not exist in DC when I was young.

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      • flopper says:
        21 December 2019 at 8:11 pm

        Hecht sounds familiar for some reason. We had Foleys, which also folded into Macy’s.

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