Sadly, Macy's stores around the country are closing up shop (like so many retail chain stores)…read more When I lived in the Seattle area, Macy's at Bellevue Square was one of my go-to stores; I could always find whatever I needed there, and with so many "One Day Sales" (lol), I usually found great clothing and accessories at very reasonable prices. And my kids' wardrobes, too. And so many household items in their home department. It was a regular shopping destination for me.
Nowadays, there are fewer and fewer Macy's and those that are still around are rarely the lovely, well-stocked stores they once were.
Fast forward to the present. My kid needed a prom dress. We were recently in Bellingham and, of course, when in BHam, we had to stop at my other favorite store, Target. There, I told my kid we might as walk through the attached mall and check out Ulta (how we miss Ulta!) and, on a whim, Macy's. Perhaps they have a prom dress there? (I should add that my daughter is an athletic kid who lives in Vans sneakers and t-shirts, and prom dresses - or ANY dress, for that matter, - is totally totally out of her wheelhouse). She was surprisingly game to check it out so we ventured that way.
This Macy's is one of the anchors in the Bellis Mall. They were having a sale on the day we visited (no surprise there! They have lots of sales here and, if you have a Macy's card, the discounts are even better (I used to have one). And when we visited, they had a TON of dresses, all on sale, too. And to my shock, my kid found a dress that was killer. And on sale. Unfortunately, it was the only one that they had in that size and it was stained a bit, so they offered us a 10% discount on the sale price (they checked to see if they could order a new one but for various reasons, they couldn't). Personally, I think they should have discounted the dress more, as there were a few marks on it, but it was still a decent deal, so we got it. Plus I found another cute dress for my kid that she loved (amazing again!), and when they priced it for us, it only cost $17! A steal. So we got that dress, too.
I liked how you can take as many items as you want into the dressing rooms (my kid had 30+ dresses at one time with her), and no-one bothers you when you browse and look around (I don't like hovering salespeople). The downsides? Some departments (like the dress section) are in disarray, with many dresses on the wrong racks, some on the floor, may draped over hangers and racks, unzipped. The dressing rooms were in disarray too; the one my kid used initially had the previous users' clothing still in there (I removed all the items myself. There were many). I think this store is understaffed. We waited a while to be helped at the cash, too.
If you are willing to deal with some disarray and lack of assistance at times, you might find what you're looking for - and sometimes at an incredible price.
