You have noticed it, too. The shrinking size of plus size departments at stores has to do both with money and the “image” the store is trying to project. Plus size experts say that plus size women don’t like to spend any money on their clothes. 

Whether this is true or not is debatable, but many stores want to compete for the younger audience that worships starving celebrities. Because of this, stores feel that having stylish plus size collections would keep this skinny customer from shopping at the store.  Therefore, many stores have not only removed or limited their plus size sections, but also their Petite and Misses sections as well.

Another important thing to remember is that lines rarely start at the low priced budget level and then try to do a higher end line. Think of the most successful, budget friendly designer lines; all of them started off as very pricey high end collections. The issue is, according to the fashion business, in order to have the fabulous budget plus size discount collections, you have to first support the higher end collections.

So, do what the petite sisters did when Saks tossed its petite department- they got organized, wrote letters and, most importantly, when the department got reinstated they went in and spent their money. 

The latter is the most important thing. When the plus sizes return, buy! Or, you can try a store like Thrifty Plus Size. At least we recognize the need for plus size fashions at high end and bargain prices.