Sidenote: So I’m not going to address the elephant in the room, I know that you all know that I rarely blog…Such is life…LOL
Is it just me, or have almost all of the brick and mortar stores for plus-sized women closed their doors? I needed wanted something to wear to a wedding a couple of weeks ago, and decided to stop at the local Ashley Stewart to peruse their offerings. In my travels, I discovered that all of my local stores (5 to be exact) have closed in the last few months. What?! Just when the fashion community is beginning to at least acknowledge the existence of plus size women, these retailers up and leave. Now, I would be lying if I didn’t admit that the majority of my wardrobe comes from online retailers like, Asos, Dorothy Perkins, Simply Be, etc. But, I rarely, if ever, shop online at Ashley Stewart, Lane Bryant, or Torrid because they were always conveniently located near me.
With the plethora of online shopping options available to big girls, have we turned our backs on the ones that took care of us when no one else cared? Do we owe Lane Bryant our loyalty because she has always been there? Does Torrid not deserve the same recognition as Forever 21+; I mean Torrid was doing fast fashion for fat girls before anyone else. And Ashley Stewart, while now gaining a mainstream plus-size following, truthfully begs to have her clothes tried on before purchase. Ashley Stewart has always been a “try-on” store to me. So do I turn to their online sites to make my purchases, grateful that they still even exist, even if almost exclusively on the World Wide Web? Or do I lament the limited shopping options that again plague the plus-size community? I’m conflicted – while I appreciate the options that the internet offers, I still think that retailers are once again trying to push plus size women back into our proverbial “closets” by relegating our purchases to be made in secret, not alongside our straight sized sistren. But maybe it’s just me. What do you think? I welcome your opinion.
PS. Thank you for sticking with me through my hiatus(es). I do appreciate you all. Feel free to follow me on Instagram at @girlsofplenty. I post a whole lot more over there. I am going to do better. Promise.