Nordstrom Part 2

A couple of days ago, Sunday to be exact, I went out to grab some lunch with the roommate (the one with a girlfriend) and his girlfriend. This turned into a lunch/shopping/movie day, which turned out pretty well. We ate at Carino's, which was alright, but had the worst Caprese salad ever. The tomatoes were cut too thick, and were pretty much like apples, so that was a bust.

After lunch we headed to Nordstrom Rack, which was really my first time. While there I realized a new level of the trickery of Nordstrom. I have grown somewhat fond of Faconnable shirts, although they are on the upper end of my price range. Well, here at the Nordstrom Rack is a whole display (I don't know what they're really called) of Faconnable shirts, some marked down over $100. This can still leave a $70 shirt, but questionable logic says that this is a remarkable deal that you cannot pass up.

This is when it occurs to me how brilliant the arrangement is. You keep your A-team (the hot girls) at the full-price store with the B-deals, and put the B-team (less-hot girls. Okay, plain...) at the store with the A-deals. Either way, as the male consumer, you are nearly defenseless. You will buy. I'm really at a (hopefully temporary) loss at how to combat this, short of avoiding the store completely.

Please share some wisdom with me if you have any suggestions.

I'm Onto You, Nordstrom

I'm onto you, Nordstrom. I went to the mall today to buy a casual black belt and some socks, which I accomplished at another store, but somehow I ended up in your men's section. I'm not sure if it was your live piano player, or a deeper draw to my Swedish roots, but there I was. I entered with two friends, but was soon separated, yet not alone. Every few aisles I encountered your accomplices--beautiful women pretending their only concern was my shopping whim. They approached with disarming smiles, ready to trick me into buying $200 wallets and $100 t-shirts. At first I was ready for their friendly greeting with a witty response, but was disarmed by her keen comeback. Even so I managed to escape the frying pan, only to land in the fire, for along my escape route waited another of your customer service angels. She showed me a cologne that I didn't want, but suddenly needed. I agreed it smelled amazing. She offered to put some on me, just to see if I would like it over time. Fortunately, for the first time in years I had tried a sampler in a previous store, and explained that it would probably not give me a true sense of how it would be. I escaped your seductive grasp. I left your store without spending a dollar. I have overcome. I will see you next Monday.