RUTH LA FERLA GOES SHOPPING: A Chain Out Of Its League Edition
July 22, 2010
Critical Shopper Ruth La Ferla removes her gloves in this week's Thursday Styles as she accompanies Times photographer Elizabeth Lippman to J.Crew's new Bridal Shop in Madison Avenue.
Stylewise, the store does nothing but please, and the service is reportedly just this side of smothering, and but the company, which has raised the design bar for sportswear chains and grown by leaps and bounds from its beginnings as a humble collegiate mail-order catalog, may have overstepped its bounds by opening an ambitious Bridal Salon on Madison Avenue. It's not that they don't have the goods, they just don't appear to know how to sell them.
A regal tiered column caught Ms. Lippman’s eye, never mind its $3,500 price tag.
Could she have a closer look? Well, really, there wasn’t much point. “With expensive dresses we only make one in each size,” said Noelle, Marcey’s otherwise accommodating other half. The gown was out of stock. “Once its gone, it’s gone,” she added, slightly more boastful than sorry. The shop carries a strictly limited selection of gowns in the $3,000-to-$4,000 range.
That passage must have anyone who runs an actual bridal store chortling. Not only don't they manage their stock properly, but they don't even do alterations! La Ferla's conclusion is that the company is out of its depth in Vera Wang's neighborhood, trying to step into a fully fledged luxury role and has a lot to learn about selling $3,000 gowns.
Critical Shopper | J. Crew Bridal Boutique: Calling Indie Brides and D.I.Y.-ers By Ruth La Ferla (NYTimes)J. Crew Bridal 769 Madison Avenue at 66th Street, Upper East Side
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