marshalls versus ross

A new Marshalls opened up in town this week, so I took my middle child there on Saturday to find her some new shorts for the summer. She’s a hard child to fit, because she’s a little skinny minnie. A lot of the size 7 shorts are too short for her, and most of the size 8 shorts fit in the butt and hips, but not the waist.

Anyway, we did end up finding some things for her there, and I found about 6 new shirts for myself too. I’m not a huge Marshalls / TJMaxx / Ross person, simply because most of the stores I’ve visited have already been crowded, cluttered, not well organized, and poorly staffed. Long lines, a mess on every aisle - you get the picture. This Marshalls was not like that at all, obviously, because it just opened, but I hope it stays that way.

One thing they did that I absolutely love is having one line for all cashiers. You stand in one main line and as each cashier is ready for a new customer, she takes one - everyone waits a LOT less when it’s done this way, and you don’t need to jockey for position in a line and try to figure out which one is the shortest…

Hmm…that line has 3 customers, and this line has one…but she’s buying 57 pairs of underwear….

We stopped at the Ross across the street after our trip to Marshalls, and what a difference! Aisles were a mess, racks of clothing with clothes falling of hangers, clothing all over the floor, items without prices. I peeked in the home section at bedding, pillows, and throw rugs, and things were just randomly tossed on the shelves, haphazardly. A real mess. I’m going to be upset if the Marshalls gets to be the same way in a few months.

3 Responses to “marshalls versus ross”

1. Loretta Says:
   May 27th, 2007 at 8:21 pm

   I love stores with the one line feature, it is so much more efficient!

2. Marie Braden Says:
   May 28th, 2007 at 1:34 am

   This is the way that many of the stores in Europe do it, the one-queue system. I think it works smashingly, especially in mass commodity stores (like groceries or WalMart)

3. Deb Says:
   May 30th, 2007 at 12:25 am

   I don’t like Marshall’s or TJ Maxx…but I love when stores do that one line thing. Kohl’s up here does that when it gets crowded

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