Your Friendly Manhattan Mall Update

Manhattan Mall, the mall of midtown and home to Steve & Barry's and Strawberry, is going through some changes:










The bottom floor is what used to be the food court. A loss, yes (no more food samples), but all this construction will bring JCPenney to midtown Manhattan. I haven't stepped foot inside a JCPenney since I was a kid. And back then we had more family ties to Sears as my sister was a top seller in automotive (employee discount, baby!). So send me some JCPenney comments, I'm curious as to what you all think.

And some Manhattan Mall windows:










At Steve & Barry's, the Sex and the City T-shirts by Bitten. Umm, "I'm with Mr. Big," not really interested but perhaps it's my age/marital status. You?

Also at Steve & Barry's, the Wonderwall line by Laird Hamilton. "We are all equal before a wave." Maybe if one is a world-class surfer, yes. Me, not so much as I discovered on my honeymoon after a bit of a tropical storm. But Laird's line looks pretty good. I eyeballed the collection today and am buying some later this week (the lunchtime line was too long). There are some decent looking striped shirts and also plaid shorts for the guys. And it's all $8.98 or less. Will try to get Husband (a much more "equal before the wave" type) to model.

And I was inexplicably drawn to this Victoria's Secret window:

then it hit me: this was exactly what I had needed for my own wedding gown. Something reasonable to pouf up Mom's dress. She and I had some gut-busting fun shopping for a crinoline (the original had been lost). The only ones we could find were huge, as in "bigger than the church aisle" huge. So I hope this helps someone out there who is also overwhelmed by too-too poufy wedding undergarments.

The rest of the Victoria's Secret wedding collection looks vintage, pretty and sexy. Has anyone tried it on? Lingerie trying-on was not happening today as I haven't been to the gym in over a week.

Steve & Barry's, Manhattan Mall level 2, 33rd @ 6th
Victoria's Secret, Manhattan Mall level 2