Shopping Without Dignity

I haven't been to Mervyn's since the late 1980s, when I would tag along with my mom to try to score a pair of brightly colored Chucks, but I went today because there was a sale and a cute pair of high-heeled, patent leather oxford-style shoes were supposed to be available for $21 or $22. Naturally, the shoes weren't there.

I mentioned the excursion to Carlos when we were on the phone.

"Did going to Mervyn's depress you?" he asked.

I paused, almost in shock. "How did you know?"

Carlos then told me about how Mervyn's is just a plain-old depressing store and some guys were discussing this on the radio yesterday.

"The funny thing is, I was talking to my mom a few minutes ago and I told her that I know now exactly why the store is going bankrupt," I added.

Outside of cheap bras and Hello Kitty pajamas in adult sizes, there is little joy to be found in Mervyn's. At the very least, there is nothing worthwhile about the Northridge outpost.

Everything about the store reminded me of the JC Penney catalog outlet that once existed at the Fallbrook poor-excuse-for-a-mall-- the oppressive design, lackluster displays and complete disrespect for the merchandise held by both the employees and the customers. I worked at the outlet when I was 19 and lasted just over a month. There was a lot to dislike about the job, not the least of which was a sweaty department manager who looked like Martin Mull in a brown suit and yelled at me for pausing from another round of restocking the t-shirt pile to help a customer. The breaking point at that job, though, was when I was refiling cheap, ladies blouses and noticed a haphazardly wrapped, shit-filled diaper lodged between two items. This, I kid you not, was the day after one of my coworkers had to clean a sanitary napkin out of a dressing room. Now my coworker might have been able to block that moment out of her mind, but I couldn't. I quit the next day.

I could imagine a situation like that at Mervyn's. The cash registers were obscured by massive piles of wrinkled clothing and sales people were few and far between (it took a while to actually find a competent person to ring up my purchase). Then there were the customers. There is no return rack, let alone an attendant, in the dressing room, so people just toss unwanted items on the ground (including bikini bottoms, which is another issue altogether). Out in the ladies department, I saw one woman drive her kid's stroller into a rack of clothes, knock over some shirts and continue on without so much as a glance back at the mess she made.

Walking through the store, I tried to convince myself that I should be okay with this. I shouldn't be such a snob. I shouldn't expect clean stores and passable service. But it just didn't feel right. I dropped into a slouch and scurried out of the store.

There's nothing wrong with shopping on the cheap. My entire wardrobe is culled from thrift stores, Target and sale racks, not because it's cool, but because it's what I can afford. But this was different. At Target, you can but a dress for $20, probably less than the same thing would cost at Mervyn's, and not feel like your poor because the store is clean and well organized, the displays are eye-catching and there is always someone around to help if necessary. Mervyn's is just one big reminder that you can't afford Macy's, let alone Barney's. It's a store without any dignity.