I can't tell you how sad it makes me that C-Mart, the discount clothing store that's known far and wide way beyond it Harford County roots in Maryland, is closing.
My sisters and I have shopped there for years back when it used to be located in Forest Hills. Back then, we shopped there because it was always a quirky store with hand-scrawled newspaper ads filled with all the deals you could find inside its cramped, but cozy quarters. We shopped there because the longtime employees were always friendly, knew our names and were quick to tell us about the wonderful finds just waiting to be plucked from the racks and shelves. But mostly, we shopped there because of the deals.
Where else could you find an Armani anything for under $50? Or a Vera Wang dress for $20? Or hand-crafted Italian shoes for $10? Only at C-Mart.
Longtime shoppers like me and my sisters worried, though, when the store moved to its larger Joppatowne digs and focused more on selling discounted high-end furniture. Would the store still be the same? We worried some more when we started noticing that those finds we used to get were creeping up in price. Sure, you could get an IT-purse, but it still cost hundreds of dollars. Then we worried even more when the store was sold and its new owners decided to open a second store in Prince George's County. Would the new store get the better finds?
When the store announced it was building a site online, we feared even more. How could a quirky store like C-Mart, filled with all kinds of odds and ends and one-of-a kind merchandise and thousands of items, put that gigantic inventory online? Would they take pictures of every little thing and price every little item? How could that odd charm translate itself to the Web?
Turns out it couldn't, as we feared, despite bold promises on its Web site when it closed the Landover store earlier this year:
We're still wondering what happened? C-Mart's Web site doesn't offer much insight into the problems it encountered. Sure, blame the economy. But for years, C-Mart managed to do well offering deep discounts on designer wear. What changed? There's an old and brief statement saying, "DOWN but NOT OUT" that promises to come back with a bigger and better Web site in the fall.
But now we know that's not to be and that our old, beloved C-Mart got knocked out long ago by a change in business plan that just never seemed to work for a store that was already doing just fine the way it was.
