Have those "department stores" disappeared?

I was wondering about this yesterday when someone, checking on me, mentioned she was about to go into the CBD to do some shopping. She has a wedding to attend and said, "I thought I better not wear what I wore to the previous wedding and four other weddings."

I wished her luck. We agreed it would not be easy. Like me she would prefer to spend money on books or, in her case, something for her garden. 

After she had gone, still not feeling a very energetic sort of cat, I went on sitting there and thought about the old fashioned sort of department store. I think it has probably gone now. 

It is a long time since I went into "the mall" - our main shopping area in the centre of the city. I never much cared for it but there are things I do miss about it. There were a number of "department stores" along what was once a road. They turned it into a pedestrian mall with the idea that more people would use it that way. Of course the planners forgot that most humans won't walk further than they have to when venturing out for things like clothes.

Those department stores were the sort of places where the basement might have anything at all but the ground level always seemed to be things like perfume, cosmetics, millinery and the like. I remember two of them here had quite good book departments - the sort that cater for last minute gifts rather than serious readers.

You would go to the upper floors - men's clothing, footwear, women's underwear and haberdashery, women's clothing. There was children's clothing and school uniforms and more. On the topmost floor of one store there was a sort of auditorium where displays were held. Another had a small fun-fair on the roof. 

My maternal grandmother had a "card" for one of the stores and faithfully shopped there. My paternal grandmother always paid cash but, such was the way of those places, they knew her. My paternal grandfather's  tailoring business meant he would talk to the staff about the latest trends in men's fashions and advise their buyers on things like the latest collars on men's shirts. My mother also had a "card" for the same store as her mother but almost never used it. I came across the card when I was clearing out her things and it looked new. 

Now women rarely wear the sort of hats which were sold in millinery. School uniforms are bought through schools or suppliers of such things. Haberdashery, knitting wool, dress fabric and the like have gone to big chains and one or two struggling suburban outlets. Several years ago dear Brother Cat, not knowing what book to give me, gave me a voucher for what he thought was an old style department store in the city. I eventually went off to spend it and discovered that it had all changed. It seemed to be a collection of tiny brand-name outlets instead. The book department was tucked away on the fourth floor and there was nothing there of any interest to me. They were selling cheap paperback series for children, the Harry Potter books, "popular" novels of the airport variety and coffee table books. I went and bought something I needed elsewhere. Then I went off to our local indie bookshop and bought a book there instead.  I have not been back to the shop since. I went into one other one which seemed to be much the same but did have a men's department. I bought trousers there for the Senior Cat. They graciously allowed me to return them when they turned out to be the wrong size but they had nobody who did anything as useful as shorten the leg length. I went around to see a friend for help with that. (Sadly, she has moved to another state now.)

It has all changed. I wouldn't know where to find the things I wanted now. I buy my underwear in a chain store which is not as good as Marks and Spencers once was and struggle to find rear paw coverings in a shoe shop instead of heading for the children's department and asking for another pair of Clark's Pathfinder boots please. I bought my bright yellow rain jacket (to be seen on the trike) on line.  There will be trouble if they stop selling my preferred style of jeans on line too. 

Do I miss the old department stores? I suppose I do. I could make a list and go into them about twice a year. I might not always have come out with everything I needed but it was over and done with before I could prowl off to the bookshops. Somehow they seem to have disappeared too - and I do miss them.