Sad news for petite ladies

Nancy -

I grew up outside Manhattan, so I know the area a bit. If you don't mind a drive to NJ, the petite department at the Macy's in the Garden State Plaza was great (right where rt. 4 meets rt. 17, about 30 minutes from Manhattan). No sales tax, either.

Mel
 
Teehee, Mel. That's where I grew up! Right near the Garden State Plaza. I still go there when I visit my Mom sometimes, but she doesn't seem to have the patience to shop with me anymore. I take any awfully long time trying stuff on, and she runs out of energy.

-Nancy
 
OK, I admit I am not into fashion at all. So I will throw this out...Try JC Penney. Especially online. Yes, I would agree that the fashion choices are limited, but if you need a cheap suit, dress or slacks, its great for petites. I live in FL, fashion is not are strong point, unless you live in Miami.

I also grew up in the NY-NJ area. The Woodbridge and Menlo Park malls were both 3 miles away from my house. My Mom always said "We don't shop in Sears or JC Penneys for clothes. They are for people that live in the Mid-West." Remember, my Mom said that, not me.
 
This is breaking my heart to read this post! I shop petites mostly at Nordstrom, Macy's and Penny's. Nordstrom and Macy's have excellent petite departments so I hope they don't follow suit. I do occassionlly buy tops in the other departments but if they are long sleeved, I always have to roll the sleeves or have them altered. I think there are plenty of short bodied women around to support petite departments! What are they thinking??

Jo
 
This on the heels of Petite Sophisticate going out of business last year!

I can't spend a lot of money on my own clothes, and finding pants are impossible! Most of the moderately priced chain stores don't size below a size 6 unless you venture into the petite section - then the pants are often too short for me if I want to wear heels. Now if they eliminate petite sections, I may have no choice but to try to find something not-too-trashy in Juniors. Jackets and blazer don't fit properly in the Misses section. Ugh!

I'm just going to have to wait for Clinton and Stacey to ambush me with the $5000 Visa card!
 
Well, that's certainly NOT good news for us is it??

I need petite suits and coats and I like to buy conservative, classic styles for these items as well.

Oh well, Nancy...I guess we'll have to take our "old, traditional" selves to Talbots! I'm sure they'll be happy to take our "old" money..haha.

As for Internet shopping...I can only do that with Victoria's Secret for jeans and certain items that I know will fit every time. I cannot tell you the amount of money I have spent in shipping charges for returning items.:-(

And as for the Petite being old and unfashionable...sounds like a bad survey to me!!
 
Hi Mel,
I am 5'0". I actually HATE shopping for clothes. However, there is one store that I found that I LOVE and its Ann Taylor Loft. They sell both professional and casual clothes and they are really cute fashionable clothes. Not trashy, but not old lady like either. The petite section is small (surprise surprise!), but the clothes they sell are classy. They can be on the pricey side, but they have great sales. If you don't have a store near you they do have a website. Give it a try.

Lisa:)
 
Well, I'm not petite, but every time I am in Kaufmann's I note the extent of their petite section - it is pretty large. Not sure how national that chain might be, though.

Marie
 
I'm a little surprised that they are calling the petite section a different "style" than the regular sizes. From my experience, the petite department carries the exact same clothes, just sized down in proportion.

For instance, Macy's INC line of clothes. There are two depts, INC and INC petite. Same clothes, exactly!

I am also 5'7" and consider myself a tad tall. I have shopped in the petite department for skirts and shirts though. A petite size 0 or 2 skirt usually fits me just right around the waist, whereas the regular ones are too big. I'll be sorry to see petite sizes go away. :(
 
Gina, my mom started out as a 5 fotter. She's a very tiny 4' 11" these days so that may very well be true but when I look around I see many petite ladies of all ages. :) I remember when you could get classic styles at The Gap. These days they sell rags for the very youthful to layer. What's up with that? I'm tall, 5' 7" but I weigh in at under 110 so I can definitely shop petites for tops. It's plain silly to phase any petites out as far as I can tell.
 
Well, I have to say though that there are stores that are adding petites, say for instance the Gap. Which is nice for me because I love their jeans but have a hard time finding certain styles due to having a short waist and short legs, not just short legs. Plus the Gap is opening up a store directed towards the middle aged woman that will be opening up in New York soon. So, I don't know why these department stores are doing this, but it sems like they will be loosing a lot of business and the other stores that are adding it will be gaining.


Kathy
 
This is strange. I don't understand why dept. stores would eliminate their Petites section when other stores are greatly expanding theirs. Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, J Crew, etc... have all recently really expanded and Banana Republic will start having stand-alone Petite stores.

But I have noticed that dept. stores are shrinking their sections. I wonder if they are going to re-work the departments and change the name or something to try to get younger people in. I have noticed that the dept. stores tend to have frumpier clothes in the petite areas.

The worst is trying to get petite sizes in a discount store like Loehmann's, Filenes, etc. Talk about frumpy! Loehmann's used to have a large section and now it's about two racks of ugly clothes.

For basics, everything sold at LL Bean comes in Petite also. I've had good luck for non-work outfits. They even have a few summery blazers for work. Their prices are so low and the quality of their clothing is top-notch.

For those of you in NYC, the Ann Taylor in midtown (near Bloomingdales - I think it's at 59th and 5th) has a gigantic petite section. An entire large floor's worth!
 
Funny - this morning's local paper had an article about how stores are starting to cater more to the "older" woman, women in their 40's who have money to spend on clothes, but don't want to dress like their teenage daughters or their grandmothers either. The article specifically mentioned how Gap has lost market share since it dumped Sarah Jessica Parker as their spokesperson/model and replaced her with a 17 year old waif.

I HATE shopping - primarily because I have so much trouble finding pants. I'm 5'3" and almost 40. All I know is that I can't find stylish clothes any where that actually fit. The clothes are too old or too young or just plain unprofessional. And when I do find a style that works, the waist is always too big.
 
Hello,

I am 5'3" and over 40 years old. For the last two to three shopping event, I came out with empty hands. I was tired and decided I no longer enjoy shopping anymore.

I found Ann Taylor has some nice selections but they are just too pricy for me. I coulud easily spend over $600 for a suit.:eek:
 
Hello,

I am 5'3" and over 40 years old. For the last two to three shopping event, I came out with empty hands. I was tired and decided I no longer enjoy shopping anymore.

I found Ann Taylor has some nice selections but they are just too pricy for me. I coulud easily spend over $600 for a suit.:eek:
 
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