thousands of readers can’t be wrong

As much as I love Hampton Roads I must admit the shopping leaves much to be desired.  I came down here, marveled at the size of the area and hear all of these great things about MacArthur Mall.  So I’m expecting some of that bourgeois euro-trash stuff and what do I get, Zegna, Hugo Boss??  I’m like, I could have gotten that stuff back home, so what gives?

Pharrell has a chic line called “Billionaires Boys Club” with a signature line of shoes under the “Ice Cream” moniker.  You would think that Pharrell being from Virginia Beach he would have a store here, or you could at least purchase the stuff.  What you do find is some bootleg illegit merchandise, if anything.  Selling the shoes for like $65; they’re Reebok they probably cost $50 to make, lol.  These are supposed to be like $300 shoes.

Pharrell probably knows that, given the low wages in the area, people couldn’t realistically afford them.  Which brings me to my next point; people say that the economy can’t support high end merchandise, but I can go to Military Circle, a slum mall if I ever saw one, lost in the seventies I mean can you hire a better decorator, and go into C.R.E.A.M. and buy a $500 jacket or an $80 t-shirt, so what gives?

Another store down the street was selling woman’s Versace Jeans and overpriced Iceberg.  About 15 years removed but they did have it.  So if you can sell to kids who aren’t working that are hustling to get money for a pair of kicks you can give me what I’m looking for.  I don’t ask for much; old 90s D&G, Moschino, ugly Prada nobody else would touch with a 10 foot pole, trashy Dior.  Yet if I want something cool it’s back to urbanwear again, which often looks cool but has some really questionable quality control.  For a place with a squeaky clean image I’m always within ear shot of some Ed Hardy or Miskeen.

The other contradiction is that there are plenty of refugees from the Northeast and the Midwest living here that could appreciate serious fashion.  It’s bad enough I can’t cut it back home so give me a break, please Virginia I beg of you.  I can mix that urbanwear up and slip some high-end business casual and create a new look, heck I can make an urban look out of high-end clothing in general, give me a chance why don’t you.  You can sell all the Sean Jean you want to that stuff is just a commercialized pretense of street fashion, enough to get your mouth watering but it leaves you wanting more.

You can’t respect the department stores here because they let the boutiques upstage them.  What kind of retail environment is it when boutiques make you look silly; the buyers in the department store are supposed to order a selection of gear that gives them the last word and lets their customers know they are the authority on the matter, show them what’s up?  There isn’t a compelling reason to even enter a Macy’s around here.

Here, a shopper who is into the offerings at one store has no reason to enter another because the environment isn’t competitive enough.  You aren’t likely to find what you like at a store like Target or Khols somewhere else because they aren’t vying for your business.  Nordstrom is good for twenty something metrosexuals or middle aged men looking for high-end business casual but they alienate everyone else.  You have any idea how thorough the Nordstrom in California are; it’s downright shameful!

You can’t even get that flavor of Pittsburgh or Philadelphia here.  It’s very discouraging when they have Louis Vuitton in Northern Virginia or a Saks in Richmond, both are within an hour or so drive from here.  But what do you get here, a downtown Virginia Beach with a multilevel WalMart in the works!  I’ve never been so ashamed to be a city dweller in my life, it is a sad day to be an American I have to tell you.  Virginia Beach should stop playing games; rebuid Pembroke into a multilevel, but compact, mall like the Galleria in Cleveland and make it a bit more upscale.  Pembroke could and should reinvent itself and compete head on with MacArthur, a shopping mall like Pembroke belongs out in Franklin or Gloucester somewhere not in Virginia Beach.  In fact Virginia Beach should have like 10 malls, given their population.  It is very frustrating, my little town of 230,000 back home had like 3 malls that were going rather strong as of late; the largest of the bunch is but a shadow of itself.  Virginia Beach has like well over 400,000 people and like, one and one half malls because Pembroke is to a mall what a half bathroom is in a house.  Let’s not forget the numerous strip malls, which are like utility closets if you ever saw them, but you get the point. 

I am still hopeful things will change.  If I had the money I would build a two million square foot multilevel discount mall to compete with Lynnhaven at the site of the old HQ complex.  A nice juxtaposition of old eighties style shopping glam and overindulgence along with some of the largest Marshall’s and TJ Maxx you would find this side of Baltimore, lol.  Hire some of those old Solid Gold dancers just for extra measure; but seriously, the city isn’t really tapping into what it is really capable of, though some of those boutiques downtown are a nice start …