The first time I ventured into a Neiman-Marcus was as a teen, in the suburbs of New York City. I found it sort of intimidating, sort of out of my league. I was more of a preppy L.L. Bean and Bloomingdale’s kind of guy. I knew, though, that they were about quality and service. At some point, I read Stanley Marcus’s book “Quest for the Best,” which was about retailing in general, and about seeking some of the finest products in the world. I enjoyed the book and, now that my tastes have changed, I just reordered it for another read. I also was aware of the annual ultra-luxe his & hers Christmas gift that was featured in the catalog.
Now, I enjoy visiting the store every time I visit San Francisco. The façade and the inside are equally beautiful (imo), but so totally different. The Rotunda restaurant is my go-to place for lunch in Union Square. It’s a surprisingly good experience, from the food, to the wine list, to the service. It’s particularly nice during the holidays, when the huge multi-story Christmas tree is up. But December is booked solid, so you have to book a month or so in advance.
My trips to the city are primarily for window shopping, or trying things on that I’ve seen online. So, I’ve bought virtually nothing that I can recall in the store. The nice thing about Neiman-Marcus is that it brings a lot of designers together in one place, like Saks and others do. I have a few fashion houses I follow fairly closely. There are others I don’t but enjoy seeing at Neiman-Marcus, like Isaia. They have sport jackets crafted from incredibly beautiful fabrics.
I think Neiman-Marcus suffers from a bad rap—“Needless-Markups.” Neiman-Marcus is pricey but, for the most part, you’re paying for the designer name and the quality. The prices there are never more than they are at the individual houses. A three thousand dollar trench coat (just as an example—I don’t own one) at Burberry is going to be exactly the same price at N-M, not a penny more. Neiman has good sales and offers from time to time. Occasionally when there are sales, a given item may actually be less from N-M than from the designer itself. The last time I was in the store, I came across a beautiful bomber jacket that I ended up phoning to order a couple of days later. It was more than 50% off. And I just bought a pair of jeans that was on my “favorites” list for 2/3s off. So, “needless-markups” just doesn’t cut it with me.
It sounds like I love Neiman-Marcus but, I have to say, I actually don’t. I hope I’m an anomaly, but my experience with their service has been horrendous. Maybe if you go and buy in-store, it’s great. I don’t know. I finally had to stop getting their emails. I kept getting “personalized” offers for things such as Johnny Was dresses. I think Johnny Was is cool, but—I’m sorry—I don’t wear dresses. I tried several times to get them to actually personalize my emails, but it wasn’t a happening thing. I have two email addresses. Email offers are linked to the address to which they’re sent. Normally. Not for me, though. Which meant I had to place the order and then contact customer service to get the offer applied. That was another thing they found impossible to fix. If you order online, they can only ship to your billing address which, if it’s a P.O. box, they can’t do. So I used to have to change my billing address with my bank to my physical address just to order something, and then change it back. The jacket I ordered recently went FedEx Surepost, which does get delivered to my P.O. box. It took 12 days to travel the 137 miles from the store to my post office. FedEx, imo, is by far the worst shipping choice around, and for N-M (or any other company) to use them represents a lack of customer service. Stanley Marcus would be turning over in his grave.