Bloomingdale's

Pros:  good selection,

Cons:  sterile shopping experience.

The Bottom Line:  Taking the pleasure out of shopping in stores.

Full review
I don’t know, men shop differently than women. Men generally know what they want, and where to get it; good prices don’t generally figure into the equation. Men are done shopping as soon as they think up what to buy. Women, on the other hand, love to browse. Ever see a woman walk into a store, see something and just buy it? No, you see them walk into a store, browse, try it, browse, try it, and then after twenty outfits, walk out of the store without buying anything.

Bloomingdales is the famous department store everyone knows when you mention the name. The Bloomingdales own retail line, e.g., Joseph Lyman, etc., is high quality, and inexpensive (especially during the after Christmas sales). When you shop at Bloomingdales, generally you browse, browse, and browse, and come back to buy when they have a sale. However, when you shop online at Bloomingdales.com, you lose the shopping experience. The only company you have is you, and the computer. It’s like stripping, but no one’s watching (all the thrill is gone).

Bloomingdales.com is your standard shopping portal, somewhat slick, and somewhat sterile. All product photos can be enlarged (zoomed) and color corrected. There is a women’s section, a men’s section, home, beauty, new and now, shop by brand, clearance items, and gifts. The navbar is located at the top, the shopping cart (the brown bag) stays with you in the upper right corner. At the bottom are various links to customer service, the wedding registry, and item return.

Items can be returned either by mail, or to any Bloomindales store. Checkout is standard, there are boxes to enter coupon codes, and links to express checkout. Shipping charges are explained when you click your way through the checkout links; they start at $5.95 for items totaling $25 or less, up to a maximum of $34.95 for items totaling $700.01 or more. They don’t mention what carrier they ship it on.

Bloomingdales.com is geared for those who generally don’t like to shop, but who are looking for the type of selection only Bloomingdales has.