Marshalls sizes up Springfield

Life’s too short to look like a homeless person. That’s why I shop at Goodwill.

Spend enough time combing racks in Springfield’s thrift stores and you will, eventually and inevitably, find barely worn Brioni sport coats and flawless Alden Norwegian split toe bluchers made from finest shell cordovan leather for south of $5. You have to go to the internet or Chicago to buy such things brand new, but their presence in Springfield is no surprise, given our population of lawyers, lobbyists and politicians. They’re just as prone to changing shape and dying as anyone else.

The rich donate unneeded sartorial treasures and take the tax deduction – Bill Clinton itemized torn trousers and underwear (presumably intact and hopefully laundered) that he donated to Salvation Army, valuing used skivvies at $2 per pair and ripped pants at $75. The rest of us can either swallow pride and wear someone else’s Burberry trench coat or flip clothes on eBay, where secondhand Springfield fashion leavings can command top dollar.

Sadly, Nautica, Dockers and yoga pants too often qualify as haute couture in the capital city, where pajamas are the go-to duds for a lot of folks who get called to the courthouse or venture into supermarkets. But the local fashion scene could be in for an upheaval, or at least a significant tweak, with the coming of Marshalls, a discount department store chain that sells mainly clothes but also a bit of food and assorted knickknacks.

Marshalls is owned by the same company that runs T.J. Maxx at White Oaks Plaza and plans to open HomeGoods, a store that sells, well, goods for homes (towels and such), on West Iles Avenue this month. Just why TJX Companies, the parent company of all these places, is so bullish on Springfield remains a mystery. A spokeswoman told me that there could be no comment or confirmation that Marshalls is coming until two weeks or so before opening day. Thanks to Ward 7 Ald. Joe “Versace” McMenamin, who confirmed that construction is expected to start by year’s end, we won’t have to wait months wondering about the big Sherwood Plaza building project at perhaps the city’s busiest intersection.

Springfield’s last foray into the world of discount apparel stores that also dabble in housewares, foodstuffs and sundry doodads did not end well, as those who remember J. Parsons, a store that wasn’t far from T.J. Maxx and the future Marshalls, can attest. The brainchild of the notorious Jeff Parsons, who left Springfield under cloud of criminal investigation and weight of a $12 million judgment won by exemployees who said they got stiffed on wages, J. Parsons was a wretchedly awful place anchored by a full-blown modeling runway. There was just one saving grace: They served booze during fashion shows that featured amateur models gallivanting down the runway in cheap, madein-China schlock with price tags still on and fluttering in the breeze behind them, just like Minnie Pearl at the Grand Ol’ Opry, while bad music blasted and crowds roared.

Even large amounts of alcohol could not soften the pratfall that was J. Parsons, a onestop-shop kind of place where you could cross both venison jerky and ill-fitting shoes off your shopping list. The store was modeled in part after T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, the proprietor himself once said on the stand during one of many court hearings – besides a bankruptcy filing and the employees’ lawsuit, Parsons got a divorce during his waning days in Springfield and so spent a fair amount of time in witness stands. I speculated that he was trying to lose money so that there would be none, at least on paper, for his estranged wife. In any event, J. Parsons closed in 2012, less than one year after opening.

Marshalls, however, is the real deal, at least in other cities, where bargain hunters on www.styleforum.net have, in recent months, reported such finds as selvedge (a fancy word for expensive) denim by Levi’s, Loro Piana Italian cashmere sweaters and Brooks Brothers trousers sporting tags showing that they had originated in an Australian shop.

Marshalls casts a wide net, buying stuff from vendors who need to make room for the next round of stuff to be pitched full price at a nation of fashionistas with insatiable appetites. As with all fishing expeditions involving large nets, there is bound to be a succulent salmon or two that gets caught along with the sardines, which explains why determined Marshalls shoppers can find amazing bargains amid just average bargains.

Success, Marshalls veterans say, can hinge on location. The store on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, for example, is said to yield more prizes than the store on less-swanky North Clark Street in the same city. And so it will be interesting to see what Marshalls really thinks of Springfield. Will we get bargains on fineries that belong in Nieman Marcus or a steady diet of cotton tube socks and “I’m With Stupid” t-shirts? I can’t wait to find out.

Editor’s note

While the current president was flummoxing over pushback from his lovefest with Vladimir Putin, former president Barack Obama was in South Africa lecturing about how truth is now up for debate and how politicians stand by baseless claims after they’re proved wrong. “We see the utter loss of shame among political leaders, where they’re caught in a lie and they just double down and lie some more,” he said. “Look, let me say: Politicians have always lied, but it used to be that if you caught them lying, they’d be like, ‘Ah, man.’” Now they just change would to wouldn’t. Sort of a double negative. –Fletcher Farrar, editor and CEO