I like Ebay; excellent stuff that the stores don’t bother to even try to stock at all. I find blouses and pants that are better than the tripe that the stores don’t try to stock.
I mean, the buyers for these stores are supposed to find good stuff, but they aren’t bothering at all. It’s the same old tripe (the young adult stores stock mainly club wear and hooker haute couture) and nothing I’m really interested in anymore.
If these stores stocked good stuff, then there would be people buying, but they aren’t stocking anything other than what Hollywood makes fashionable, which means slutty (skinny) jeans and skin bearing tripe.
I don’t think buyers have personal discretion any longer and haven’t for a long time. They are just flunkies who manage the relationship with a pre-picked vendor and keep the records. Vendors are picked on the basis of cost. A nickle per item can sway the deal. Just look at the quality of fabric available today.
My mother was a buyer for 5 Carson, Pirie, Scott stores way back in the day. When they were bought by Kohl’s she no longer “went to market”, she just accepted and checked in the merchandise the Inventory Control Manager had selected.
I can’t even recall when that was. Maybe the 1970s.