Lord & Taylor; King of Prussia Plaza, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Exterior view, October 26, 2008.
Lord & Taylor; King of Prussia Plaza, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Exterior view, October 25, 2008.
Lord & Taylor; King of Prussia Plaza, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Mall entrance, October 25, 2008.
Lord & Taylor; King of Prussia Plaza, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Interior view, October 25, 2008.
Looks like a nice looking store. Too bad Lord & Taylor never had the opportunity to expand more throughout NC outside of Raleigh.
ReplyDeleteNice pictures!
ReplyDeletecantnot: It would have been great to have had more Lord & Taylor's in NC, but I guess it just wasn't to be.
ReplyDeletePat: Thanks.
For some reason I always liked Lord and Taylor. Good place to always find nice formal wear.
ReplyDeleteLord & Taylor has always had something special. I get a good feeling shopping there. They have varied between really elegant and fairly pedestrian over the past few years, but they always seem to come out more positive than negative every time.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing that 98% of the Lord and Taylor stores constructed in the modern era are of this design.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I abhor standardization, this design is an exception for me. I have always found it very classy, and I still get the same feeling of class no matter how many times I see that exterior and mall entrance.
Too bad they retreated so far a few years ago. I was surprised that the store at Phipps closed. The NorthPoint store always did seem to be a bit of an odd duck in my opinion, but I think the store at Phipps was a good fit. Oh well...here's to hoping L&T can get back into an expansion mode soon.
Lord&Taylor had a distinctive look, modern and 70's retro at the same time. I regret that L&T retreated from the South, but at the time of their closings, they had been moved downmarket by May. L&T seems to be on the right track again, but I doubt we'll see a major expansion soon given the current environment. And before selling off L&T to a private investment firm, Federated converted some locations to Macy's, downtown Philly comes to mind, and shut down stores to eliminate competition to Macy's and Bloomingdales.
ReplyDeleteThe high-end department store chains are proving to be fairly recession proof so far-but I think all of them will put expansion on hold. And in the wake of L&T's departure from the South, Nordstrom and Bloomingdale's have opened stores in that segment. It would be interesting to see L&T bring The Bay to the US as a Macy's competitor now that The Bay has the same ownership, but the current economic crisis may prevent that too.
Matt: Though the merchandise waned sometimes under May, the store designs were first rate. I was in the Hudson Belk men's store at Crabtree Valley Mall (the upper level of the old Lord & Taylor) over the weekend and it still had that old feel, though it was a little darker than I remember.
ReplyDeleteL&T Phipps Plaza's closure was a shame, but the new Nordstrom, I hear, is very nice.
Ken: I don't think anybody's expanding now, Lord & Taylor included. This recession is taking its toll.
When I went to Philadelphia I did not have time to go inside the mall, just enough time to drive around it...so sad. I think that the mall looks modern...with the exception of Sears, JCPenney, and the former Macy's. That wing also probably needed to be updated.
ReplyDeleteSears was an early '80s add on, and JCPenney and the old Macy's were part of the first expansion of the mall in the early '60s. I'm indifferent to the sears, but I'd like to see them keep Macy's and Penneys because of their architectural uniqueness.
ReplyDeleteThe Sears looks pretty new. I wonder why Lord & Taylor is so particular with this store design. Every store with this design is 120,000 square feet and 2 levels.
ReplyDeleteActually, I have seen pictures and the entire mall, even the old part looks really nice.
ReplyDeleteSears did some renovation in the '90s to add the entrance i've photgrpahed. The rst of the store looks a little different.
ReplyDeleteLord & Taylor had a very standardized store experience. Some of the later stores varied somewhat from the early '90s prototype, but not by much.