Ahh, Christmas in New York. After the meeting, greeting and festivities of ShopEast the first weekend in December, I found myself with most of Tuesday to kill in Manhattan. What better way to kill it than shopping?
I started at the 34th Street Old Navy. What fun: several floors of hip merchandise at great prices — practical gifts for that fast-growing Gen Y'er in my household. The store layout is spacious and airy. Good sight lines allow for an easy scan of various departments while cruising the escalators. Lots of sales associates around to help, and help is often needed due to the inaccessible high racks of merchandise, confusing sale signage and pricing. Retro silver-metallic and acid-green shopping bags match signage and hang tags. Cargo pants, a “tech” vest, “NYC 2000” commemorative boxers: mission accomplished.
Across the street, I strolled by Macy's “small” windows, wreathed in fragrant greens. One vignette featured Christmas dinnerware that caught my eye, but the idea of carrying a set of dishes the rest of the day was not appealing. “Macy's.com!” I thought. (Alas, that particular set of dishes is not on the web site.)
On to Fifth Avenue. Buoyed along by throngs of tourists, past Lord & Taylor's “Around the World in 80 Days” windows, past Sony Plaza's dazzling chrome tableaus, I stopped at the new Banana Republic at Rockefeller Center. Although its layout is similar to little brother Old Navy, a grand staircase replaces escalators. Tables of neatly folded cashmere sweaters in a serenely monochromatic spectrum of aqua-blue, blue-green, blue-gray and ice-blue whispered “Year 2000.” A few stocking stuffers from there.
Next stop Sephora and its overwhelming amount of product. Customers can create personalized gift boxes, choosing from a rainbow of bath salts, soap, oils and potpourri. It would have taken me hours. I considered pre-packaged boxes. Too heavy! I left without buying anything.
A few blocks north, past Warner Bros. and Fortunoff to Takashimaya, the elegant Japanese-owned department store. A doorman greeted me with a printed floor directory and ushered me into the first-floor garden shop, which featured fresh-cut white peonies. I eventually found myself in the linens and bath area. Here was a unique and highly edited selection of bath salts and soaps. I chose several, plus a Japanese wash cloth for that friend who has everything, and handed my purchases to a sales associate swathed entirely in black stretch. He handed me an exquisite triangular Takashimaya shopping bag, then nodded toward my huge silver and acid-green Old Navy bag. “You've certainly worked your way up the avenue, haven't you?” he commented.
So that was my shopping expedition this holiday season — a microcosm of the retail experience from a consumer's standpoint: the delight of the senses, the physical challenges of shopping, the temptations and shortcomings of the Internet and the making of some memorable experiences.