Hard as it is for me to admit it, I went to a mall on Black Friday. After all, this is something I swore I would never do again once I left the world of retailing. However, circumstances demanded some quick, inexpensive purchases and so I commandeered my sister-in-law as my wing-man and we forged ahead. I was not looking forward to it. Anti-department store avatar that I am, I was pleasantly surprised when I departed, mission accomplished, several hours later and was not at all stressed. Searching the sale racks at Lord & Taylor, Macy’s and J.C. Penney, we were impressed with the selections, service and values. Personally, I prefer the more eclectic and individual experience of the specialty store milieu. But, for the purpose of our immediate needs; commodity items at low prices from quality brands, I was very satisfied. There seems to be a sea change in merchandising, particularly at Penneys, where I made found everything we needed in under one hour. As I have said before, “give credit where credit is due”
