When I was a kid, we shopped at Zayre. You couldn’t get out of that store without giving an ovary and getting a headache.
It was nuts.
It’s Black Friday, and in honor of Buy Nothing Day, let’s out some of the worst stores in the marketplace. Where have you been, lately, that just bothered you? Dirty stores? Places where customer service went to die?
I wanna know.
{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
I just read your comment on another blog: ‘Companies can suck it if they think that we’ll accept 24/7 blackberries when the economy gets better and we get nationalized healthcare.’ I think I love you.
The K Mart of the mid-90′s. Dirty stores, boxes sitting open in aisles with no shit on the shelves, no aisles open. No wonder they went bankrupt.
Delta. Yeah, that’s about it…
The Target on Atlantic Ave in Brooklyn: Notoriously, infamously wretched place, the armpit of the universe of retail. Forever 21 in Union Square: clothes everywhere, no order, chaos rules. New York kind of sucks like that because people just don’t care. Every day is Black Friday in those two stores.
Any Wal-mart. They are always dirty and the other shoppers…well, there’s a reason that there’s a website about the Wal-mart shoppers.
When I was a kid we lived in Oregon for a while and there was a store there called Fred -Meyer. If was crazycheap, and had everything from shoe laces to groceries. Not really like a Wal mart but kind of. I just remember if we went in there it was going to be a reallllllly long time before we left. I dreaded that place.
Oh Lord – Zayre. I had successfully removed the memories of ghastly orange decor, surly clerks, and filthy stores out of my mind. Thanks Laurie for reminding me of those wretched experiences.
Daffy’s in NYC, I love the stylish european clothes and italian shoes, but I could never find anything in my size 8/10, everything is size 4 and under and since they sell unique, one of a kind trendy clothes, you could never find more then 2 of any given item….
You know what’s started to suck (at least here in D.C.)? Macy’s. They used to be reasonably nice, but in the last couple of years, they’ve fallen apart: dirty fitting rooms, unhelpful sales people, crap everywhere, just a generally less-than-pleasant shopping experience. And yet they still try to market themselves as something closer to Nordstrom, which is why it annoys me.
I suppose they don’t fall in the “worst stores ever” category, but I like to complain about them.
@ Latina HR–true story–I was called for jury duty once (old lady suing Daffy’s–I think the one near 14th Street?–because she fell down their stairs and broke her arm. One of the potential jurors informed them that she could not avoid visiting a Daffy’s store for the duration of the trial. I am sure her hysterics were in part fueled by a desire to get out of doing jury duty, but even *I* was almost convinced. PS I got chosen for the jury, but they settled out of court.
Ditto on Walmart. CANNOT STAND to walk in to one of those stores. Messy, disorganized, merchandise all crammed together and very poorly displayed, and can never find help when you need it.
Not to mention, parents let their kids run wild in that store for some reason. The best birth control on the planet.
I won’t shop at Walmart – don’t like the way they treat their employees.
That said, I second Michael on K-Mart. Worked there one summer during college in the snack bar and when my co-worker threw a hot dog in the garbage because it had fallen on the ground, our supervisor pulled it out, rinsed it off and put it back on the rotary cooker – saying, “We don’t waste food at K-Mart.” Ugh – dumped it again when her back was turned.
Rogers Communications. I actually keep trying to give these people more money and they keep finding ways to be too disorganized to take it. Here’s just one story from the last 3 months:
Me: I’d like to upgrade my cable please.
Hotline person: We’ll need your PIN.
Me: You’ve never given me a PIN. And I’ve conducted several transactions on this same account without one.
Hotline person: Well, you’ll still have to go to a Rogers store and set one up before I can help you.
*Later – at a FLAGSHIP Rogers store in TO*
Me: I’d like to set up a PIN, please.
Store person: I’m sorry, we can’t do that in the store, you’ll have to call our customer service hotline.
Me: But the hotline person told me I had to come see you.
Store person: Oh. Well maybe that’s true. It’s, like my second day, I don’t know how to do that stuff. You’ll have to come back another day.
Me: *facepalm*
The area I was born and raised in (Western PA – Pittsburgh) was the birthplace of the el cheapo grande store. Srsly. G.C. Murphys, McCrorys and Woolworths were everywhere.
And I do remember the hideousness of Zayres. They were like dirtier, nastier Kmarts.
But we had Hills Department Stores. It was the place where good taste and quality went to die. ((( shudders ))) Hills made Zayres look like Nordstroms.
@Ian – that sounds like a story for the Not Always Right website (notalwaysright.com). Anyone who’s either worked in retail or witnessed a very stupid customer on the loose should check that out!
We’ve stopped shopping at Wal Mart in favor of Target.
The lines at Wal Mart registers are always backed up. At Target, it’s always quick checking out.
The Wal Mart environment is harsh and noisy. White and blue and bright lights, and the incessant beep-beep of the cash registers. Target’s color and lighting are soft, the registers are quieter.
Target is spacier, Wal Mart is claustrophobic.
Target has 80 ct size 5 Luvs. Wal Mart only has sixty-odd count. I don’t like having to buy diapers any more often than I have to.
Here in CA where few WM Supercenters get built, Target’s selection of grocery items is superior to WM.
I feel like a number at WM, and like a human at Target. WM employees get the shaft and pass it on to you.
You ask a WM employee where something is, they’ll answer very vaguely or say it isn’t their dept. You ask a Target employee where something is and they’ll give you an answer or get on their radio and find out.
The one bad thing at both places is that the store managers tend to under staff. Target much less so than WM tho.
Ultimately I just get the feeling that WM takes the attitude of “well, everyone shops here, so deal with it.”
I once went to a store and they offered my still water, and when I slapped it out of their hand and demanded the sparking water I am entitled to, they said they didn’t have any. The nerve, I’m going to buy expensive socks and pocket squares, then I deserve sparkling water, I’m not an animal after all.
Just kidding, I haven’t thought of Zayre’s in years, and they were pretty foul. Also foul, Gold Circle, like a downscale Zayre’s with bugs.
@working girl Oh shucks! Thanks!
@Michael I went into a KMart in Kalamazoo, a few years ago, and was horrified. So sad.
@Todd I would also accept American Airlines.
@ICANHASLINDA Oh man, gross.
@Angela Poor Walmart. They just can’t win.
@HR Underling Fred Meyer sounds like our old Venture. Or as my gramma called it, “The Ventures.” I hated that place.
@Robin S I think the first time I remember screaming in a store was Zayre.
@Latina I’ve never been in a Daffys. No thanks.
@Alison I’m with you. The Macy’s in Kalamazoo, MI, is the 7th circle of hell.
@Lorraine Hahahahahahahaha.
@Stephanie My uterus shrinks almost everywhere, these days. Kids. Ugh.
@Marsha OMFG. Gross.
@Ian You need Consumerist.org to help!
@Ian Hills Department Stores? Sad. The name just makes me weep.
@David T. You should be in a Target commercial. (But I agree w/you.)
@Puf That is one fancy store!
I’m surprised no one mentioned Dollar General.
@ Ian… HILLS! I loved Hills! To be fair… I was child when the last one closed. I don’t have memories of trying to find an appropriate Christmas gift there… just Trapper Keepers and Halloween costumes.
I think the dollar stores were left out because people do expect to get what they pay for.
Personally… it’s hard for me to hate one chain. For instance, the Wal-Mart in Indiana, Pa. is one of the cleanest, well organized super shopping centers I’ve been too. But, I won’t step in the one where I live now. I’ve never had a good experience at Ross… even taking into consideration the money I saved.
To be honest, while I despise WalMart with a passion, I think my all-time worst shopping experience happened at a Home Depot.
I went in to buy a drill bit because the one for the job we were doing wasn’t compatible with our new drill. I want to HD to get the appropriate corresponding bit for our drill and the a$$hole in the tool section refused to sell it to me. He preferred to question me about what we needed it for and then argue with me about how I didn’t need the bit for that job and that I should’ve got the right bit with our kit when be bought the drill. This went on for over twenty minutes. Add, the guy would do the argument in drive-by style: Make a fast point, then go help another customer, then snipe me again when I tried to ask someone else for the bit. I finally snarled at him and the store manager was called. The SM resolved the situation by apologizing and escorting me outside. My boyfriend had to go back to the store and get the bit. They didn’t give him any problems at all.
@Diane I cannot shop at Ross. I hate the chaos.
@Aja I totally dislike Home Depot. It makes me claustrophobic and it’s laid out like a man’s brain. Why are the blinds near the toilet bowls? Why is carpet near light bulbs? It makes no f-king sense.
The ER.
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Take another look,
Take another look,
Take another look at Zayre!
Take another look,
Take another look
Look at all the values there!