Two Girls New to New Jersey- Shopping!

Abby and I spent the month of June in New Jersey- a state neither of us had been to, in order for Abby to intern at a film studio in New Jersey. I have a few posts to document what we saw and did in New Jersey. The first topic is shopping that we did (or attempted to do...) in Jersey and NYC.

Located quite close to us in Jersey were various shopping opportunities. I do not love shopping and the older I'm getting the less that I like it; nonetheless, it can be fun or at least memorable to go to new places and check them out. Here is some info on shopping places near us that we went to when we were in Jersey and/ or NYC.

Luxury/ high end shopping- One day when I was driving to check out a local historic site, I found the site but before I got there, I passed a Bloomingdale's. It was only about a seven minute drive from our place. I made a note to come back with Abby to check out Bloomies. Abby had never heard of this store. We don't have them in Ohio. She and I had been to one in Florida years ago, but Abby didn't remember it. Once when we were staying in Miami, our hotel offered a shuttle service to a large mall that had a number of high end stores in it. Just Abby and I took the shuttle to the mall one day and did some shopping at the Bloomingdale's there. Abby was starting to be interested in clothes and fashion. We laughed at some of the ridiculous high prices (though prices weren't something eight year old Abby concerned herself with in regular stores so likely the absurdity of some of them failed to engender the same thoughts that I had regarding them!). Then we found some sales racks in both the girls and the women's departments and were pleasantly surprised to see much more normal prices. The kindest saleslady helped us out while we tried on clothes. I ended up getting two things that were reasonably priced (one, a dress, I still have though I seldom wear). The whole experience was fun and I thought maybe Abby and I would have a similar experience at the Bloomingdale's near us in Jersey.

Nope! I don't know if all of the stores have changed since Abby and I went to the one in Florida or if there are regional differences or what but the Bloomingdale's in Jersey was nothing like I remember about the Bloomies in Florida. The one in Florida was like a Dillard's or Macy's department store- just more lux.  There were rows and racks of clothes like what you'd see at a normal department store. The one in Jersey that we went to was much more boutiquey looking. There were way fewer clothes. The store was quite modern looking and just, sparse, with regard to it offerings. And the prices. Oh my! Like the Bloomingdale's in Florida, there were some shockers but unlike the one in Florida that we went to, there were no racks with nicely discounted prices. 

So many Bloomingdales! This appeared on my phone when I searched for Bloomindale's. The closest one was the one that we went to which was located in Hackensack, NJ.

We also went to a nearby Saks Fifth Avenue. This was a store that I had never been to before. It was a lot like the Bloomingdale's. Very high end, boutiquey looking. And no sales save 20% off dresses that were over $400. $400 dresses that weren't special occasion dresses- just regular dresses that you might wear to a nice but casual event, like a bridal shower. 

This was a tube top. I'm pretty sure you could find a "dupe" at Shein for $300 less...

Our high end shopping experiences were busts. Good news? Abby has zero desire to shop in or purchase anything from an iconic high end department store.

High End Wannabe- AKA the High(er) End Outlets

When I looked up Bloomingdale's in my map app to verify where I needed to go, many Bloomingdale's nearby popped up including a couple of Bloomingdale Outlet stores. I noticed one that was nearby that also had a Saks outlet and a Nordstrom Rack nearby to it. It was kind of like an outlet mall (at least that which I"m used to) but it wasn't exactly.

The Bloomingdales Outlet was disappointing. The store was BUSY (unlike its non outlet counterpart!) and the prices were...  not good. The prices on the clothes that I looked at the outlet were way more than I wanted to spend. I don't know or care enough about designer brands to pay what seems a ridiculous amount of money- even if that amount is less than the even more ridiculous amount at the non outlet store.

We didn't even go into the nearby Off Saks (Saks 5th Avenue outlet store). 

We stopped into Nordstrom Rack (there is a NR not too far from where we live in Ohio that I go to about once a year- I've found some good items at our Ohio NR). Abby and I both found a couple of items here that we liked and bought. It's good to know that the department store that we liked the best is one that we have in Ohio (albeit one that we don't go to often (we aren't big shoppers!)).

The good ol' shopping mall experience- Jersey Style!

One Friday, Abby got to leave the office early. On our way home, she mentioned that there was a large mall not too far away so we decided to go there. The drive was not fun (as no drives were in Jersey). Abby helped me navigate (it really helped to have her help me even with my phone's navigation. The roads were so tricky what with exiting often, numerous lanes and lots of "peppy" Jersey drivers on the road.) When I didn't need Abby's help, she read information to me about the mall. It was called American Dream and it is the second largest mall in America!! It's located in East Rutherford, New Jersey. 

The mall had a "ritzy" section with a lot of high end, luxury stores. We only went into Saks 5th Avenue. After going to a Bloomingdale's and a Saks and finding them both definitively not our style, we didn't go into any of the other high end stores.

The ritzy area had unique seating areas and "art?"

The mall had many traditional mall type stores- American Eagle, Bath & Body, Works, etc.  and also some that smaller malls near us don't carry like Zara and Alter'd State. Abby likes the latter two stores so went into both of them. We had dinner at the mall (just the food court- not at one of the sit down places). And then walked around some more.

We didn't see some portions of the mall. There is an amusement park in the mall which we did not even go and see. We did see the ski section. Yes, you can ski in this mall! The ski area is in its enclosed section but the skiers can be seen from a plexiglass barrier. Odd!! Literally only in Jersey!

The mall had some pretty features like this fountain and  fake floral area.

This seating area was just outside the food court. NYC is in the background. Part of the water park is shown here as is the sky wheel. One of us wanted to ride the wheel and one of us didn't :).

The mall had signs promoting the Ed Sheeran concert. At this point, I had no idea that two evenings later, we'd be at the concert!!

We only bought items at one store- Victoria Secrets. They were having good sales on basics so we stocked up. New Jersey doesn't have sales tax on clothes which is cool. On the downside, we had to pay $5 to park at the mall which offset our sales tax savings. 

Regarding parking, there was no outside parking like what you are used to at traditional malls. The only parking available is in a garage, and like I said, we had to pay for it.

Going to this mall was a bit of a bust; we just didn't buy much BUT the best thing about it was an observation that I made. It was on the same grounds as MetLife Stadium (where the Ed Sheeran concert was). We went to this mall prior to the concert. Had we not gone to the mall, I might have decided to drive to the concert. It was a mere five miles away from our place. Oh, but a harrowing drive it was and I could only imagine how much worse it would be with concert traffic. As soon as Abby and I decided to go to the concert and I realized how close the concert venue was the to mall, I knew I'd rather poke an eye out than make that drive so we decided to uber to the concert. Going to the American Dream mall was worth it for that!! 

Second- hand Stores

I've nothing against true bargain hunting- used clothing stores like consignment shops or Goodwill. My girls are the same way. We've found some great clothes at used stores near us- a few of my most complimented clothing items are ones that I bought second hand. Abby and I checked out a couple in Jersey. They were both in the town of Little Ferry. They were both busts (kind of like how Bloomingdale's and Saks were- only for very different reasons!!). One store was an independent used store (it did not say it was a consignment shop). The items in the store were not displayed with any kind of organization or any price. The place was jammed packed with what looked like... junk. We didn't stay here long at all. A Goodwill store was close by so we went there next. The building was huge and the parking lot was full. A good sign, right? This was the most bizarre Goodwill ever. The sales area was a huge room where probably twenty large bins sat. The bins were full of the items for sale. The items were just in the bins, not on racks. There was zero organization. Shoppers were just supposed to walk around the bins and look for things they might want? Hard pass! Though we were not pressed for time in any way, randomly looking through bins sounded like such a waste that we took one look at one bin and the left. "Leaving already?" asked an employee who had chatted with us when we came in. Uh, yeaaaaaaaah! I didn't want to insult the store to him- he'd seemed quite proud of it when we talked to him when we first arrived. We told him that we didn't see anything that we liked. Such an odd experience!! I don't think we will ever go in a Goodwill in Ohio and not be appreciative of things like racks and items organized and sales tags!!

New York City

On the occasions that Abby and I went into the city, we walked by many large department stores but we didn't do any shopping in them. The main reason is that there were so many things unique to the city that we wanted to do or see. Shopping at, say, a Banana Republic in NYC seemed wasteful of the opportunity to be in NYC when we could always shop at a BR online or go to the one that's about twenty miles from our house in Ohio. 

I was tempted to check out Bergoff Goodman. That is an iconic NYC luxury department store. I've read numerous books set in NYC where the main character mentions shopping in this store. We were close to the one (maybe it's the only one? I'm not that familiar with the store) by Central Park South and in fact ate our lunch outside at a table very near the BG entrance. But, ultimately it seemed like it would be way too tony for my taste and budget and just because a fictional character in a book shopped there was not a good reason to go to it.

The other place that I was tempted to shop at was the Macy's that proclaimed to be the World's Largest Store. If true, what an incredibly unique designation! But in the end, the blandness that is Macy's (I mean, it's fine. I've nothing against it...) kept me from wanting to go in there in shop, again, mainly because Macy department stores are so common. I didn't want to spend time in NYC going to a store that I could go to almost anywhere. The only tempting thing about this store was that it is the world's largest. (At least if the sign was correct, then it is the largest.)

We didn't go into it but I sure did take pictures of the outside, lol.

We did do some shopping in the city at a few souvenir shops. I mean, have you been to NYC if you don't purchase an overpriced tchotchke or mug proclaiming "New York City" and showing the outline of tall buildings or a clothing item staying I ❤️ NYC?? 🤭