*Image above is from Paperless Post, found through NYC Recessonista's postA big "thanks!" to GigiOfCa {of the delightful Gigi's Gone Shopping blog} who came up with a brilliant suggestion for a series of post:
... I've noticed that many JCAs are traveling to major cities this summer and want to know the best J Crew's to visit. Perhaps you can create a series of posts where JCA residents of those cities can make suggestions. I'm seeing links to these posts living on your sidebar so people can access them at any time...I love this idea! I plan on running a series of these posts. Each post will focus on a particular city where JCAs can offer advice on which J.Crew stores to shop at (and which ones to avoid).
This first post will focus on the Big Apple, aka New York City! With so many stores in the area, it might be too much to visit them all. So if you are a local, or a knowledgeable tourist of NYC, please share what stores a fellow JCA has to visit!
Feel free to share other tidbits of advice. For example... What are your top three spots? Are there certain stores that should be avoided at certain times of the day/ week? Are there stores that have a better selection than others? Which stores have the best sale offerings?
Which J.Crew brick & mortar (B&M) stores in NYC should an out-of-towner shop at? Which stores should be avoided? Please share! :)
I was at both Rockefeller Center and 347 Madison. The Madison store while smaller had much better service and selection. Rockefeller is a beautiful store, but due to the high volume of tourists has a sparse sale section. The service is also sparse to say the least.
ReplyDeleteFantastic idea for a post, and just in time for my trip to NYC this August!
ReplyDeleteThe Columbus Circle J Crew isn't too bad (bi-level store with crewcuts and Womens, plus a separate men's store).
ReplyDeleteI also like the Fifth Avenue (near Union Square) - massive, plus a large-ish sale section and the Soho store (women's and kids in one location; men's in separate store).
For a more uptown (literally and figuratively) experience, check out the J Crew on Madison Avenue and the 60s and on 79/Madison. They are small but beautiful stores. Don't expect to find much (or any) sale merchandise in these locations, though. Some of the items are exclusive to these locations.
The Seaport location is positively adorable (really takes on the quaint feel of the surrounding neighborhood), but the selection is teeny.
Fifth Avenue is the biggest store and also the only one that carries the collaboration collections (Altuzarra and Creatures of the wind). It has a large sale section on the second floor.
ReplyDeleteSoho is smaller but has (I think) more Collection pieces than Fifth Avenue and the standalone accessories store (where personally I never found anything particularly interesting).
The two Collection stores on Madison are worth it if you are in the neighborhood and looking for unique pieces. The other stores are more or less equivalent in terms of selection. Rockfeller Center and Madison at 45th are very close to each other but I found that the sale section is often very different (probably because Madison is frequented by professional and Rock Center has more tourists) so if you can go to both. You can be lucky and find a sought-after item in any store of course, you never know.
I agree with Ema.
DeleteI shop at the fifth avenue store but when it comes to sale items it's not a good store to go to (unless you go the first day of the sale) because this store is popular with tourists and residents alike. I've had better luck in soho for sale items.
The collection store on Madison Avenue is the best but they rarely put anything on sale. They have some unique items though- I saw a great pair of sequin pink shorts there that I have never seen online or in any other J.Crew store.
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ReplyDeleteThe things I look for in a good J. Crew are 1) helpful, friendly customer service and 2) a good sale selection. Based on this, I've had the best experiences at the Columbus Circle and South Street Seaport locations. They're not in major shopping areas so I think the SAs are less busy than at 30 Rock, Madison, 5th Ave, Soho, etc and have the time and energy to help their customers have a good experience. Since they're less centrally located, they're also less crowded so there's not that feeling of rushing and competing for sale items with others around you, which I sometimes get at 5th Ave and Soho.
ReplyDeleteI usually just go to the Columbus Circle location and I've always gotten good to very good service there. The sale selection is kind of hit or miss, but there's a whole slew of shoes and a number of bags.
ReplyDeleteI went to the 5th Ave location once and I had a weird experience there (pretty sure I posted about it here, haha) with service-- at first the SA seemed interested and kind but when I got out the fitting room she just took my items out of my arms without asking if any of it worked. I haven't been back there, but I probably will at some point just because of the selection-- it's pretty huge.
My top 3: flagship 5th Ave, Columbus Circle, and Soho. The latter 2 have superb customer service, the first is too large and busy for attentive service but the sale section's the largest. Sometimes the small, out of the way stores are best if you are looking for a specific item, for instance when the jewelry and Tillary purse had further markdowns about 2 weeks ago, I decided to try the 769 Madison store on my way to work and it was well stocked for those items, whereas the other stores seemed mostly out already from initial markdowns.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to stacking the student discount on top of extra % off sale, I have had no problems at the flagship, Columbus Circle, Rockefeller Center, or Soho. I was not able to do it at 769 Madison.
Another point. For those traveling with young kids, Columbus Circle is good for a potty break. Bathrooms are large, relatively clean, and you don't need to purchase anything since it's basically like an indoor mall. Clean, spacious bathrooms can be hard to come across in the city and few stores provide them for customers. The collection store offers restroom but can't say I have seen them in others.
DeleteMy favorites are Columbus Circle, Madison Ave., Rock Center, the one on Lower 5th Ave and then the Soho one. They all have good sale sections IMO, which is primarily what I look for in my Crews. :)
ReplyDeleteColumbus Circle can be a little out of the way if you're only interested in hitting major tourist attractions, but I find it's lots fun to walk there and see other sights along the way! I usually stroll along Central Park South. :)
I work near Roc Center so I am in that store all the time. Good selection, but can get crowded. I find the service fine. There are a ton of people working at any given time, but because of the amount of customers they can ALL be busy, but I would say they are still willing to help. A frazzled employee still stopped to get me a pair of shoes, and after I messed up my husbands size twice and then they didn't have it, he kindly set up a red-phone call for me.
ReplyDeleteThe Mad and 45th store (347 Mad) I think has a better sale section than Roc Center and is less picked over.
My fav is the store at 91 5th Ave (at 17th). I've been to a few events there and I think they just re-did it? Huge, two floors, decent sale section (upstairs). What I actually like the most about shopping there has nothing to do with the store but with the area itself. That section of 5th between 23rd and 14th has some great stores I am sure other JCA's would be interested in (Kate, Club Monaco, Banana, Madewell, Zara, Anthro).
Also, if you are interested, I did shop at the wedding store, though did not end up buying my dress there. Really relaxed environment, they are not pushy at all, they have tons of accessories, and I would say probably all BM dresses, though not necessarily every style in every color. We didn't really look at the BM dresses when I was there, but they are all out to look at. That is another thing, unlike some bridal stores where you tell them what you like and they get it for you and you can't really look at things (like Klienfeld), all the dresses are out and you choose what you want to try on. My gal also made suggestions based on what I chose and she was great. Put me in something I wouldn't have thought of and I really liked it. If I remember correctly, that was one of my top pics in all my dress searching. You do need an appointment, though. Call as far in advance as you know you'll be in town. I think I had to wait a month to go in.
I get the feeling that lately the wedding store (Madison/66th) is placing more emphasis on its collection items, which are different from those at the 79the street collection store. I love the store at 66th, because the staff is delightful and helpful, and kind. By kind, I mean - well, one day I left without buying/returning anything because the staff was busy. Busy with a lady of a very certain age who had been overcome by heat while waiting for a bus on the corner, and entered the store because - well, it's right there. They got her seated, fanned her with a hat, got her cold water, checked that she hadn't dropped anything on the way in, offered to call her home, offered to have her bags messengered to her apartment - for free! - and in general I must say a troop of Girl Scouts couldn't have done more. I hope she wrote to the management, these ladies deserved more than thanks!
ReplyDeleteAwww! That's really sweet!
DeleteHere's a link to a post describing one of my New York City shopping tours,
ReplyDeleteand here's another emphasizing the Soho area.
I think all the NYC J.Crews have their good points.
ReplyDeleteI live closest to South St Seaport, which while small has a great sale section and often has sale items that are long gone from the other NYC stores. If you're visiting NYC it's also a fun place to eat and shop, though very touristy.
In terms of work shopping I like Madison Ave/45th St store best. They have suits and work dresses, plus lots of bags and shoes. The staff there is consistently the friendliest and most helpful in my opinion.
Soho and 5th Ave are both large stores with plentiful shoe and accessory sections. The staff at both places is very hit or miss for me and both feel very crowded when there's a line for the cash registers.
In terms of the Men's, I LOOOOVE the liquor store in Tribeca. Very nicely done, right near Steven Alan and good for one-stop shopping for my guy. They have a great selection of casual, work and shoes too. The staff is so helpful with putting looks together. I shop there for my guy (without him present usually) all the time. The men's store up on Madison/79th is also great and right across the way is the women's collection store.
Thanks, Alexis for considering & implementing my suggestion. I really hope there is a trip to NY in my future. Or Crewmecca, the warehouse store in Virginia :)
ReplyDeletesaw this via brownstoner: rumors of jcrew opening shop on bedford st in williamsburg:
ReplyDeletehttp://therealdeal.com/blog/2012/07/16/j-crew-considering-williamsburg-shop-sources-say/
I absolutely thrilled JCrew is opening a store in Cobble Hill in Brooklyn!
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