My Evening at Macy's--In Store and Online

Macy's is having this "Friends and Family" sale going on for which they decide pretty much everyone in the world is a a friend of Macy's or part of the Macy's family and send them cards for 20% off pretty much anything.

I hit the store at 8 p.m. (when it's generally pretty empty) to try on some dresses. I grabbed a handful and found a dressing room which happened to be filled with a bunch of other dresses that were all my size. I tried on a dozen or so and settled on a cute black cotton dress with cap sleeves and white embroidery at the hem. It was $68 after the discounts and it's a perfect little dress for summer. I can't find it on the Macy's website. I can never seem to find anything on the Macy's website.

If I go to, say, the Gap and they're out of something in my size, I can come home, go to their website, and buy it (or at least find it, whether it's available in my size or not). Every time something is sold out in my size at Macy's, I check the website and it's not there.

For example...tonight I found a Michael Kors Petites dress that I really loved. Problem was, one size was too big, one size was too small, and they were sold out of the size in between. Of course, this particular dress it not sold on Macy's website. If I want an ugly gold Michael Kors swing jacket or an ugly yellow Michael Kors mini trench, I'm in luck. Dress I decided I must have--no luck.

I found it on the Nordstrom site (have I mentioned that I can't wait for Nordstrom to open at The Mall--hurray up with that construction, already), but there would be no 20% discount involved in that purchase. Full price is $159.50 and Nordstrom's shipping is $8.

I decided to call some other locations of Macy's to find the dress. After a few minutes on (long distance) hold I talked to the very helpful (albeit monotone) Tiffany at a Columbus area location and--yay!--they had my size. And she could send it to me. For $15.95. (Isn't that outrageous?) But with the 20% off, I'm still doing better than Nordstrom. With all said, done and rung up, I saved $9 off the full price. I really hope it's fits me perfectly when it arrives--I hope I still love it. Nothing is more annoying than blowing 16 clams on shipping only to return the item.

Here's the dress I ordered from Tiffany.


So maybe it's a little derivative of Balenciaga's spring florals. But it's less weird (and I can't afford Balenciaga). And let me tell you, that "petite" model must be at least 5'7" because that dress hit just above the knee on 5'2" me.