Location: 4 out of 5
For those living in the south loop area of Chicago, this particular location is quite convenient. It's in Southgate Market, and parking for up to 90 minutes is free in the garage with store validation.
Overall Selection of Men's Clothing: 2.5 out of 5
This store is smaller than the one off Michigan Avenue, and much smaller than the one in Skokie. I can't speak to the selection and variety of women's clothing, home furnishings, or shoes, but the men's clothing selection seemed disproportionately smaller when evaluating the overall space, i.e., even though this is a smaller store than the others I've mentioned, there still should have been a larger selection of men's clothing than what they currently offer. Two quick examples: a)the dress shirts that come in plastic wrap occupy one side of an approximately 25 feet long by 6 feet high shelving unit, whereas at other locations, the dress shirts take up double, if not triple, this amount; and b)men's dress pants with a waist size of 34 in - 36 in only occupies about 10 total feet of rack space.
Organization of Men's Clothing: 2.5 out of 5
I was optimistic when I read a previous reviewer's statement that everything in this store was organized by size. Alas, that is only partly true for men's clothing. The dress pants were organized fairly well by waist size (sometimes there would be a size 40 waist in the 36 section), and the casual/somewhat dressy clothes on hangers were for the most part, sorted by the correct size. The dress shirts in plastic, however - that was a real crapshoot. I was able to find shirts in my size in the bin area labeled 14.5 x 32, I was able to find shirts in my size in the bin labeled 17.5 x 34, and everywhere in between. Perhaps this was the one draw of having less selection to choose from: going through each individual bin to find the size I needed took less time because there were less shirts to choose from in the starting pool.
Cost/Benefit Ratio of Men's Clothing: 4 out of 5
As with other Marshalls stores, the cost to benefit ratio is quite high. As a reference, Haggar and Perry Ellis Portfolio dress pants were 15 - 20 dollars a pair, Polo Ralph Lauren dress shirts in plastic were 35, Van Heusen/Geoffrey Beene/Donald Trump Collection dress shirts in plastic were about 20, Van Heusen Studio Collection shirts were 15 - 20, and Chaps long sleeve semi-dress shirts ranged between 15 - 20. Truly, I don't mind that I'm technically wearing "last season's collection" in any of the brands, because I tend to treat my clothes well anyway, and I have one Van Heusen dress shirt from 1999 that I still wear on a regular basis.
Customer Service: 2.5 out of 5
I didn't get to experience the two ladies that were talking amongst themselves about ugly bunny slippers, and I didn't get to experience any outright ignorance either. Thankfully, my expectations of the cashiers were completely met, as I had no real expectations for any of them. They knew when to push the button that would light up their register, they seemed to be somewhat adept at wrapping up vases and glass bowls for other customers, and because of modern technology, they were able to ring up customers for the right total amounts. However, and maybe it's because they sell by volume more women's clothes, I watched as my cashier struggled monumentally to remove the plastic collar support and hanger from each of the free hanging dress shirts I got. She didn't have a problem taken the pants off of the hangers, but she did experience more obstacles when taking off the antitheft devices; specifically, it took her on average about 3 or 4 tries to get that little bugger off per article of clothing I got. I wasn't really greeted with a friendly hello, per se, but I was greeted with at least an acknowledgement, and a perfunctory, "Hello, how are you?" I've seen happier employees at a Taco Bell out in Idaho (true story, check out the review), but I am at least sympathetic to the the fact that the cashiers who work there probably had to work the week of Christmas too, and we all know how everyone (read: consumers) is on their absolute "best" behavior during that week. So would I have liked to be treated with a little more cheer? Sure. But given the perfect storm that is sometimes Marshalls (particularly after a holiday), can I blame the ladies there for being surly? Absolutely not. I do need to point out that a bilingual man, who had some semblance of being a store manager, was quite efficient at helping a Spanish speaking family with their purchase.
Overall: 3 out of 5 (germane to men's clothing)
The monetary value of Marshalls can't be beat, but take into account the legwork and physical labor of going through shirts or pants one by one before nonchalantly committing to efficiently and quickly make all of your purchases here. Still A-OK, with a few minor caveats. read more