STORE WARS: Nordstrom vs. J. Crew Factory
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.
How they got here: Took out JC Penney in the first round, and knocked off Target in round two.
Strengths: A finalist from last year. Their flagship Thompson suit separates (in wool-blend, all wool, and cotton) are as good as it gets for around $200 (if not much less). Their tweed-like winter blazers and merino wool v-necks are cold weather staples for many of us. Factory is also smart enough to NOT make their jacket sleeve buttons functional, or even bother with any accent stitching around them… that makes for easy tailoring. Lots of sales and codes, so if you’re patient and play the game, you can get some great looking stuff for an extremely reasonable price. Seems like they actually responded to requests by those of you who wear a 36R or 36S to start making their suit jackets and blazers in that size. $5 flat rate shipping is one of the lower shipping rates out there.
Weaknesses: Sometimes the fabrics used on the fall/winter blazers can disappoint (but other times, they’re great). Quality of their accessories seems to be lacking. They play the code game so you’ve got to be patient. Some of their basics (like tees) can seem strangely expensive. Suit pants can be a little baggy, but they have come out with a “slim” option for many of their suit pants in the last few months.
How they got here: Crushed H&M in round one, then cruised past Thrift Stores in round two.
Your votes determine who goes on to the next round. Cast your ballot below. Voting closes at midnight ET.
Store Wars: Nordstrom vs. J. Crew Factory
- Nordstrom (42%, 835 Votes)
- J. Crew Factory (58%, 1,164 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,997
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Don’t know how alone I am with this opinion, but I prefer J Crew Factory to regular J Crew. The increase in quality does not make up for the huge markup in price, especially when JCF doesn’t fall into any of the usual factory brand pitfalls (ie, logos on everything). But I’m going to guess we’re going to have an exact repeat of last year’s final round.
My brother purchased his first pair of Allen Edmonds shoes from Nordstrom over a year ago. Unfortunately, he did not get the sizing right, and ended up with a pair that was too big for him after the leather stretched out a bit. He continued to wear them, thinking it was too late to do anything about it.
Just recently, he was in the shoe section at Nordstrom and as part of a casual discussion with the sales associate, shared his disappointment with grabbing the wrong size. Without asking for anything, the sales associate told him he wanted to “make things right” and that he wanted my brother to be absolutely happy with his purchase. He took back the used pair and exchanged them for the smaller size right then and there.
The exceptional customer service, coupled with free shipping and returns, is why voting for Nordstrom is a no-brainer for me.
Can’t let J. Crew Factory win or else they’ll justify another price hike by being a Store Wars finalist
Nordstrom has a very lenient return policy, and their sales people work for commission. “Making things right” took no effort from the salesperson, he had the authority to do so with the policy already in place, and it might actually count as a “sale” for him. Customer wins, employee wins, and Nordstrom probably still profited.
In any case, while Nordstrom’s return policy is great, I only look to buy in Nordstrom during their three sales per year. I probably buy things once a year from there and same with JCF, but at least if there’s something I like at JCF I don’t have to play the “I hope it gets marked down from triple digits” game for something like a t-shirt.
…and once again the championship match will be between J. Crew and J. Crew Factory.
I was wavering between the two but your post just affirmed my for vote for Nordstrom. I make a lot more purchases from JCF but I do buy the occasional item at Nordstrom and their return policy and sales staff are hands down the best in the biz. I had a very similar experience to your brother with a pair of AEs and remembering that pushes me over the edge in their favor. Thanks.
I hear your point, but regardless of whether it took a special effort or not, I’m not aware of many places that would take back a pair of shoes that has been worn regularly for over a year.
I do agree that Nordstrom’s prices are high, but I think you can find good deals on quality products during their sales. JCF stuff retails for less, but you still have to play the sale game there. There’s not much (if anything) that is worth purchasing from them at full retail.
The semis and finals always seem tantamount to class warfare.
Definitely the toughest call yet for me. JCF is a huge, huge part of my wardrobe, but there’s just something about the Nordstrom’s experience that you don’t get elsewhere. As a Seattleite I’m going with the hometown hero, but it’s tough.
Nordstrom’s is simply the better retailer than Jcrew factory. The finals should really be JCrew vs. Nordstroms
Maybe I’m alone here (probably am) but I think there’s such a thing as too much customer service. It stinks that your brother bought the wrong size. We’ve all been there with some sort of garment or pair of shoes. But for the associate to “make it right”… he, nor nordstrom, did anything wrong. And your brother wore them for a year. Couldn’t have been that terrible if he kept wearing them.
I’m a believe in the golden rule. But there’s also such a thing as “too” kind. Because someone, in the end, has to pay for that act of unnecessary kindness. I don’t blame your brother, but I can’t see myself just accepting another pair of shoes a full year after I’ve been wearing the too-large pair I purchased myself.
I would go the other way. The increase in quality makes me go to JCrew and not JCrew Factory. I can wait for reduced prices that make it reasonable for me to pay only $35 for a shirt most of the time.
I agree with you that Nordstrom is the better retailer, but is that what this competition is about?
I’m with you on that. In all honesty, my brother was in the store to look at another pair, and really wasn’t looking for an exchange on his current pair. I guess he could have denied the exchange on principle. I do agree they did not need to, or even should have done the exchange. All the same, very nice on their part, and I know by how excited my brother was, they probably have his business for life.
Totally understood. I think it’s on the retailer as well. Pretty hard to turn down a free pair of shoes when someone’s throwing them at you and saying that they’re sorry. It’s an odd environment right now. Working on a post about it actually. Trying to figure out how I feel about it. Thanks for sharing sabrown!
These results are interesting.. a potential Jcrew vs Nordstrom final round is a far cry from an “affordable” angle.
Depends on how you shop. If you limit yourself to on-sale blazers, sometimes shoes, maybe a piece of outerwear in the off season at J. Crew… then the value for the buck is there (to me at least).
If you stick with house brands at Nordstrom and the half-yearly + anniversary sales, then ditto when it comes to value for the buck.
If that’s your criterion, then yes. The bracket gives no specifications of what criteria one should use.
Price, service, speed. Pick 2. 🙂
https://i.imgur.com/qLQaH.gif
Joe, I think you do a great job with the balance. There was a time where I became overly frustrated with the seemingly omnipresent JCP posts, but I now understand a lot of folks here are looking to stretch their dollar as far as it will go. Affordable is a relative term, and while some of the items that are promoted on the site are not in everyone’s price range, they may still be considered very good deals by others. Case in point, when J.Crew had that sale that included Alden shoes, some of us did a double-take, kicked our checkbooks square in the noots, and purchased some very classic albeit expensive boots. I’m glad you see the big picture and don’t lean too heavily on one side or another. Too expensive, and we turn the place into Styleforum. Too inexpensive, and we’re suddenly a flea market for preppy undergrads. Keep doing what you’re doing, we really appreciate it.
The Nordstrom house brands alone are greater than J.Crew Factory and J.Crew combined. Plebs… everywhere…
Affordable is relative term.
crap i didnt think of this before i voted
I am actually looking to buy either the Wool Blend Thompson or the grey Worsted wool Thompson from JCF and I was just wondering which one is the better option. And I know colors online can be misleading so I was wondering what the colors actually look like in person of the two suits.
Thanks frost, really appreciate that comment. It’s a challenge to balance for sure.
Normally, I’d agree with you – but in the age of the internet, the thing that distinguishes stores (beyond their inventory) is their service. While giving out shoes willy-nilly would destroy the company, a single outlandishly kind gesture will seal a customer for life. @sabrown ‘s brother (and his progeny) may have very well been subconsciously locked into buying Nordstroms for the rest of all time.
Oh I fully believe it’s a strategy. But that bugs me too. To me, that’s not service. At least it’s certainly not service to the customers who wouldn’t ever think of trying to return shoes they’ve been walking around in for a year.
So out of curiosity – where do you draw the line between “service” and that weird sort of interaction that leads me to think you’ll ask for my number next. Heck, might even make a good site post – as I know that I’ve gone into several chains recently and been angered by their lack of service – only to go into places like billy reid and have them ask me if i’d like a beer in a mason jar…..
E.g. – Bonobos had a return policy that was somewhat outrageous – but it had the added effect of ensuring that I consistently bought from them, often times thinking less, because I knew that I could return it if went unworn for ages. Was 90 days (or whatever it was) too much?