For duo, Basement ban is no bargain: Sister shoppers get a dressing down from store honchos

Boston Globe ^ | July 13, 2003 | Bruce Mohl

[sarcasm]

The rare Basement ban was handed down in May in a bluntly worded letter to Nancy Singer from the chain's corporate parent, Value City Department Stores of Columbus, Ohio.

''Given your history of excessive returns and your chronic unhappiness with our services, we have decided that this is the best way to avoid any future problems with you and your sister,'' wrote David E. Sherer, vice president of loss prevention.

[mr.pink]

Pretty soon she was explaining how you can buy a dress for an occasion, hide the tag so it isn't visible, and then return it after the event.

I know a couple of women who have turned this scam into pretty much an art form.

Myself, I have purchased my fair share of clothes that I quickly realized were ridiculous for me. I'm usually too embarrassed to attempt to return them so I keep them as a reminder to shop carefully and never impulse buy.

I have a good friend whose style I hate, if he says something like "nice shirt", I know I made a mistake. ;o)

[brianl703]

Presumably they gave the sisters a tresspass warning. If so:

http://www.crimedoctor.com/shopping_center_security_1.htm

"Trespass warnings may not be enforceable across city or county lines making blanket banishment from all stores within a chain meaningless."

[Scoutmaster]

I remember Filene's Basement from 1978-1980, while in graduate school in Boston. Most clothing items were added to the inventory several times a year, as available, and marked down if they stayed on the selling floor too long.

Some items, though, like furs and wedding dresses, were brought out once a year to much fanfare. The big day (for shoppers, the media -- print and broadcast, and onlookers) was the day that Filene's rolled out all of the wedding dresses at incredible savings.

Brides-to-be, and their mothers and mother-in-law-to-be, pulled, scratched, and generally fought to grab dresses off the racks. Nobody wanted to waste time getting to the dressing room, so the brides-to-be stripped to their undies and tried the dresses on right there in the aisle (and in 1978-1980, a fair number didn't wear bras -- my roommate, a Boston native, swore he had seen more than one bride-to-be strip stark naked to try on a dress). Hoards of college boys joined the circus to watch the impromptu striptease and catfights.

I chuckle about it -- and clearly remember seeing hair pulled and punches thrown when two brides-to-be tried to grab the same dress.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

I have a friend who would return everything. She even stole one of those tagging guns from TJ Maxx so she could re-tag everything she wore.

We aren't friends anymore.

[mountaineer]

Every time I'm in Boston I visit Filene's Basement downtown (usually because I'm waiting for my husband to start running the marathon at the time - good thing they're open on Patriots Day). I have to admit I've never seen anything there worth buying, but keep holding out hope that someday I'll find that great bargain.

[brianl703]

I wonder if she is printing new UPC labels for grocery store items...

[pyx]

Stores apparently have the right to evict customers because, technically, a store is private property and retailers are not required to sell to every willing buyer.

Technically ? Something is, technically private property ? Only in Boston, maybe.

[MinuteGal]

These sisters from hell are not your everyday shoppers. They're nutty obsessive/compulsives who fastened their compulsions to one store. It's like a Japanese tea ceremony for them. Every shopping trip, every return, every dust-up with staff, is all part of a satisfying ritual.

These women are teched in the haid. If Marshall's is smart, it'll refuse them service also. We all pay for nutcases like this.

I'll bet when these two weirdo women shuffle off this mortal coil, the authorities will find old newspapers stacked to the ceilings, mounds of cobwebbed musty clothes and countless starving cats in every room of a run-down mansion somewhere. Just like in the movies.

Leni

[Straight Vermonter]

Wouldn't it be great to see the return desk start using those lights that forensic people use to see if there is sweat etc on the clothes!

[Straight Vermonter]

I have purchased my fair share of clothes that I quickly realized were ridiculous for me.

Maybe something pink?

[dennisw]

This is one of the funniest posts in a while. I would have banned them years ago. No way can Filene's make money off such lunatics ...... Instead they lose money. These two sisters have an obsession and need a psychiatrist.

Returns are OK. Unreasonable number of returns are not OK

[dennisw]

These sisters from hell are not your everyday shoppers. They're nutty obsessive/compulsives who fastened their compulsions to one store. It's like a Japanese tea ceremony for them. Every shopping trip, every return, every dust-up with staff, is all part of a satisfying ritual.

Excellent take on their psyches. Being obsessive is one thing. When you start stealing it's another. And they were stealing from Filenes's (in a sense) in that Filenes's was losing money by doing business with these witches. Filenes's was definitely their way of "acting out" in the larger world and likely their only one.

They were hunting with a policy of catch (buy) and release (return merchandise) for what they hunted down at Filene's basement.

[jocon307]

"The clothes were crushed into overflowing racks and full of wrinkles. The quality was the cheapest. Is this typical of Filene's or was it an aberration?"

Back in the day Filene's Basement was exactly that, the basement of Filene's store in Boston, where clearance merchandise was sold. Macy's basement in NYC was the same way, before it was "gentrified" into The Cellar. It seems Filene's has completley transformed into an "off-price" or "odd-lot" retailer.

Those stores work for some people. I know many folks who love Filene's, and my sister-in-law was crazy for Marshalls. But as she used to point out, you have to go there regularly, because you never know when you'll find some great bargain. I, myself, can't stand these stores, although I like getting a great deal as much as anyone. Basically it's because I find the merchandis is generally shopworn, it's dug through by customers searching for that unique "great find", and the whole shopping experience is just depressing. I don't mind going to the "Everything $1.00" store for gift bags or things like that, but I don't like shopping in a junk shop that is trying to pass itself off as a department store.

[avenir]

"Basically it's because I find the merchandis is generally shopworn, it's dug through by customers searching for that unique "great find", and the whole shopping experience is just depressing."

Same here. Bargain hunting is fun for awhile, but the labor involved and the time lost in pursuit of a deal has me paying retail when I KNOW I want something. My time is more important than the "savings".

[jlogajan]

When you start stealing it's another. And they were stealing from Filenes's (in a sense)

Well, no. Someone who is "generous" and has that taken advantage of is not being robbed. Their policy waives such legal protections.

[csvset]

Samuel J. Gerson, CEO of Filene's Basement, dies at 61

[dennisw]

You are right. Anyway their party is over though they talk of hiring a (LOL!) lawyer.

[gcruse]

Either the author can't write a sentence, or he just
 found about private property is really upset about the whole idea.

So, you are giving lessons in sentence writing?  LOL

[Rodney King]

Sounds to me like they were using Filene's as their personal closet. I.E. Wearing clothes for a day and then returnig them. Quite a few people do that. Particularly women who need a gown for a ball.

[Freedom4US]

Hey! play nice, I don't get paid for this ;)