Saturday, October 11, 2008

Down by The Bay

On the one hand The Bay is a Canadian icon I’d hate to see go away. On the other hand, I often think it’s long past its demise.

As a kid, especially one who grew up (in part) in a smaller Canadian urban city, I spent a lot of my shopping time and dollars in department stores. The Bay was one of them but now I do my best to avoid spending time there.

Here’s one reason why…

Mr. B wanted me to join him at Yorkdale so he could look for a new winter coat at The Bay – they were 30% off.

At first I thought I’d get off easy. As we made our way past the new Crate & Barrel (more about that later), he knew I was anxious to have a peek so he suggested I have a look and he’d go off to The Bay on his own. Whew!

Spoke to soon. Within minutes my phone rang. He found a basic winter wool-cashmere coat and wanted me to see it right away. So I ran over and made him try on all the sale coats only to agree with him that the first one was best. Hmm, I needed a winter coat too. So I headed upstairs to see what was on sale.

I saw 30% off signs everywhere. There were few exceptions and they were clearly(?) marked. At Max Studio, I found a shirtdress I liked and thought it would great for work. Just slip it on with some black tights and I’d be ready to go. The signage was a bit fuzzy, so I confirmed it was actually on sale with a salesperson tidying up some of the clothes on a nearby rack.

Next, off to the coats…

Not much caught my eye at first. Then I found a clearance rack marked “an extra 50% off”. Guess what? Nice coats and jackets were few and far between but there were a couple. Not necessarily my first choice but some were my size and at those prices, I couldn’t pass them by.

As I was trying them on another woman stopped and told me how nice they looked. I found the one I wanted – a Kenneth Cole black wool blend, winter trench – I was all set to go to the cash. Mr. B couldn’t believe the price <$100. He was sure someone made a mistake. I didn’t want to believe him. On our way to the cash, we passed by another part of the coat department. What did I see? You guessed it. A rack with each of the Kenneth Cole coats I had tried and all were regular price. Urgh!

I told the first salesperson I saw about the mix-up and suggested someone clean up the clearance rack so other customers wouldn’t be misled. She didn’t seem to care.

Well, at least I had the dress or so I thought. At the cash, I was told it wasn’t on sale either but I could get 10% off if I’d reinstate my Bay card. Ya, right.

Needless to say, I walked out empty-handed and won’t be going back to The Bay for a long time.

Have you had a similar experience at The Bay or another department store recently?

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6 comments:

  1. you know what i went to The Bay for the very first time today too after I heard they got the Vera Moda brand! i actually don't go to Bay to shop for clothes so I can't say I've had the same experience... but sorry to hear about yours! i just buy their cosmetics and pantyhose!

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  2. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the rebirth of The Bay under it's new owner. I read a promising article in the Globe and Mail today.

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  3. Anonymous10:06 pm

    "...shrinking the Bay, possibly introducing Lord & Taylor within the stores, and adding Zellers in the basement and Fortunoff jewellery departments upstairs, with office space at the top. Lord & Taylor would serve to fill a gap in the retail landscape between the Bay and carriage trade Holt Renfrew..."

    this part of the article kind of make me go O_o but it does kind of make sense!

    Anyway back to your original issue. I have had that before. But in their defense, I was at the Woodbine mall. Which is almost serves as an end of the line for all their stuff. Or that's what it feels like.
    I did find a gorgeous dress on the 'sale' rack, took it up grinning with excitement, only to be told it was full price. It is pretty painful especially when you really like the product, but just can't put down that much money.

    sigh. Well I will be looking forward to the new change~

    (sorry this is sooo long!)

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  4. Hey rasilla,

    Thanks for stopping by and sharing a positive story about The Bay. Long comments are great when they keep the conversation going. Sorry about the dress. I hope once The Bay has it's face lift, these types of mishaps will go away.

    Cheers,
    Eden

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  5. Anonymous4:56 pm

    Has happened to me many times! It's like they "accidentally" put nice stuff on the sale racks, and try to sucker you into buying it anyway!

    Actually it worked in my favour once. I bought a pair of Guess jeans, and while at the counter the lady scanned them in, they came in at regular price, she asked me if they were on sale "uhhh, yes?" and I got them for 60% off (!!!)

    The next day I returned to buy another pair since they were such a deal, but this sales lady was like "Nope, Guess jeans aren't on sale, they NEVER go on sale"

    hehe yay!

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  6. Anonymous11:20 pm

    Kelly, hehe yay for you is right! I don't know why retailers don't do a better job of internal communications with their sales staff. I think it would save them a lot of headaches and improve customer service dramatically. Of course by the end of the day the bottom line would increase and every one wins. At least that's my theory. :)

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