Soft Surroundings - edited - just ignore me

[MamaJunebug]

I went to the website and find this under "gifts" -- definite non-fundamentalist books.

softsurroundings.com/Gifts_&_Goodies/

Just ignore the rest of this worrisome post. I may even use my mad mod powerz and delete the whole thing in a few minutes. LOL

Jordan Niednagel buys his Meliss items from Soft Surroundings when he's feeling very gifty and/or when they are in Saint Louis visiting the Zeses (I guess); Stacy McDonald made a trip from Peoria to the SS mothership in Saint Louis and giddily reported on same; her blog now sports a link to softsurroundings.com

Never one to let a possible field trip into the dominionist wilds go by, I ventured to the store when I was in the city the other day.

The good: The ladies staffing the store were welcoming, enjoyed my sense of humor, and helpful in the old-style way I remember saleswomen helped my mom in the 1950s when she went (all too infrequently) dress shopping.

The meh: The merchandise is pretty, but its quality is far less than its price would imply. The materials are nothing special, the construction is about the same as you see in the clothes in H&M or Forever 21. I'll continue to scour the resale shops for better-made clothing, pre-worn, thanks anyhoo.

The scary: About half the books they sell are on developing good manners - ok, that's not scary in and of itself. Let's say it this way: The off-putting is that they have a book on helping boys grow up with gentlemanly manners, and *two* books for girls - one on manners and one on becoming good ladies.

..... OK, fine, sosueme, it's not like I walked into a fundie wedding reception redux. It's not that bad. Two books on turning girls into girly-women, vs. one book on turning boys into manly-men, does not a hotbed of dominionism make.

And they sell slacks for women. And jeans. And lacy lingerie (though I promise that if I have $27 to spend on clothing I will leave a store with more than One Pair Of Underpantz). And they sell not-modest swimming suits.

But they are privately owned, and Stacy and Jordanyo love them, and they sells those books. So....

Does anybody know what's up with Soft Surroundings? Dom-controlled company poised to take over the world one etiquette book at a time .... or ... other????

(I'm laughing at myself as much as at SS's inventory and prices, y'all. Apparently even the Junebug brain cells don't necessarily keep a person from seeing conspiracies around every corner.... but still....)

(Also scary: Am I repeating myself? Did I post this topic previously? I tell you, I need the gingko biloba, I truly do.)

[gingernut]

Well, you may ask us to ignore you but there are other people (me) who would actually wonder all the same things. Jordan, Melissa, the Thomases....they are for some reason nauseatingly (is that a word?) interesting to me and always have been. I know some of their friends in real life so I know they really exist, but if I didn't I would wonder....are these people really REAL??? They live this storybook existence and want for nothing. They don't wear frumpers, the Thomas boys run around looking like models....defrauding everyone with their shirtless pictures....yet underneath they are as reformed and fundie as any of them. So as dominionists go I also wonder what makes them tick, what they would find interesting, etc. So your foray into the Soft Surroundings store was a welcome perspective.

[hoipolloi]

Thank you, Mama JB. I'd wondered about the raves over SS from Jordan-Melissa & Stacy.

Interesting that someone like Melissa -- who apparently sews really well & has no problem creating good-looking outfits or costumes -- would like things from SS when they're of such indifferent quality..

[Marian the Librarian]

According to Reference USA, their management directory lists Parker Smith (male) as General Manager; Burnadette Kurr (female) as HR Executive, and Cindy Burnsten (female) as Finance Executive. Sales volume: $4,361,000. Credit Rating Score: C.

I cant' scare up a whole lot of info on any of these folks - any other FJ detectives want to give it a go??

[maybeizfundie]

When I clicked the link the first picture on there was what look to be several romance novels? "Fever in France", etc, etc. Thinking of that in combination with VF/ATI folks made me giggle.

:lol:

[CanadianHippie]

When I clicked the link the first picture on there was what look to be several romance novels? "Fever in France", etc, etc. Thinking of that in combination with VF/ATI folks made me giggle.

:lol:

Oh, they aren't just any old romance novels. You get a code, go online, fill out a bunch of information and the whole book is about you and your steamy/sensual/erotic adventures!

[MamaJunebug]

According to Reference USA, their management directory lists Parker Smith (male) as General Manager; Burnadette Kurr (female) as HR Executive, and Cindy Burnsten (female) as Finance Executive. Sales volume: $4,361,000. Credit Rating Score: C.

I cant' scare up a whole lot of info on any of these folks - any other FJ detectives want to give it a go??

Ask a librarian!! Mad skilz, thank you MtL. That C credit rating can't be setting well with the no-debt crowd...

[FlorenceHamilton]

My guess is that their target consumers are financially secure women of a certain age. There is a certain overlap with the younger fundy-lite crowd. I am sure the company is aware of this as well. My guess is that they will target more to the latter crowd in the future or need to change the syling a bit. There is a whole new wave of women of a certain age who did not get there only by marrying well. Women who are now in the fifties often have had independence and careers. They will be looking for comfortable clothing as well, but with a less fussy, full skirted feel.

[MamaJunebug]

Well! I'm so glad you guys ignored my advice to ignore me!

I have a little free time so looked up Parker Smith, and find that SS is HQ'ed not in St. Louis (though their website and maybe their catalog lists STL as a base) but in Mexico, Mo.

A Junior Junebug attended college in Columbia, MO, not far from Mexico. It was on a trip to Columbia that I first saw kapped, dress-wearing women and khaki-&-oxford-shirt wearing men driving around in minivans and it was on successive trips there that they were such a commonplace sight I hardly noticed them. IOW, midstate Missouri has a prety good share of modest, etc., types.

And oh, boy! They're opening a store in San Antonio this fall. Well, there you go. I mean, there also are stores in Kansas City, Connecticut, Denver, Boston, Houston, Dallas/FW and Chicagoland so it's not exactly conspiracy time, but .... it's interesting that STacy traveled all the way to Saint Louis rather than just go to Barrington, IL. I'd think that's closer. I'm kind of over mapquest, though, so somebody else can do the mileage if they want. ;)

Finally, reviews on pricegrabber.com were almost uniformly positive about service and merch, so what do I know?

Finally finally, I started reading this comment with my usual FJ-style dread, but within a couple lines, was grinning. SEe if you do, too. ;)

I was searching for skirts to use in worship services at my church and went through dozens and dozens of dance clothing sites; but, when I found yours, I stopped that search and was very pleased with the beautiful skirt I found on your page... and on sale, too! It is far more beautiful than the liturgical items I was looking at and will make a very nice presentation on stage. ....