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In news that will surprise absolutely nobody who has ever tried to buy anything anywhere in Paris, a survey of shoppers found that the Champs-Elysées rates 22nd out of 30 great world shopping streets for customer service. Many people reported that sales assistants at the luxury stores that line the boulevard showed irritation at being asked to serve customers. Imagine! New York's Fifth Avenue, however, did even worse: it came 26th. The best place to shop in the world, if you've got the money? In news that will surprise absolutely nobody who's ever bought anything in Singapore, it's Orchard Road. [WWD] More »
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Over the last few years, a curious phenomenon has arisen in the world of online commerce: it seems that people tend to buy things during evening hours, right around when they're also unwinding after work with a glass or entire bottle of wine. While you may have thought it your own mildly embarrassing secret vice, getting drunk and buying dumb crap online is more common than you might think, and online retailers are taking notice. More »
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The holidays can be a good time for retail stores, as people flock to malls and websites to buy iPads, Christmas sweaters, and dog antlers. But it's not such a good time for female retail workers, who make significantly less than their male counterparts — and who are less likely to get promotions or health insurance. More »
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All of your worst retail experiences at snobby boutiques are rolled into one and mined for maximum comedic value in this video by comedians Alexandra Fiber and Danielle Gibson. I defy anyone to get through it without cringing, and then laughing, and then cringing, and then entering a cringe-laugh-cringe-laugh comedy death spiral. I got to, "Yeah, we don't have a website?" before I totally, totally lost it. More »
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People used to joke about Christmas decorations going up before Halloween, but now some stores are starting to promote holiday deals just as back-to-school season is ending. In addition to the fact that seeing tree ornaments and dreidels next to pumpkins and candy corn is emotionally disturbing, this year people seem to be more sensitive to the plight of the working class. Retailers are aware that people are upset about employees being forced to forego pumpkin pie to man their store on Thanksgiving night, and while they may find public concern adorable, they aren't going to do anything about it. More »
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In recent years, Black Friday "doorbuster" sales have gotten nuttier and nuttier. Doors open at 5 am— no! 4 am! Flat screen TV's only 10 cents if you punch at least 3 store employees in the face! Now, some retailers are attempting to attract shoppers by starting their sales on Thanksgiving Day, a move that's being met with hostility by the super shoppers who are usually first in line on Friday morning. And they're not outraged for the reasons you'd think. More »
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Wal-Mart is unveiling a plan to eventually double purchases from women-owned suppliers, and invest in the advancement of women at its various vendors and agencies. Not mentioned, as far as we can see: The over 1 million women who actually work in the stores. More »
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Hurricane Irene, despite blowing over New York City with little damage, took a heavy toll on the city's retailers. Major department stores like Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, and Bloomingdale's boarded up their doors in anticipation of the storm. Women's Wear Daily reports: "the hurricane resulted in millions of dollars in lost business at retail in the next-to-last weekend of the critical back-to-school shopping season. Peter Morici, professor at the Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, estimated about $20 billion in direct damage plus another $20 billion to $25 billion in associated losses." But business might pick up in the coming days. Explains one mall manager, "Believe it or not, a lot of folks that lose power find the mall a safe haven and head over to it." [WWD] More »
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The founder of IKEA — which once seemed like the most wholesome of all multinational companies — was apparently a Nazi. At this point, basically every retail chain is tainted with some sort of scandal. Here's a helpful guide. More »
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Some large retailers believe we may be glimpsing the end of the "big box" store. RIP, big box store, 1980s-2010s: now the we can all find limitless selection online, the point of having a poorly organized 200,000 square foot warehouse of a shop populated by underpaid, overworked, constitutionally unhelpful polo-shirted drones is rather moot, and with more people living in urban centers (where real estate is more expensive), a denser pattern of development make more sense. J.C. Penney just opened a smaller store in Daly City, California, and is rolling out more stores in the 50,000-60,000 square foot range. Wal-Mart has started opening 15,000 square foot Wal-Mart Express stores, and Target has its smaller CityTargets. Sears and Best Buy are among the chains that are apparently considering subleasing parts of their existing enormous stores in order to reduce their own area. Most of these "smaller" stores are still comparatively quite large, but they're not three-football-fields, pallets-to-the-ceiling, hyperventilation-in-aisle-117b large. And, according to Women's Wear Daily and the retail analysts it interviewed for this piece, there's "a new kind of consumer animal" running rampant in the city: WOOFs, or well-off old folks. "They are empty nesters in their 50s and beyond who have moved out of the suburbs and taken to the bright lights of the city for their twilight years." [WWD] More »
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Three years ago, Kristen Hammond silkscreened and sold children's t-shirts reading, "My mom doesn't want your advice." Then, this week, she found a onesie at Target that's nearly-identical, right down to the unusual font. Target has yet to explain. More »
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Shoplifting is increasing, and this is good news for the economy, apparently! Last year, shoplifting cost the retail sector $37 billion, up from $33.5 billion in 2009. Because employee theft is the most common form of shoplifting, the fact that workers are increasingly inclined to exercise the good ol' five-finger discount indicates that we are no longer living in complete, perpetual terror of losing our fucking hellacious minimum-wage retail jobs. When folks are clinging to their 15 hours a week of split-shifts cleaning up poop at Target, that is when we as a nation and as an economy are in Big Trouble, you see. [CNN Money] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5815798&view=rss&microfeed=true According to a study by ForbesWoman, personal finance advisors have the most sexist job in America, as measured by the gap between men's and women's median weekly pay. Also on the top 10 most-sexist list are securities, commodities and financial services sales agents; retail salespeople; and insurance sales agents. This is despite the fact that women and men seem to be equally good at selling shit — says a scientist at salary website GetRaised, "Every piece of data we have suggests that there is not a significant performance gap [between men and women]." More »
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Add about a thousand female Costco employees to the 1.5 million Wal-Mart women who are going to feel the impact of the Supreme Court's ruling on class action discrimination suits this week. Of course, the parties disagree on how much of a dealbreaker the Wal-Mart decision will be for the Costco case. More »
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"I haven't seen anyone come out sobbing, but some were definitely devastated." So says Jennifer Althouse, the buyer at American Rag, a store in L.A. which has just installed an "ass cam." A dressing room camera offering a rear view. More »
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The news that Patrick Robinson was fired last week from the Gap was not that shocking. The Gap has had a few cute moments since Patrick arrived on the scene, but consistency was lacking. You don't need me to ramble on and on about what did not work during his reign, but I am happy to suggest a few key bits that should be taken under serious consideration if they really want to revitalize the brand. First things first let us identify the key times that we "fall into the Gap" with full intention, because Lord knows, when you are just browsing, the Gap is not the first stop. More »
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This week, the world crumbled thanks to a simple J.Crew ad, above, featuring a boy sporting pink nail polish. But this attempt to destroy America's proud tradition of gender identity is just one of the many terrible agendas pushed by the retailer. More »
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• January Jones' reward for holding up the spring Versace show by over an hour is apparently...the brand's spring campaign. Says Donatella Versace, "In January I feel I have found a perfect Versace woman for the 21st century." [WWD]

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Some dude in L.A. had the bright idea to burgle hipper-than-thou clothing store APC. Watch him case the joint on his bicycle, then hammer at, attack, and hurl himself against the boutique's windows. Maybe he really wanted an overpriced anorak? More »
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Okay, so none of you died. That's good! However one of you got knocked out cold by a lady with a heart of stone and eyes only for discounted cashmere: More »
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• Retailers are crossing their fingers that you will buy some shit on Friday. Pretty please? Sam's Club is opening at 5a.m. — with complimentary breakfast. Target and J.C. Penney open at 4 a.m., with the latter offering 300+ "doorbusters." [WWD]

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As previously announced, Kate Moss's collection for Topshop is reaching its inevitable end. The range of poorly-finished vintage knock-offs in flimsy fabrics that hits stores in five days will be Moss's last for the U.K. chain. So, how's it look? More »
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After three years and 14 collections, Kate Moss for Topshop will cease to exist as a regular line in October. It doesn't take an apparel mastermind to connect flagging sales to a contract not renewed. More »
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In the immortal words of Mark Twain, "Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society." Which is both a blessing and a curse. More »
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To announce the arrival of the Gap's "Sprize" customer-loyalty program (and probably to shock passersby into noticing), a Gap in Vancouver was completely flipped upside-down, in line with Sprize's motto "shopping turned on its head." More »
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The City of New York has quietly been paying to shred and incinerate tons of unworn clothing seized in counterfeiting raids. Knockoffs used to be donated to charities; since last April, the charities kept calling, but city officials ignored them. More »
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You know the place: That boutique that has really fun fashion — great jewelry, cool shoes — and would — or should — be a joy to shop. Except the women who work there are so beautiful. Too beautiful? More »
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Oh, Abercrombie & Fitch! Your sexed-up, overpriced, sexist, ridiculous clothing epitomized everything that sucked about the late 90's. And now, after a long reign of terror, the kids are finally over your brand of bullshit. More »
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• Cindy Crawford hasn't been back in the public eye for naught as of late — turns out she's launching a homewares line with J.C. Penney, which will be in stores nationwide this September.

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Exiting a go-see in the garment district this morning, I happened upon a very unusual sign in the window of the Fifth Avenue Lord & Taylor. More »
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Dov Charney, the CEO so skeevy he ought to be an R. Crumb character, is in the news again. His highly leveraged company is weathering the downturn, but only barely. More »
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With the holidays fast approaching and the economy continuing to get worse, police are reporting a 10 to 20 percent increase in shoplifting across the country. How should retailers deal with this increase? More »
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Yes, the second Steve & Barry's bankruptcy filing is devastating to the thousands of people employed by the retail chain, but more important: What of Sarah Jessica Parker's "Bitten" line?! This high-profile low-end credit-crunch casualty is likely to land on its feet. Says SJP: “We have a lot of home offers." While she doesn't give specifics, it'll have to be something affordable, along S&B lines. "We have to make sure that any partner we enter into an agreement with wants the same thing for the brand as we do, which is to serve the customer first...Now, more than ever, people need all things that are about economy, so I want very much to continue it in the right way. So we just have to figure out what’s right for the customer, and how to do it in these economic times.” [New York Mag] More »
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Once I was at a store during a very busy after-Christmas sale. "If I buy this dress for my baby shower in three months and then it doesn't fit, can I return it?" one shopper asked a salesman. No, he said; sales were final. The shopper looked at him like he was crazy. "But I'm pregnant," she said, as if to a simpleton. No question, when it comes to returns, people have gall. According to an item in today's New York Post, the shopaholics at swish Madison Avenue boutiques are experiencing unfamiliar buyer's remorse, and returns have skyrocketed. But they're not the ones doing it: "It's as if the women are too embarrassed, or too upset, to come in themselves. It's too painful for them to part with their recent purchases," said one retailer. "So they make their husbands perform the painful chore." Returns, it's clear, are an emotional issue. More »
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Susan Curran, 58, is a regular at her local Marks and Spencer, where she frequently meets friends in the cafe of the British chain's nearest outpost. But after Susan, who suffers from cerebral palsy, got stuck in a bathroom and was forced to pull the emergency bell, she was banned from the store. After being told by a manager that "staff were not trained to deal with her and workers were being put at risk," she received a letter stating that "You are not permitted to enter into any of our stores again. If you choose to ignore this notice you will be asked to leave." [Telegraph] More »
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"I'd like to think of Planned Parenthood as the LensCrafters of family planning," says Planned Parenthood executive Steve Trombley in a fascinating Wall Street Journal piece on how the 92-year-old nonprofit, long beset by attacks and threats by antiabortion wingnuts, is coming under fire for Starbucksification. (I guess it's worthwhile to mention here that October will mark ten years since the last American abortionist murder. Yay?) So now come the First World Problems: PP clocked in a billion dollars of revenue last year — that's somewhere between Wet Seal and J. Crew — and generated a surplus of $114 million, all this as the abortion rate More »
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A Lynwood, Washington mom amusingly surnamed "Milfs" is angry over a book called Pornogami being sold at Urban Outfitters. "It's not freedom of speech. It's selling adult books to teenagers" she says, demonstrating the sort of logic that could finally shut down the internet and force us to pick up meaningful pastimes like origami again. (Our brother site, Consumerist, has a video demonstration of Pornogami and yes, Master Sugoi has a creepy voice.) [Consumerist] More »
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A Sexy Lingerie War is brewing in Columbus! What, you thought next Tuesday's primary was the most interesting conflict underway in Ohio? How wrong you'd be! The lingerie war will be better-financed, affect the contents of your underwear drawer for decades to come and has the potential to finally put an end to tyrannical era era of the contoured bra we all hate. On one side of the tussle is Victoria's Secret. With over 1,000 stores, Victoria's Secret is entrenched, but rapidly losing ground. Some are wary of its recent embrace of "ultra-femininity." Some bemoan that its values have changed since its heyday in the nineties. Some bemoan the effects of its agressively free-trade policies. And some are just sick of the paradigm and worldview Victoria's Secret and its associated catalogs, scented body creams and porntacular fashion shows hath wrought. Either way, Victoria's Secret is promising drastic change from the current administration. NOW COMES THE DIRTY SEXY NEW NEWCOMER, Gilly Hicks. More »
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Remember life before Sephora? When lipstick was lipstick and foundation didn't need to be "primed"? Well, ever since the the Berlin Wall fell, Pakistan developed nukes and "cosmeceuticals" joined the Oxford English Dictionary (okay, not really, but!) the world of beauty has been much more complicated and perilous to navigate. And that's why we brought in Sephora Spy, our double agent in your personal War On Ugly, to offer up beauty tips (and a few wild war stories.) This week she gives us some tactics for buying eyeshadow, weighs in on how dirty the testers really are, and shares the riskiest thing she ever did to get clear skin — and yes it was illegal! She shares all that and much more with commenter LoMorale after the jump. Questions? Comments? Email SephoraSpy@gmail.com! More »
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Not much has gotten better since the nineties. The radio, for one, has gotten much worse. Magazines and newspapers totally suck now. In real terms the minimum wage has barely increased. Why, in my adult life I might say there hasn't been much to be very proud of in this country — except, of course, clothes shopping. Over the past five years or so the way we shop has transformed in parts of this country, largely on the backs of the hallowed triumvirate of "fast fashion" retailers, H&M, Forever 21 and the Spanish retailer Zara and if you'd allow me to geek out for a minute, a story in today's Wall Street Journal lays out the reasons for that: Zara and H&M have become wizards of logistics, the scintillating business of figuring out how much stuff to get from which factories to which warehouses to which stores how fast. In the process, they've brought clothing manufacturing back into higher-wage countries and made cuter clothes available cheaper and faster. How did these companies manage to kick the asses of the Gap, Abercrombie etc. so quickly? I have a (socialist) theory as to how this all happened. More »
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