Department Stores That Are Calm

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My supervisor and I were talking about our favorite department stores. I jumped in with how I got anxiety about a certain one that seems to have erratic lighting as well as noisy people as well as crowded merchandise displays compared to another major store in the same mall that was much calmer. I keep forgetting that most NTs don't notice these things or are not affected.

The more expensive department stores seem the calmest to me. Unfortunately, I can't afford to shop there!

I'm partial to Sears. Dimmer lighting and no loud music. Macy's is cool when they have sales.

Amazon is my good friend.....

Unfortunately women's clothes are all sized differently. A trip to Sears is very pleasant. Amazon for other stuff.

There are usually times in which the stores are less crowded. I like to shop early in the morning.

If the item is popular there are often helpful comments on Amazon about the sizing of the clothes.

I'm old, I'm old. I can remember when nearly *all* department stores were quiet places. The loudest thing in them was something called an AutoCall, which "dinged" like a bell, with one note, using different rhythms. It was a very classy paging system. Imagine, an entire store full of people, but so quiet that you could hear a bell chime to page a staff member.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7_qCxy5MjQ (This is audio only)

I grew up near Washington DC and Baltimore, so I remember Montgomery Ward, Sears Roebuck, Hutzler's, Woodward and Lothrop, and I know there were others...

Did you have Korvettes?

We had Alexanders and Gimbels.

Yes! Korvettes and S. Klein and Arlan's, I knew I'd forgotten some.

I used to pass an Alexander's in NJ, can't remember if it was on the Turnpike or the Parkway now, when I was driving back up to Bahston for grad school. My folks had a cat named Alexander at the time and I always meant to stop in there and buy anything at all, to get a bag with the store name on it for them. Never did.

Macy's made it out to where I'm living now, at some point, but the store closed last year. Rats. I've never been to Gimbels but I did get to a Wanamaker's in Philly, the big one with the pipe organ

Damn, I'm old. Funny, though. Back then we had a lot of nice things, didn't we. And thought we always would.

I can't deal with the fact that they all have to play bass heavy music. I can't even go into them for more than a few minutes at a time because of that. And I get visually exhausted too.

I like Macy's and JCPenney. I like being able to try on clothes before I buy them. Pants are the most challenging because stores generally don't have my sizes in store. I got lucky the last couple of times that I went to JCPenney. They actually had pants that were short enough for me.

To me, all places are calm when there are no screaming brats. But unfortunately everywhere's family-friendly and brats need to be with an adult at all times and adults need to do shopping and brats always want what they can't have and need to have a deafening meltdown over it, so you've just got to put up with it and pretend you have the patience of a saint when really you just want to pick the kid up by it's ears and toss it out the store, parents and all.

Some department stores in the UK must be pretty calm and quiet places these days, to judge by the number that are closing down because of lack of customers.

Brexit, Amazon, or both? Sucks.

The ones with fewer odors.
I have trouble with hobby stores, especially waliking through candle or artificial flowers.

I used to wear head phones with music I like. Now in quieter box stores that have too much to see I play my harmonica. (Usually seasonal songs gospel or a made up blues tune