The Ross Clothing Store at 1931 E Highway 69, Prescott AZ

For anyone that doesn't know, Ross clothing stores are a chain of stores that sell discounted clothing some of which are manufacturing mistakes. The clothes they sell are cheap and if you don't mind an occasional missed stitch or a third armhole in your shirts; you in theory could find some good deals there.

As anyone who knows me can tell you, I'm not much for fashion or spending money on things that don't involve video games or vacation. It would seem as if Ross discount clothing stores and myself would be a good match. However the chances of me ever going into a Ross store was pretty much at 0%, until the day that I got married. On that day my odds of entering stores with words like "Linen" and "Candles" in their titles increased astronomically. I hate this as much as the dainty store clerks who are used to people "smelling good" and seemed a little put off by my "could be homeless" look and mannerisms. My wife does not care about any of this and seems to find it pleasing when I go places like that with her. I do what I can for society though and try to stay away from it as much as I can.

My wife tricked me into going with her to Ross this last weekend. She used the standard "I don't want to spend too much money, so go along with me to keep me under control" device. I had tried calling this "bluff" a few months earlier by telling her "You know how much money we have. You know how much money you can spend. So don't spend more than that." Then I sat back to play some Xbox while she went shopping for clothes. I was content in the knowledge that things would be okay. I was wrong, things did NOT turn out okay. I quickly put on my shoes and drove her to Ross.

Upon entering the store you see a large guy standing by the door. This guy could have been a greeter but he did not greet anyone. He stared everybody down with the look of a surly bouncer and looked like he was ready to go if somebody even cracked their knuckles. Now either this guy was somebody who completely did not understand their job title or he was...a bouncer. What could have possibly happened to necessitate a bouncer in a discount clothing store? Are people actually getting into brawls over the $5 shirt with an extra button sewn into the collar? Couldn't this guy's time be better spent...I don't know, picking up the clothes that are strewn about on the floor in the aisles?

Now for a man shopping at Ross it is fair to warn you that 80% of the store is woman's clothes. 15% is various housewares and shoes that you would probably prefer to buy somewhere else. That means that the entire men's section comprises about 5% of the store for those of you that fail at math. The men's "section" is delegated to about 4 racks set up at the front of the store to the right. My wife went with glee to find some deals and then try them on. I knew that I had about an hour to hang out.

Now I'm not a huge guy, I wear XL usually, like most guys I know. I actually only know 1 or 2 guys that are small enough to wear shirts that say "medium" or "small" on them. These 4 racks of clothes had hundreds of choices for elves and leprechauns. I slowly walked down the aisle while glancing at legions of women hanging out at the changing closets thinking to myself "who in their right minds would wear these clothes with even the slightest notion of pride?" Keep in mind that while I'm thinking this that I'm currently sporting the "could be homeless" look complete with the "my wife made me go all of sudden" hair. Not even I would buy these clothes.

I finally get to the XL section and there are 3 shirts available. One has flowery pink writing emblazoned in front of some tropical setting. This shirt probably belonged in one of the other sections. The other shirt was a black button up with gold patches on one side of both the front and back. The last shirt, the only shirt that I could possibly conceive of buying was plain grey with the Nike symbol on the shoulder. There was no way I was going to pay $10 for that shirt.

800 years later my wife was finally ready to go. I left the store with a feeling of frustration and immense boredom. Here are my ratings regarding this store.

Friendliness: 3 (having some guy stare me down because I'm walking into one of the cheapest clothing stores in town is irritating. Seriously this store is barely an upgrade from the Goodwill and you should be thanking people for coming in ... you know, like a greeter.)

Atmosphere: 3 (row upon row of strewn about clothing make this store more like my room than a retail chain. The odd "Ross" smell combined with poor lighting work together to create a "basement at Sears" motif.

Selection: 1 (This was written by a guy, so this is from a guy's point of view. Unless you are a transvestite or some kind of magical fairy creature from another dimension, you probably will not find anything you would wear)






As a kind of disclaimer I would like to acknowledge that the dig at Ross involving Goodwill stores was made purely to dig at Ross. I've found some sweet deals on decent clothes at various Goodwill stores that I've frequented.