My daughter and I woke up early last Saturday morning and headed out to stand in line at the Macy's entrance. It was the grand opening of their new Backstage shopping experience and we were excited to check it out, along with the other 75 or so people in line. Mayor Kelaher cut the ribbon, and the shopping began.
Anastasia and I took the escalator up to the second floor of the department store, where Macy's Backstage is located. Colorful stars, their signature logo, led the way to our shopping fun. We could see right away, the deep discounted prices as my daughter started checkout all the things she wanted on first sight. Think upscale TJ Maxx, with better brands, but with the discounted prices you would find at the off-price store.
The first section we came across was beauty and fragrance. With lots of specialty bath products, accessories and masks, this was my 11 year old's new favorite section to shop. I was excited to pick up a charcoal body scrub that I had been hearing people rave out about for much cheaper than I had seen anywhere else. We had our usual make-up argument at the large e.l.f. cosmetics cube. I convinced my daughter to use her hard saved money on a spinning face cleaning wand rather than makeup she knew she wasn't allowed to wear out of the house. They had too many fragrance choices for me to choose from - Vince Camuto, Burberry, Rihanna, Kim Kardashian and some classics like Cool Water by Davidoff.
I finally convinced my daughter to leave the self-care section and head over to my favorite department - shoes! The organization of the shoe department was a little confusing. I couldn't follow the order of the sizes but since they had big size signs on top of each rack I was able to find what we were looking for. They had a large section of both my daughter's and my size so I knew this was going to take a while. Backstage had lots of my favorite brands - Cole Haan, Anne Klein and American Rag Co. as well as stylish younger brands for my daughter. I tried on a bunch of ballet flats while my daughter found a pair of adorable jeweled Vince Camuto sandals for our upcoming trip to Disney. FYI to the Macaroni Moms, though our Macy's did not carry kids' shoes - the Ocean County Mall Macy's Backstage offers a large Kids' Shoe department with a really big selection for your little ones.
We spent the next hour and a half wandering the Backstage department. They had fun things set up for their Grand Opening - including a selfie booth that made gifs. My daughter picked a cute outfit for me for our girls' trip to Disney and we found some new leggings for her upcoming running club season. I dropped some serious Mother's Day hints for this gorgeous pale mauve, vegan leather handbag I absolutely loved.
I foresee lots of shopping time with my tween partner in crime spent in the new Macy's Backstage. With home goods, handbags, toys, clothes and beauty, there are departments for both of us to shop in, and with the discounted prices, we won't get the dreaded "Don't spend too much," look from my husband as we leave the house. Win-win!
