Shoppers in Hot Pursuit of Bargains in Off-Price Stores

Joan Feifer, a Los Angeles interior designer, holds up a pair of ritzy pink leather sandals. “I couldn’t find a price tag, but if they’re $15.99, I’ll buy them,” she says, indicating the kind of deal she expects from Marshalls, the nation’s largest off-price retailer.

Feifer, chic in a wool skirt, silk blouse, leather belt (three bargains) and a Cartier watch (a full-price purchase), explains that her off-price shopping missions have nothing to do with fun or adventure. “I do it because I like to dress well. I love beautiful things and I can’t always pay top dollar.”

Ever-Growing Popularity

America’s flourishing off-price chains, including Loehmann’s (the acknowledged “grandmother” of them all), Marshalls, Ross, Clothestime and T. J. Maxx, owe their hefty sales and ever-growing popularity to women like Joan Feifer.

According to Karen Whiting, national spokesperson for Massachusetts-based Marshalls, the chain’s 316 stores cater to men, women and children but “the majority of our shoppers are women, 25 to 55 years old, with families and careers. They go to the department stores, watch what is trendy and see if they can get the same merchandise at 20% to 60% off.”

David Sacks, president of L.A.’s five Sacks SFO stores, adds: “My customers make $30,000-$35,000 a year, but they like to dress as if they were making $100,000.”

Off-price devotees know how to accomplish that feat. Shopping in chains that by definition sell predominantly perfect-condition, in-season, brand-name merchandise below regular department store prices, they go from rack to rack in large, no-frills stores looking for anything from lingerie to luggage, cosmetics to comforters, shirts to saddle shoes, baby booties to blue jeans--and all at anywhere from 20% to 70% off.

No End in Sight

Some dedicated bargain buffs fear the magic supply could dwindle. But Robert F. Buchanan, analyst with A. G. Edwards & Sons in St. Louis, finds no end in sight.

“The biggest single change I’ve seen is that the better resources--such as Liz Claiborne, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Izod, Fred Perry--are selling more good merchandise directly to the off-price retailers.

“Before it was catch as catch can,” adds Buchanan, who goes “unannounced” to as many as 30 to 40 off-price locations a year. He finds it “easier to shop now. They’re not as cluttered. It’s more like a neat, orderly department store presentation.”

To attract and keep customers, all the chains are in the midst of improvement-and-expansion programs. David Sacks, for example, installed sophisticated alarm systems so he could continue to carry men’s and women’s leather garments (“It attracts thieves, but it’s also the most luxurious of fashions”) along with lesser-priced clothing and accessories. Late last year, a separate children’s store was opened next to the Melrose Avenue location, and next month, a new store opens in West Hollywood.

Marshalls’ game plan calls for 40 new stores a year, making the total 550 by 1990. Recent improvements include more merchandise for women Size 12 and up, a “race track format” that makes it easier for customers to get around, spruced-up fitting rooms and rugs in high-traffic areas.

T. J. Maxx, with more than 300 stores in 39 states, responded to consumer requests by adding shoe and jewelry departments and plans to open 45 to 50 stores a year for the next five years. According to company spokesperson Dawn Griffin, the chain caters to “champagne taste on a beer budget.”

Anaheim-based Clothestime, which grew out of a successful flea market operation, has expanded the selection for its junior customer to include more than just casual clothes, president and chief operating officer Norman Abramson says. “As a result, we had to upgrade our merchandise to higher-quality brands.”

Along with jazzy posters that show customers how to get it all together, there are friendly sales associates, racks of coordinated merchandise, a liberal return policy and cheeky TV commercials that claim Clothestime prices on designer brands to be 20% to 50% off those of major retailers.

It’s the magic percentage, varying from chain to chain, that draws customers into stores notoriously short on glitz, long on daily bargains.

“We’re very concerned about the presentation of our merchandise, but we don’t have fancy chandeliers hanging from the ceilings,” observes David Goldman, vice president of marketing for Ross, the “Dress for Less” retailers with 140 locations nationwide.

Headquartered outside San Francisco, Ross is strong on casual apparel for men and women, “maybe because of our California orientation. If you need a pair of shorts, a nice blouse or top, you’re not going to be disappointed. If you need clothes to go to work, you won’t be disappointed,” Goldman says. “But if you need a dress to go to a cocktail party tonight, you’d probably have trouble finding it in our store.”

A true off-price cognoscente would know to head for Loehmann’s for that cocktail dress. Millions have, among them socialites and actresses who don’t always keep the fact a secret.

Jamie Lee Curtis apparently talked to TV Guide about the little Loehmann’s number she planned to wear to the recent Golden Globe Awards. “Two hours ago she discovered that the red velvet gown she’d picked up at Loehmann’s for $100 and had given to her tailor to be altered (for $200), is now too tight. . . .” wrote Lawrence Eisenberg after a visit to the actress’s home.

And covering a charity bash at Saks Fifth Avenue in McLean, Va., the trade publication Women’s Wear Daily reported that when Carolyne Roehm thanked a guest for wearing one of her designs, the woman promptly replied that her Roehm came from Loehmann’s.

Founded by Freida Loehmann in 1921, the for-women-only chain was purchased late last year by a Manhattan-based investment bank and a Spanish construction company. Communal dressing rooms, a no-return policy and label-less garments remain quirky features of the 73 stores in 24 states. But there are modern improvements, such as credit card privileges, a smattering of merchandise with labels and the names of some designers, including Perry Ellis, Oscar de la Renta and Bill Blass., actually stamped in red on price tags.

Hy Leder, vice president in charge of advertising and public relations, says that for faithful followers, who might drop into a Loehmann’s several times a week, “it’s a club. It’s the sense of discovery, of finding a treasure that makes it a unique place.”

Every successful off-price treasure hunter has her own rules and regulations. Joan Feifer, for example, says she will buy certain home and apparel items at Marshalls but never clothing for herself. For that she shops Loehmann’s. And she won’t buy gifts from any off-price retailer; they have to come from department and specialty stores.

Arriving at Loehmann’s, she will “hit the accessories first, just to get it over with. Then I go to the Back Room,” where the newly arrived designer merchandise hangs. Then she peruses the main-area racks. “I’m careful about what I buy because you can’t return anything. I make sure I love it and that it will work with something I have in my wardrobe.”

Debbie Entin, a former off-price buyer for stores, goes to Marshalls once a week to look through the name-brand merchandise for herself, her husband and her three children. She feels many people don’t understand they’re searching through a limited supply of in-season merchandise, often manufacturers’ surplus, that needs to be purchased on the spot. “If you come back two days later, it will be gone,” Entin says.

As for legal research assistant Lori Annette, she keeps a file filled with pages torn from fashion magazines. “Then I’ll go shopping to get the look.” She frequents Clothestime and scouts Loehmann’s “at least two times a week. I scan the new arrivals’ rack. That’s good strategy. “

Thanks to her system, she recently found the treasure of treasures, a pair of belted, high-waisted suede trousers with a silver buckle for all of $70. Cost of an identical pair featured in a magazine photo she has on file: $300.