I think that you should write a letter to the merchandising team if you have their address. It is so easy to dismiss an email with the click of the delete button. I think an actual letter will get more of a response since it is so unusual to receive one nowadays. Good luck. :)

today, i bought this gorgeous pink cardigan sweater for 40% off original price. it is beautiful. i am so proud of it

I used to love going in there and seeing what hot chicks they hired for the holiday season when it came around. It was like summer B in the dead of winter....a whole new batch.

Seriously? I've seen plenty of size 12s and 14s on the rack at Express.

I second that... I actually went shopping there for some jeans and that's ALL I could find... that and the 0s. Apparently everyone is a size 6.

I usually only shop at express during their sales (which are pretty great) but I have noticed that their prices have gone up.

Still, one of my all-time fav sweaters is from Express -- it's one of the 100% cashmere boatneck sweaters with a kangaroo pocket in the front.

ebay pic:
http://i22.ebayimg.com/02/i/02/cf/28/4b_1.JPG

My bf bought it for me in light grey in the store ($30 from $78) and I bought him a mens cashmere sweater in dark grey ($20 from $98) as part of our holiday presents last year. He saw how obsessed I was with this sweater and bought me another one in black off of ebay this summer for about the same price. :D

Now, you might attack me for this but I do like forever 21... sometimes. I'll admit that a lot of their stuff is trashy club/bar clothing (although nowhere as bad as Rave or G+G) but you can find some great bargains! Perfect for trendy stuff that you want but know won't stay in style long.

I bought a bunch of cute flirty skirts this summer (all $10-16) and got loads of compliments on them. I also found the most amazing sweatshirts there, on clearance for $4. (The same style as the Express sweaters -- cropped to the hip, kangaroo pocket, pull-over fitted hoodies) I'm going to get letters put on one, and leave the white one plain. I also found some of those thin l/s layering shirts there ($4) and a gorgeous sweater. You just have to be a careful shopper and make sure you arent buying cheap-looking or trashy stuff.

Anyway, has anyone noticed that Abercrombie has gotten ridiculously expensive?? $140ish jeans, $100+ bags? Maybe they are trying to escape the whole pastel colored sparkly stuff that draws all of the 12 year olds to the store... :rolleyes:

I walked into Express the other day and absolutely fell in love with a coat and scarf. Honestly, I locked eyes with..um...its buttons..and was in love. But then I walked over, looked at the price tag and it was $250 :-( Then I thought I could console myself with the pretty champagne colored scarf that I was also pretty enamored with...nope...it was $98. A $98 SCARF!! WHaaaat???
Im so mad at Express :-(

Heh-Heh. I was hired on as a holiday employee about 3 years ago at the Oviedo Mall. I lasted about 2 weeks before I realized it was crappy hours, crappy pay, and management was a bunch of airheads. I hate going into Express and being "attacked" by an associate the second I walk in and then being suffocated by them as I try to shop. They tell their employees to be relentless when it comes to getting a sale. You're supposed to also harass the customer in the fitting rooms by throwing a shirt over the door that you think they might like. God forbid you pick their wrong size! Then, you talk their ear off about the Express credit card. I just couldn't deal with the customers getting annoyed at the associates for doing this; I would be annoyed too if I was in their shoes. I began to hate myself and that's no fun. Plus, it's not like you get commission for all the sales you get so what's the point? I quit after 2 weeks and went back home to work at the Bloomingdale's in the Boca Town Center. The pay was better, I got commission, and they don't force you to annoy the hell out of your customers!

Sorry...double post.

I think many stores are trying to follow the new trend of expensive jeans and expensive handbags. It's always been popular (well, at least in SoFla) but I think it's caught on across the country. My sorority little is from Nebraska and was telling me that when she lived there, nobody ever wore that stuff and most people had never heard of Fendi or Burberry. When she went back there last December to visit, her old high school friends were telling her about how they drive all the way to Chicago to buy designer clothes because the malls closest to them don't carry that kind of stuff!
The problem with Abercrombie and Express trying to sell expensive handbags and jeans is that they still have a stigma as being a moderately priced clothing store. If most people are like me, they'll buy themselves a pair of Chip & Pepper jeans for $140 before they buy a pair of Abercrombie jeans. I mentioned the same thing earlier in this thread about the Express diaper bag vs. the Kate Spade diaper bag.
I guess maybe this is coming from a marketing standpoint but I think what Express and Abercrombie are doing is just a bad, bad idea. Abercrombie and Express have their niche in trendy, moderately priced clothing for high schoolers and young adults. By upping the prices and not the quality, they lose their original market. The older clientele with more money would rather spend their $140 on jeans at Neiman Marcus. I don't know of anyone who would buy a $140 pair of Express or Abercrombie jeans. I have a feeling that this price increase is going to come back to bite these companies' in their butts.

I wonder, if maybe this trend in raising the prices in normally average priced chain stores has to do with the guys? ZTAngel is right, women will not spend $140 on a pair of jeans from one store when they know they can get a "higher" brand pair for the same price. However, I think Abercrombie and Express Men are really sticking it to the guys who shop in their stores. For the AVERAGE male, there is no more expensive equivalent that doesn't cross into territory that most of them would consider gay. I do not know any girls with those $120 Abercrombie jeans, but I know plenty of guys who are buying them, because they look cool and they don't want to have to shop somewhere else.

I agree that the prices in Express are getting ridiculous and, although I have never shopped there with frequency, the recent changes in merchandise pricing have caused me to not go there at all on my shopping trips.

I do not understand why companies would push this price increase. Perhaps they are focusing on urban shoppers? The young female shopper in a large city possibly has the income to spend $90-150 dollars on single items of clothing that are of average quality. But, using the example of North Carolina, there are many small town malls where Express is one of the few choices young women have for stylish clothes... and they do not have the discretionary income to pay these higher prices unless they are looking for something special like a coat or handbag.

God forbid if these price increases ever happen at the Gap... I would probably just die.

This is why I think Limited was a lot smarter with their price increases than Express - they left their jeans, cords, oxford shirts, and basic sweaters at the original prices, and the only stuff that got jacked up was the dress clothes, which had an increase in quality (pants are a better fabric, sweaters now have cashmere and angora vs. straight cotton) so it seems more justifiable.

I live in Eastern NC and I haven't worn Express in years. When I want to shop, I do go to the big cities (Raleigh and Durham, which are the biggest things around...Nordstroms and Saks) I thought Express was cheap years ago, not just now.

*bump*

Express is having a pretty decent sale right now. I think they're having their huge sale coming up in a few weeks but, for right now, they have some of their Editor pants and sweaters on sale. I've wanted these plaid editor pants with a hot pink pinstripe on them for the longest time. At first, they were $78 and then they were marked up to $79.50. I remember saying to a friend of mine when I saw these pants, "I really want these but I guarantee that Express will have a sale and these pants will be marked down to what they should be...$29.95." I was right. I finally bought them this weekend. :) They have their cashmere sweaters for 40% off and some other items (tweed skirts) for 30% to 50% off.
I'll give to Express that they have some great sales but that's the only time I'm willing to shop there. I'm certainly not cheap when it comes to my clothing...I just hate knowing that the company can mark down some of their items more than 50% and still make a great profit.

Yeah we're having a big sale too. I don't see what the big deal is....yeah their clothes are overpriced, but they always go on sale!!! I got two of those shiny/funky blouses for $60 last weekend.

Lerner is like the best freakin store ever, man!
I never shop at Express. They don't really carry clothes in tall, which is a must for me. Places like Lerner and Old Navy do.