Lord and Taylor, Oldest U.S. Department Store, Files Bankruptcy

I get the sense that this decade will play host to weeks where decades happen.

I am not excited. After all, "May you live in interesting times" is a curse, not a blessing.

Going around Chicago I get a sense of disgust seeing people doing outside dining on the sidewalk with no masks that I have to walk by. They're less crowded but they are still packed in as much as they are legally allowed to be. There will be businesses that close, but once there is a vaccine there will be new ones like there always have been. They might be different but people aren't going to stop wanting to eat and drink. If anything hopefully there is a culling of our dated practices like tipping with people realizing how much money they've saved by doing pickup for example.

Clearly using very expensive real estate to sell products and services to consumers is passe. That's not quite the same thing.

People are buying mostly the same stuff, just not in-person from downtown shops.

Too many cars and parking downtown. If we had outdoor seating with European style restaurants, I think we could safely distance and downtown would be booming. Check out Chestnut st. Almost every restaurant has a parklet now and it's packed.

Do you think people would be more or less inclined to go to restaurants or order takeout if there's an exponentially-growing out-of-control pandemic sweeping their city?

Speaking of restaurants, there's a funny thing that's happening with them. Ones in residential areas are currently doing OK. Ones in predominantly commercial areas are dying - because everyone's telecommuting.

Lifting the lockdown won't do a damn thing to help the latter. All of those telecommuting workers are going to keep telecommuting [1], regardless of whether or not some politician decides to sacrifice a few million kulaks on the altar of economic growth.

[1] Amazon, for instance, will keep most of its employees at home until at least January 2021 (And will doubtlessly push that date off, again). Do you think any of the restaurants surrounding their offices in South Lake Union are going to get any customers, even if Washington state re-opens tomorrow? Why would Amazon employees patronize them, when they are all working from home?

This idea that people would just get up and go out because the government says its ok while case numbers continue to rise is daft.

Not many people are going to willingly risk their own life or those of their parents until a vaccine is available. Contrary to popular belief, people aren’t sheep and if hospitals are filling up despite the government saying its “ok” people will just continue to stay home.

I 100% agree with you.

You're fighting mass hysteria right now from irrational people, the same type of fear and irrationality thats led to all kinds of negative things throughout human history.

Just be sure to vote against people who support this. That's all.

As a Canadian, I’ve nervously watched them for years. Their archives have a lot of our history and for that reason I hope they stay in business.

(I’m sure someone would take it over, but it’s neat to have the continuity. And nervously, because downtown high street retail is a declining business?

I think it was more Bonwit Teller / Altman's than mass appeal Macy's or working class JCP. Old school 5th Ave.

What kind of things do you buy? Department stores carried pretty much everything except Rx. Clothing, furniture, appliances, bedding, tools, etc. Maybe it was a style difference, but to say they carried anything that you'd want to buy seems hyperbolic.

It's worth watching Are you being served? (it's a comedy from the 70s available on BritBox). American department stores are not socially the same as the fictional Grace Brothers, but the idea for the store is pretty much the same.

Also, Lord and Taylor was great for office appropriate and business casual clothing. With people working from home, I'm sure a huge part of their demand cratered.

Ah, that must be why. I was going to say, I spent many a bored hour in Lord & Taylor after being dragged there by my mom :)

I wear Charles Tyrwhitt shirts.

But I’ve never seen a shirt that was literally non-iron - they still need an iron to press and put the creases back in.

My husband mostly wears Eterna Excellent, and as long as you don't spin them too much and hang them up wet, they look good without ironing.

In general, if you hang up and fully button cotton shirts while dripping wet, you will not need to iron much, if at all.