Petite shoppers finding fewer options on the racks
At 4-foot-9, Mindee Hewitt is a dynamo with a can-do personality. But finding clothes that fit her tiny frame often becomes deflating.
At 4-foot-9, Mindee Hewitt is a dynamo with a can-do personality.
But finding clothes that fit her tiny frame often becomes deflating.
It's getting harder for Hewitt and other women 5-foot-4 and under, as department stores from Macy's to Lord & Taylor scale back or dissolve their petite divisions.
"Where are we supposed to shop?" asked Hewitt, 71, from Marlton, as she recently combed through the shrunken Macy's petite section at Cherry Hill Mall.
Barbara Rosenberg, a lawyer in her mid-60s from Wayne, who stands 5 feet tall, has experienced petite's waning profile while shopping for herself.
"The first to go was Saks many years ago, then Bloomies, now Lord & Taylor," she said. "Nordstrom is shrinking rapidly and seems to think that all we need are jeans or very expensive traditional professional clothes."
Rosenberg said she's also noticed fewer petite offerings from in-house Macy's brands, such as Charter Club and INC.
"At Macy's, the higher-quality brands are gone, and all that is left is ugly styles and shoddy fabrics."
In Macy's defense, a spokeswoman said there's been no overall scaling back on petite clothing. The line is just "being marketed differently in the store."
"We are now integrating petite sizes into the standard size offerings within the various brands we carry," Elina Kazan said. "We remain committed to providing the best selections for our petite customers, including expanding our styles online with select brands."
Lord & Taylor closed its petite department at King of Prussia Mall this spring, and La Petite Femme in Haverford closed within the last three years.
"I can't find clothes anywhere," Rosenberg said, "as one store after another closes its petite department and one manufacturer after another stops making petites. What do the tiny people wear?"
Rosenberg, like Hewitt, is anticipating that her tailoring bill will keep rising.
"It's not a matter of just getting pants hemmed," she said. "Sleeves often end in buttons or zippers which can't be altered. Often, straps or distance from bust to shoulders is too long in regular sizes, and so on."
Some say the law of supply and demand applies here - and petite's poor profit showing means less floor space.
"If the retail presence contracts, the number of vendors does, too, resulting in further retail decline," said national retail consultant Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates in New York. "Department-store changes may be driven by efforts to reduce costs."
Petite women, those 5-foot-4 and under, represent about half of U.S. women, according to a 2008 National Health Statistics study.
"However, for many women, myself included, the fit isn't right since you may have longer body proportions in some areas and not others," said Christa Hart, senior managing director at FTI Consulting. "I am too long-waisted for petite sizes even though I am 5 feet, 4 inches tall.
"In addition, most petite sizes range from 2P to 14P, which rules out more full-figured women" because the proportions will again be off, she said. "As a result, this is a size range that has difficulty in achieving comparable sales per square foot to other apparel segments."
Recently, department stores have been putting more emphasis on plus sizes because that group has been growing rapidly. More than half of American women wear larger than a size 14, and a third wear larger than a size 16, according to a 2015 study by the NPD Group Inc., a global research firm.
The petite market has been falling. Total sales of petites fell 1.2 percent to $6.86 billion in the year ending May 2014, down from $6.94 billion in the preceding year, NPD Group found.
Meanwhile, sales of straight-size and plus-size clothing together grew about 5 percent in the same period.
"Stores are constantly looking to rebalance categories to gain the most productivity from the space in the stores," Hart said. "It's a case of economics, and the customer has spoken with her wallet."
It increasingly appears that way to Hewitt, as she looked up at some of the racks where petite blouses used to hang at the Cherry Hill Macy's. They now hold bigger sizes.
"I do believe the plus-size market is growing," she said.
Lord & Taylor said it still had a big interest in petites.
The company said it will continue to offer petites in several stores, including the one in Moorestown and its New York City flagship, in addition to a full assortment online, said a company spokeswoman. In stores that no longer carry these sizes, they will offer basic alterations free of charge, and sales associates will be able to guide customers to the company's petites collection online at lordandtaylor.com.
Petite shopper Kathleen Mowrer, 66, of Kennett Square, said that the Macy's at Exton Mall still had a petite section, but that there were no size 2s in pants or skirts for her. Same with Boscov's and Penney's.
"I only have certain stores, or rather certain-location stores, that I can shop in," Mowrer said. "I am forced to shop online."
Her best bets: "online Macy's or Penney's."
Boscov's broadened its petite assortment in the last eight months, going against the trend. "We recognize it's a growing part of the business," said CEO Jim Boscov.
There's another reason petite wear is close to Boscov's heart: He stands 5-foot-5½. His mother is 5 feet tall, his wife 5-foot-2, and his two sisters are both under 5 feet. Albert Boscov, now the company chairman and Jim's uncle, is married to a petite woman and the couple have three petite daughters.
Ann Dettra, 78, of Feasterville, said she shopped for petite clothes at the Boscov's at Neshaminy Mall after the Macy's there severely cut its inventory.
"We need to let the manufacturers know that we exist, and we want quality, affordable clothes," said the 4-foot-10 Dettra, a retired medical receptionist.
Nordstrom says it has no plans to downsize its petite offerings. In some stores, petites are in a stand-alone department; in others, those offerings are merchandised within Nordstrom's Point of View department. Sales clerks often steer petite shoppers to Nordstrom.com.
But there's a risk. Macy's is shuttering 38 stores this year. Some say online sales could cause more to close.
Online is never going to satisfy such shoppers as Hewitt, for whom the chase is part of the allure.
"It's all about the pleasure I get out of shopping, and it's not sitting at a computer and clicking," she said. "It's the hunt and going out and finding it in the store."
215-854-4184 @SuzParmley