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‘Hell no’: Saks Fifth Avenue shoppers in SF trash new appointment-only model
The San Francisco Standard ^ | July 20, 2024 | Jillian D’Onfro

Posted on 07/22/2024 12:06:28 PM PDT by Vendome

Amid Friday afternoon’s heat, the five posh floors of Saks Fifth Avenue in San Francisco’s Union Square offered a cool elegance that belied the jarring news from the day before: the store is transitioning to an appointment-only model and laying off staff.

What will it feel like to go on pre-arranged shopping trips inside a sprawling department store? That is an open question for customers and staffers. As part of the transition slated for Aug. 28, the store will lay off an unspecified number of employees, according to the Chronicle, which first reported the changes.

The news comes at a time when Union Square has suffered from declining foot traffic and a surge of retail vacancies. Big-box retailers have struggled in San Francisco and around the country, prompting the city to proffer pop-up shops and free parking to add excitement and liveliness downtown.

(Excerpt) Read more at sfstandard.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: gavinnewsom; i; newsom; newsomfornia; shopping; stopped
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I quit shopping at Union Square and Valley Fair a couple years ago.

Everywhere I wanted to go in are by appointment only now.

2 years I needed an ink refill for one of my Cartier pens.

Had it in my hand and wanted a manager to just get one, charge me and they could spend time as a tour guide with people who probably aren't going to buy.

Was told appointment only.

I was furious and called their HQ.

I got no where.

Found a fellow owns a high end writing instrument store and he had the refill I needed.

I'm done with these retail places.

Now, I only buy online

1 posted on 07/22/2024 12:06:28 PM PDT by Vendome
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To: Vendome

I guess in some areas, it’s either this or close altogether.


2 posted on 07/22/2024 12:09:14 PM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: Vendome

How long before this applies to Walmart?


3 posted on 07/22/2024 12:12:02 PM PDT by alternatives?
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To: Jamestown1630
I guess in some areas, it’s either this or close altogether.

They are just running out the clock on their lease. When they get close enough to the end, they will close.

4 posted on 07/22/2024 12:12:49 PM PDT by Mr. Jeeves ([CTRL]-[GALT]-[DELETE])
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To: Vendome

Trying to stay open, but what’s to stop someone from making an appointment and showing up with a posse to loot the place?


5 posted on 07/22/2024 12:21:51 PM PDT by Salman (It's not a slippery slope if it was part of the program all along. )
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To: Vendome

White People Problems, lol, just kidding.

Seriously though, how is the crime and squalor that has infected Union Square not get raised here? What’s the use of free parking if your car is pretty much guaranteed to be broken into.


6 posted on 07/22/2024 12:23:17 PM PDT by keat
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To: Vendome

Why blame the retailer? They are being overrun by barbarians if their stores are open. With the blessings of a criminal state.


7 posted on 07/22/2024 12:23:49 PM PDT by fwdude ( Never trust a movement whose symbol is a raised fist.)
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To: Vendome

Isn’t shopping for high end women an emotional experience, an outing of immersion and stimuli that is triggered by the mood for that day?

Making an appointment for the grocery store to pick up your grocery list is one thing, but isn’t the shopping for scarves and purses, outfits and accessories an indulgence experience for women that that doesn’t fit as pleasantly into scheduled in advance appointments, for instance the day they feel bloated?


8 posted on 07/22/2024 12:24:23 PM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: keat

exactly! first world problems X10.


9 posted on 07/22/2024 12:29:29 PM PDT by ronniesgal (have you even tried to mind your own business?)
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To: Mr. Jeeves

I don’t blame them, even though similar situations and closings here (less high-end) have complicated my life. I’ve had to go online/delivery for lots of necessary things because there are no more drugstores nearby.


10 posted on 07/22/2024 12:32:36 PM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: Jamestown1630

Check result of ban the police insane.


11 posted on 07/22/2024 12:34:34 PM PDT by Vaduz
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To: ansel12

It may be somewhat stereotypical but yes, in my experience, some women like to “shop” often without anything in particular in mind. Or maybe one thing they need, but enjoy browsing around and making an afternoon out of it.

Not all women of course. And not all women can afford to spend an afternoon browsing and impulse buying. But stores like Marshalls and TJMaxx are successful because they follow what they call a “treasure hunt” model. New stuff comes in all the time and it gets tucked away somewhere; and women spend considerable time going through the aisles looking at what’s new.

There probably is a market for “appointment only” stores. Sounds like it comes right out of the 1950’s; or for very upscale stores. But it’s not what one thinks of as Department Store which has a lot of square footage of inventory and it needs to turn.


12 posted on 07/22/2024 12:35:04 PM PDT by monkeyshine (live and let live is dead)
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To: monkeyshine
'... women like to “shop” often without anything in particular in mind. Or maybe one thing they need, but enjoy browsing around and making an afternoon out of it.'

It goes back to our hunter-gatherer past. While the men were out killing the critters, we were looking for little side dishes and deserts and other household things.

We've never gotten it out of our system.
13 posted on 07/22/2024 12:40:16 PM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: Jamestown1630

Sorry; desserts...I guess we wouldn’t have found much in deserts...


14 posted on 07/22/2024 12:41:44 PM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: monkeyshine

“”””There probably is a market for “appointment only” stores.””””

Perhaps for a small specialty store where the selection is for a particular designer or brand of purse or of a small selection of the very expensive and desired fashion items.

Lol, I’m getting a little out of my area, but I’m giving it the full effort.


15 posted on 07/22/2024 12:42:43 PM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: alternatives?

I wish. It might thin out all the south of the border mamasitas and the broods of 6 or 7 kids that clog the aisles. Or the rude Indians that will get in your way and park in front of what you are trying to get to to have a conversation. I refuse to go to the WM Neighborhood market 3 blocks from my house because it is a microcosm for the “t*rd world” I drive 4 miles to the one in the nicer area to get away from that carp. Heck yes Id make an appointment. even if it was just limited access.


16 posted on 07/22/2024 12:43:56 PM PDT by BudgieRamone (Everybody loves a bonk on the head)
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To: Vendome

My wife is a Cartier shopper. She looks like a Cartier shopper.

They are appointment only, but always open the door for her.

Magically, an appointment opens up when she arrives in her Range Rover.

Note, not saying that you don’t look like an MB shopper. But smart stores know this is basically a scam just done to keep out “youths”. MB needs to get with the program.


17 posted on 07/22/2024 12:46:13 PM PDT by MeanWestTexan (Sometimes There Is No Lesser Of Two Evils)
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To: alternatives?

Well I went to Wal Mart for the first time in 6 months and found that ordinary men’s underwear and socks are locked up behind a glass wall and you have to get someone to open it to buy them.

I ordered some from Amazon instead.


18 posted on 07/22/2024 1:10:01 PM PDT by packrat35 (Pureblood! No clot shot for me!)
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To: MeanWestTexan

It was for this pen and I was probably wearing an Omega that day
https://www.ebay.com/itm/375522252285?itmmeta=01J3E2K7JS1M1397ADEN3XEG0H&hash=item576eded5fd:g:MmAAAOSwLxdmiAlW&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAAwN%2FUmljNDhWcmZ1FfAQyFDdkefH8RpL6EW6sHjRNi8vbrEjdV1ohv1OYrbFUSoCVAJd83X2jd8l9QsM6vINdptARhK8Mg3jP9f0oKr3ZJRcmJrylAzVe7gaeUTRuBsZDMpzGMFdW4kWU%2F9IoPM2VEO2LAEidNBsiPXdO8aPxlfOH7Ci6%2Fpbbj9mtP6z2aQJQta3uS5yzxGqiN5XltxfAB8P0yQdI0oYDap%2FXw7e6xxMgYd5vpdggIwyuapBhbJWFgQ%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR7r5zMKbZA


19 posted on 07/22/2024 1:38:31 PM PDT by Vendome (I've Gotta Be Me https://youtu.be/wH-pk2vZG2M)
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To: MeanWestTexan

I will say the Cartier at Stanford is more accommodating


20 posted on 07/22/2024 1:39:18 PM PDT by Vendome (I've Gotta Be Me https://youtu.be/wH-pk2vZG2M)
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