I don’t think it’s my fault, but it seems as if at least once every few weeks, one of my favorite restaurants simply vanishes. I don’t know where they go, but they are here today and then gone tomorrow. And, in their place, like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, a large chain restaurant is bound to appear.

For awhile now, the big guys have pushed  little establishments out of business, and it hasn’t happened to just the food industry. However, for those of you who believe in Karma, it seems as if, in some cases, what goes around, comes around—-unless you are a dictator in exile living in the lap of luxury in Paris—-but I digress.

When I lived in Atlanta, the department store, Rich’s was an institution that began in 1867. They had a loyal customer base and their employees happily stayed on until retirement, or the undertaker carried them out feet first.  Marshall Field’s in Chicago had very much the same reputation until the behemoth, Macy’s swallowed them both. However, there have always been bigger fish in the mercantile sea with voracious appetites, and armed with cheap Chinese goods, they seem to have taken a major bite out of Macy’s.

So, now, Macy’s is having “Going Out Of Business” sales, and is cutting 10,000 jobs. The good news is that their sales staff won’t even notice until they look up from their cell phones and realize that there aren’t any customers around to interrupt them.  Rumor has it that Marshall Field’s is also on the Macy hit list.

A generation ago, Macy’s competitor, Gimbell’s Department Store closed after 76 years in Manhattan (N.Y. not Kansas). With a creative move, they introduced the first bargain basement. Now, in the next two years, Macy’s plans to open approximately  50 “Macy’s Backstage off-price locations” in existing Macy’s stores. Wow! What a good idea!  “Would Macy’s tell Gimbel’s?”

Some of the blame for failing stores can be attributed to on-line shoppers, but I have another, albeit unscientific, theory. Granted, many people do prefer to shop on-line, but there are still plenty of people—-especially women, who do the majority of shopping—- who still enjoy getting out of the house. As Erma Bombeck said, “Shopping is a woman thing. It’s a contact sport like football.Women enjoy the scrimmages, the noisy crowds, the danger of being trampled to death, and the ecstasy of the purchase.” However, merchants got lazy and took them for granted.

The one thing that an upscale store can offer is EXCELLENT SERVICE, which has gone the way of the Dodo Bird. Whatever happened to well-trained, cheerful sales staff, who acted as personal shoppers? Where’s the beautiful complimentary gift wrapping at holiday time? Who was the bright guy who decided that clothes had to be clumped into designer areas, so a person has to jog all over the store looking for a blouse. Must have been a guy. As Cynthia Nelms reminds us, “If men liked shopping, they’d call it research.”

And, where is that beautiful restaurant that used to be a stop-off destination before more shopping?  A person didn’t even have to leave the store.

If all free-standing stores close, and people think that they can save time by shopping on-line, forget that! I can promise you that lots of merchandise will have to be sent back because it won’t look as good on you, or in your house, as it did in the catalog. Order those shoes and you will have to send them back because you didn’t try them on before they arrived. After all, you will discover that the left shoe was made in Sri Lanka, the right shoe in Bangladesh, and the short shoelaces came from China. “Anyone can buy.  It takes an artist to shop.” (Boylan J. Finney).

Esther Blumenfeld