I am a SERIOUS shopper.... years ago in the '70's i started out as a personal shopper store wide at 59th Street NYC Bloomingdales. So i know textiles, quality of construction, price points. And this Marshalls is not getting the quality merchandise they used to get / years ago.
Women's clothing is almost a disaster. Fabric, construction, wearability after repeated washing, poor poor poor. I now rate this dept a one star. I stopped looking..
Luggage: used to be one of their top departments where every now and then you found quality labels and some very good construction. Rate a 3 star.
Men's clothing you must read labels, examine fabric construction quality VERY carefully i rate a 4 star.
All shoes are simply terrible, a one star. Don't even look.
Women's lingerie under garments: HUGE drop in quality . Bras have inferior non stretching elastic, most of inventory has manufacturing defects ( must try on), very poor materials. Rate one star.
Women's sleep wear: hunt VERY carefully, this was a top dept. rate 3-4 star. Read labels, examine quality of fabrics carefully.
Bedding towels: this WAS a 5 star area, now 2-3. VERY high prices, very poor boring selection of prints styles colors. HUGE disappointment.
Decorative/ kitchen/ housewares: one of the only areas which is still good. Hunt very carefully, some prices are TOO high. Rate 3-5 star
Food products: WAS my favorite, now a 4 star. watch out for very high prices. Some items are poor low quality mfg trying to copy the " look" of famous $$ brands.
Lotions /hair products/ face creams/ soaps:
The MOST drastic change of all with many products disguised with copy cat labels of expensive brands WHEN in fact... they are poorly made cheaply in CHINA where ingredients for safety etc are poorly monitored. Take GREAT care what you apply to your face. Rate one star.
These changes have happened very very fast in the last 18 months- 2 years.
Read your sunday sale fliers for bargains at Target, Macy's, Walgreen
Target's cosmetics have improved a lot and at decent price points.
Marshalls is trying to increase their profits by stocking with pretty packaged decorated designed colored " pretend" products made very poorly in China.
READ labels VERY carefully. Take more time to hunt CAREFULLY. There are still some good buys, just not as many. read more