Butterfly Effect, Issue 36
Is Retail Dead?
The fat lady? She’s humming… and, actually, thanks to GLP-1, you’d never recognize her anyway.
Retail? It seems to have taken GLP-1 as well, with brick and mortar all but disappearing before our eyes. The local mall near me, my childhood playground, has all but shuttered. The only ghosts left? Neiman Marcus. Gap. California Pizza Kitchen. Lululemon. The halls echo with memories: I. Magnin. Marshall Field’s. Benetton. Sadly, much like my youth… all vanished.
As for me, I do most of my shopping online these days. But, honestly, I miss the in-store experience. There’s nothing like feeling the fabric, assessing its weight, seeing the drape, and being able to try on more than one size before you commit.
And then there’s the sense of community. When Hailey Bieber’s Gap denim collab dropped, I was first in line at the local Gap—frankly, I was the only one in line. No one else was at the doors when they opened at 10 a.m., an hour before the online drop. I wanted to try on the jeans before I bought them.
And I’m actually glad that I went in. Bieber’s drop had three different washes and two styles. Neither of my local Gaps carried the low loose style; they only had the extra baggy. First at the table, I pulled a small size run (25-28), thinking I’d size up. The SA confirmed that sizing up would give the denim the low-slouchy feel Hailey is known for. Sure that I wanted the lighter wash—Bieber had mentioned in an interview she was leaning in to lighter washes—I pulled the lightest color, and headed to the dressing room.
I started with the 27, worried about how tight a 25 might fit. The 27 was way too baggy. Surprisingly, the 25 was the winner. Still loose—after all, this is the extra baggy style—it was slightly more fitted in the leg and through the hips. Still long, they will join the growing pile for my new tailor candidates (see BE 35).
As I stepped out of the fitting room to look at the jeans in the mirror, a woman stepped out of the room a couple of doors down from mine. She, too, had on the Haileys.
“Are those the Haileys?” I asked. “Did you try your true size?”
“They are! Everything Hailey makes is so good. It sells out immediately! I got here at just after 10,” she laughed.
And then she came out in the dark wash. Sold.
They looked great on her. The dark wash? Definitely the front-runner, my new friend and I both agreed. Influenced, I went to grab the dark wash in a 25 and a 26. After trying both, I decided to take the 25, my true size, in both the light wash and the darkest wash. Happy with my purchase, I headed to the register.
Had I not been in the store and struck up a conversation with my dressing-room neighbor, I would have never purchased the dark wash. I am, traditionally, not a dark-wash denim girl. My Khaite dark-wash jeans? Beautiful. Form-fitting. Sadly unworn, tags still intact.
But the Hailey jeans in dark? Very flattering, and unlike the Khaite, forgiving in a way that high-waist denim never is. I plan to wear the dark with a kitten heel, giving it a slightly more dressed up silhouette. The light wash, I’m planning on wearing with flip-flops or a low-profile sneaker with a casual tank top or the Coucou Intimates Rina—she seems much more laid-back California to me. The dark feels more like her New York counterpart.
After I hit the stores, I opened Gap’s online site—the extra baggy and the low loose both sold out in the lightest wash before they hit the five-minute mark. I felt oddly accomplished and satisfied with my in-store purchase.
And, honestly, after such a positive experience, I’m remembering why I love in-store shopping. And retail? While it’s tightening its belt, I think there’s life in it yet. Locally at Plaza Del Lago in Wilmette, there’s a new Hermès, Dôen, LoveShackFancy, and Zimmermann, among several other new stores coming soon. And while maybe I won’t be the first in line this time, I’m looking forward to new adventures.
Retail isn’t just about buying.
It’s about discovery, conversation, serendipity. Trying, touching, meeting the woman next door in the dressing room.
And that? That’s just something you can’t recreate online.
So that newly slimmer “fat” lady? I think she’s actually heading off to her nearest department store…and you know what? I’m joining her.
