09.16.03 - 5:37 p.m.

Regarding the recent New Yorker article on the decline of the department store:

It's sad to think that an institution like Bloomingdales could cease to exist. One of my favorite weekend activities is to comb Saks and Bloomie's (though not Lord & Taylor -- sorry, May Company). Not necessarily buying, though it happens more often than not, but just being, seeing what's there. I feel as if they're my library or my club, as Adam Gopnik writes, and since I ain't no member of Soho House, I'll take what I can get.

But I didn't do it in Chicago. I ventured into Marshall Field to pick up some Frango gift boxes and point out the Tiffany ceiling. I did the same at Carson Pirie Scott, pointing out the delicate ironwork. If these department stores are nothing but architectural landmarks, how can they survive?

"The department stores fought back by attempting to re-create the mall environment of boutiques within each store. But, by bringing in the boutique, by building the idea of the brand, they created an appetite for true brands. A Bloomingdale�s filled with boutiques is not so much a brand of its own as a street filled with boutiques�which, sooner or later, it comes to resemble."

That's how. And that's what Bloomie's and Saks have done that makes me feel happy to shop. or to browse, there. It's less intimidating to peruse the Dolce stilettos there than to attempt to for a pair, I'd sooner contemplate shelling out for them than for a Saks-label t-shirt. Like it or not, brand matters. And if that's what stores need to survive, so be it -- it makes for more interesting window displays, anyway.

Plus, there are still choices between boutique items. Isaac Mizrahi pumps or Kate Spade? Vivienne Tam black pants or Joie? Whatever the brand, I'm still able to peruse more thoroughly and easily than if I spent an afternoon combing the shops of SoHo. Time is often a consideration.

"The choice is now between Kmart and Prada, and the institutions that joined them together are finished. We�ve gone from shopping through trust to a culture of discounting and edge�and edge is the one thing that seems to baffle the department store."

Well...I don't agree. There is still an element of trust that pushes me under the awnings at 5th and 49th. Though I do appreciate the soupcon of "edge" I can get from my choices at Saks, I end up there at least once a month because I trust that I'll be able to find what I want with ease. Stila in Saks is more comforting, less hectic than Stila in Sephora. I have my counter girl, Sonia there. She is nice and does not wear the scary black glove. Stila in Saks will not forsake me. "The department store does it, or did it, uniquely, by appealing to the customer�s sense of trust, to a long cycle of safety. Everything can be found, and everything can be returned."