STORE WARS: Nordstrom vs. JC Penney
Starting March 17th and running through April 7th, Dappered.com is hosting a bracket based tournament with the purpose of eventually crowning the all around Affordable Men’s Style Retail Champ for 2014. For a full introduction see this post. The bracket on the right will be updated as the tournament progresses. Click on it for the full size. Make a case for your preferred competitor in the comments section, but don’t forget to vote at the bottom of each match up. On with today’s showdown:
Strengths: Their big-time Anniversary Sale in late summer (which features just-in, fall-ready goods significantly marked down), and their two half-yearly sale clearances after the holidays and then once again in June. Free shipping & free returns. They price match as long as you call customer service and tell them where you saw a product at a lower price than what they’ve got. If you live near a Nordstrom Rack, then lucky you. Their in house brands, Calibrate, 1901, Wallin & Bros, John W. Nordstrom, etc… And perhaps, above all else, the way they present themselves to their customers. Clean, smart, sharp, and modern with plenty of classic style. Sure, they’re not cheap, but they often carry the stuff that’s worth saving up for.
Weaknesses: Aside from their three big sales, they can be a major stretch on the budget. Suiting and blazers usually run way too expensive. Sure wish they held sales a little more often.
Strengths: Crazy affordable. Despite the ouster of Ron Johnson & Nick Wooster, it seems like they’re still making a bit of an effort (see Claiborne & Stafford’s new blazers). Accessibility to brick & mortar to a huge segment of the population. Their uber-cheap suits. Seems like they always have Levis in the mid to high $30s range.
Weaknesses: That switch from everyday low prices to a coupon game that often leaves the same goods more expensive with coupons & codes. The destruction of the “jcp” brand (and their OCBDs). What they did to the beloved Stafford Camlin. Everything that happened in 2013. Yeah… sure. But. Well, yeah.
Your votes determine who goes on to the next round. Cast your ballot below. Voting closes at midnight ET.
Store Wars: Nordstrom vs. JC Penney
- Nordstrom (79%, 1,745 Votes)
- JC Penney (21%, 453 Votes)
Total Voters: 2,198
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Nordstorm for me
I wear my Camlins often and have several other JCP items but nothing beats Nordstrom shirts when you get them on sale.
I would have liked to see eBay up against Goodwill in the brackets. I’m also concerned that Joe isn’t going to be getting any free review product from Bonobos or Billy Reid after pitting them against used goods!
Nordstrom any day of the week. There’s a huge brick and mortar and a Nordstrom Rack right down the street. I haven’t really checked out the latter, but apparently I need to.
I shop their online selection occasionally, but I really like them when I want an in store experience — they have a very friendly and helpful staff.
Actually I think they did them a favor. At least Bonobos. By pitting them against ebay, they pretty much guaranteed they’d make it to round 2, and I also think Bonobos has a chance against Uniqlo. So they make it to round 3, but I don’t think they can beat J Crew. Now as for for Billy Reid I’m not very familiar with that brand, but based upon their prices, and their being relatively unknown, I don’t think they have a chance to beat ANY of the first round retail or web contenders, I’m not even sure they can beat Goodwill. They may have done Goodwill a favor by pitting them against the weakest contender on that side of the bracket. To me that race is a tossup, but I’ll be voting for Goodwill as I have gotten a LOT of great clothes from there over the years, and none from Billy Reid.
JCP. Still. As I keep finding, there is still plenty left to pick off of Ron Johnson’s corpse. Recently, they had all their Happy and Pact socks on clearance. With a $10 coupon, I picked almost a dozen up for next to nothing. I grabbed some great German Army Trainer replicas for under $20. There is still great stuff to be had, for cheap and this Ron Johnson fanboy is happy to give JCP his vote.
Nordstrom. It’s the only department store I bother with anymore. They’ve got the trifecta of great quality, great customer service, and good prices. Imo, Nordstrom is the kind of place you start shopping when your wardrobe is in a steady state and you’re ready to start upgrading into pieces that’ll last a while.
nordstrom. granted they have some utterly unaffordable stuff. but some items when on sale can be quite a bit cheaper than in other stores. having a brick and mortar is important, and their staff always give great and patient service. not to mentioned their own brands mostly provide great values and solid style.
jcpenney is too far away from me, and i go there once a year at most. but i believe they have good stuff for cheap.
This will be a bloodbath . . .
I’ve recently rediscovered Nordstrom and although I look at them as usually too expensive for my budget, their house brands are appealing to my tastes and don’t seem to put too much of a strain on my pocketbook. My vote – Nordstrom.
I am not even sure I have ever stepped foot in a Nordstrom. The coupon game is total BS though so I voted against the store formerly known as JCP.
I’m not an investor so voting in this is the loudest way I can say “Shame on you, JCPenney. Shame on you for your terrible choices”
Harumph.
Corwin you are missing out. The Rack usually will have some really good items.
I think it depends on your location. Some Nordstrom Racks are unbelievable. Others are a little… eh.
This. The same goes for Last Call.
Did anyone else notice how both JCP and Nordstrom both have “Calibrate” brands? Tricky, tricky, tricky, JCP.
I’ve found a lot of gems at JCP during their recent purges. In particular, their stafford prep OCBDs fit me very well, and at $5 or so, were quite a bargain. That said, the fact that I’m so happy about a massive reduction on something I never would’ve touched at, say, 50% of it’s original price, is indicative of JCP’s larger issue. On the one hand, pricing games are silly and ridiculous – we all know that. On the other – they work. That’s why JCPs going back to them. That’s why Jos A. Bank can operate (and get purchased). That’s why so many new cars sell just before they become last-year’s models. Like complaining about the news, or politics, we’re all partially culpable for the game.
Oh – Nordstroms. By a mile. Not even close. And I’ve never been to one.
JCP never had a chance. I still do not understand how they made it into this.
Pretty sure Joe meant “Claiborne” at JCP. AFAIK “Calibrate” is a Nordy-only dealio. House brand, IIRC.
I think you hit it here with the “when it’s time to upgrade” idea. More of my current closet is JCP (but I do love the Calibrate dress shirts too). The JCP “staples” have been working very nicely to get-by (or more?) until all personal debt is gone and body weight/build is dialed-in a little better. *Then* it’ll be time replace some of the cheaper goods, and upgrade on some of them. Nordstrom is certainly a solid place to do that. So good call, DXLi.
That said, I’ll state separately (for my vote reason), presently, with the deals/steals left before they clear all of the decent stuff off the shelves, it’s gonna be JCP for me this round. I simply have far too much of their stuff (JCP OCBDs & sweaters, Stafford shoes & boots, a couple watches (Bulova, Seiko, etc.) to *not* vote for them this time.
I *do* have some awesome items in my wardrobe from Nordy Rack (shoes/boots mostly – RWs, AEs, TBNYs, Florsheim/Duckies, etc. – and a small yet effective array of Calibrate dress shirts), but this is a *mainline* Nordy match-up, so my vote this time goes to JCP.
Most of these competitors don’t have a chance. Most of them are just making up the numbers until J. Crew or Nordstrom roll over them.
I’m voting Nordstrom on the strength of Nordstrom Rack’s men’s shoe section alone. Yeah, it’s all over the place in terms of selection, but you could find some serious gems every once in a while, and it was always interesting to take a look.
One of the few things I miss about the last town I lived in was its Nordstrom Rack.
The one in downtown Chicago is probably well stocked if it’s getting supplied by the main store in Mag Mile — it’s huge. I guess I’ll find out this weekend!
Nordstrom definitely gets the vote, even based solely on the ability to get brand new Allen Edmonds flagship shoes for $235.
On jcp, those boots were awesome and I do regret not buying them, but the bigger casualty for me was the loss of the $50 wingtip oxford shoes (https://dappered.com/2012/05/the-10-best-looking-dress-shoes-under-100/)
My pair is still going strong and I’ve worn them everywhere all over the world. I wish I could buy another pair.
Wherps. Yes. fixed.