Shopping At Luxury Stores | Page 2 | the Fashion Spot

Shopping At Luxury Stores

Originally posted by meowmix@Nov 4 2004, 07:08 AM
ahh hanne that's absolutely brilliant...
i used to be rather intimidated...especially after an incident at the versace store in nyc a few years ago (:yuk: never going back to that place again). my mom and i went in there after a day of shopping at all the high end boutiques up and down and around 5th but this complete JERK kept coming up to me and harassing me, saying "UMMM...can i HELP you with something?" and i'd politely said no thank you and he would keep coming back and would NOT leave me alone...
i guess now i just pick and choose my 'battles' now...with some of them you just have to be a little more firm...but still, there are those who will be relentless...or just disrespectfully dismissive. i just wonder how salespeople like that would feel if they were given the same treatment? esp since theyr'e the ones SELLING the merchandise, not BUYING it...
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OT: Are you Russian? (referring to your avatar pic.)
 
Don't pay the workers at Bloomies, Saks or Neimans any mind. Surprisingly I have always received excellent service at the Bloomies and Saks in NYC...including phone calls with pre-sale info, etc.

When they catch an attitude, just remind yourself that their punishment is being in a job that they most likely hate to the bone......and are rewarded on average very little. Note: this isn't to say you are looking down upon them, I have lots of respect for retail workers....but some of these folks at shops like Barneys or the boutiques in Soho swear they are working the catwalks of Bryant Park instead of selling clothes.......
 
Originally posted by lovespell@Nov 3 2004, 12:32 AM
Oh, and I thought I might add something else. I work as a sales associate at Herbergers, a department store OWNED BY SAKS. It is drilled into us that you never judge customers, and are always helpful wether or not they buy things. I don't work on commission, but I am always polite and helpful to our customers. I went into Saks thinking that it would be the same, but even more so since it is a high end department store.
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Herberger's! Dude, I had no idea they were owned by Saks! I used to buy stuff from Herberger's sometimes when I was in high-school. They have good sales and they sure used to have nice, cute stuff. I'm sure they still do. If they still carry Byer brand, they have cute stuff in the Jr. department. I got my dress for homecoming dance my senior year there. :)

I like a lot of the middle-market department stores like Herbergers and Jones, as well as the cheaper ones like Kohls and Gordmans. Often shops like those will carry basically the same stuff as the high-end store, just with out the name brand and the high price tag.
 
I'm sorry you had to have that experiance.....I'm glad you sent the email, and hopefully you will get a gift certificate out of it! I never thought of that, I am going to start complaining more :brows:
Anyway, if you don't mind my asking what did you tell them in the email? Let us know what they say, and more important, do you get any free stuff?
 
Yesterday, I stumbled upon a new designer boutique within a local department store. Actually, I think it's the first and only place that sells real designer men's clothing in Kansas City, so I'm excited. Anyhow, the salesmen are really, really nice and very helpful. One guy talked with me about designers for about fifteen minutes, found tons of stuff in my size, and even took down and dismantled a manican so I could try on the jacket it was wearing.

Before I found this treasure (somehow spotted "PRADA" on a faraway window display full of Prada), I was browsing around a middle-end department store that sells stuff like Seven jeans and Marc New York. These salespeople were unbelievably snobby for reasons I'll never comprehend. I was the only customer in the store, and there were literally at least ten salespeople standing around near the front of the store. Not one of them said anything to me the entire time. They just stared at me. For ten minutes. My sweater alone cost twice as much as anything there, and they all looked down at me like I wasn't good enough for their store. :wacko: :rolleyes:
 
Originally posted by AlexN@Nov 5 2004, 12:05 PM
Yesterday, I stumbled upon a new designer boutique within a local department store. Actually, I think it's the first and only place that sells real designer men's clothing in Kansas City, so I'm excited. Anyhow, the salesmen are really, really nice and very helpful. One guy talked with me about designers for about fifteen minutes, found tons of stuff in my size, and even took down and dismantled a manican so I could try on the jacket it was wearing.

Before I found this treasure (somehow spotted "PRADA" on a faraway window display full of Prada), I was browsing around a middle-end department store that sells stuff like Seven jeans and Marc New York. These salespeople were unbelievably snobby for reasons I'll never comprehend. I was the only customer in the store, and there were literally at least ten salespeople standing around near the front of the store. Not one of them said anything to me the entire time. They just stared at me. For ten minutes. My sweater alone cost twice as much as anything there, and they all looked down at me like I wasn't good enough for their store. :wacko: :rolleyes:
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What shops were these, Alex? Hook a fellow Kansas Citian up! ;)
 
Originally posted by As You Like It@Nov 5 2004, 09:03 PM
What shops were these, Alex? Hook a fellow Kansas Citian up! ;)
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Ha! I knew you'd ask. Mark Shale (Country Club Plaza) is the store full of extremely boring, middle-line stuff and snooty sales staff. And Halls (Country Club Plaza) now carries Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, D&G, Just Cavalli ( :sick: ), and a bunch of other stuff. The guy said they were about to expand more and took a note of my suggestions for a bunch of other designers (especially Helmut Lang). So, it oughta be quite nice within the next few months. I'm guessing the women's section is about the same. There's women's Prada for sure, since the Prada window display is right outside the women's part of the store. I'm pretty sure the Halls Crown Center doesn't have anything like this, so I wouldn't bother looking there unless you live really close.
 
Originally posted by Hanne@Nov 3 2004, 11:19 AM
Some years ago I recieved an invitation to preview YSL's new collection.
I probably got the invite because I had bought a dress the season before, anyways..
dumb as a doorknob..I went there dressed in nothing inparticular..
and there was staff enough for individual attention, champagne, sushi ..the works and two young models modeling the collection.
As soon as I arrived one of the staff personel approached me and informed me (very politely)
that today they were having a special pre-showing of their new collection, and I sensed he told me this
because he thought I was a tourist that had just wandered in from the street..(or too young and poor to be a typical customer)
and didn't have anything to do there..so I just looked at him and said:

"I know, I got the invite" PRICELESS
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:brows: too funny.
 
Originally posted by AlexN@Nov 6 2004, 01:21 AM
Ha! I knew you'd ask. Mark Shale (Country Club Plaza) is the store full of extremely boring, middle-line stuff and snooty sales staff. And Halls (Country Club Plaza) now carries Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, D&G, Just Cavalli ( :sick: ), and a bunch of other stuff. The guy said they were about to expand more and took a note of my suggestions for a bunch of other designers (especially Helmut Lang). So, it oughta be quite nice within the next few months. I'm guessing the women's section is about the same. There's women's Prada for sure, since the Prada window display is right outside the women's part of the store. I'm pretty sure the Halls Crown Center doesn't have anything like this, so I wouldn't bother looking there unless you live really close.
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Yeah, the Plaza is close enough for me. I go down there for people-watching from time to time, but I had never been in Halls. I don't think I have ever been in Mark Shale, either. Mostly I go to the Plaza for people-watching, and for the cheese shop. The Better Cheddar rocks my socks off.

The only thing I ever go to Crown Center for is to Cy Rudnik's fabrics. That place is beyond freakin' awesome.

Actually Crown Center and the Plaza are reasonably close for me. I can bike to Crown Center or the Plaza. I live in the Old Northeast, off of Independence & Hardesty, so anything in the city proper is "close enough" for me. I used to live down in Westport, so pretty much anything north of Brookside and south of Cliff Drive is familiar to me. It's crap like Zona Rosa that is way the hell too far out for me to bother with. I had to go up there last Saturday to deliver a dress to a client and I got so damn lost, I had to call her from a gas-station payphone and tell her to come meet me at the Total off of Barry Rd and I29!

Granted I would only go in looking. I can't afford stuff like Dolce & Gabbana, and Prada, and frankly, I don't like Prada anyhow. Her stuff looks like stuff I could make up using my fine collection of 1960s Simplicity patterns!
 
Originally posted by As You Like It@Nov 6 2004, 09:10 AM
Granted I would only go in looking. I can't afford stuff like Dolce & Gabbana, and Prada, and frankly, I don't like Prada anyhow. Her stuff looks like stuff I could make up using my fine collection of 1960s Simplicity patterns!
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Yeah, I know. But at least you could go in and study the clothes up close and personal.

Zona Rosa is just a replica of Town Center Plaza. Kinda like Oak Park Mall is a replica of the Country Club Plaza, shop-wise. Pretty pathetic.
 
i've never had a bad experience in the mens section of Saks and Neimans, but I was just wondering how much these sales people make???? Are they well paid that they feel they can pick and choose who they want to help?
 
You should feel lucky for not having 120000000 SA's bombarding you with the "can i help you, do you need anything, can i find something for you??" I personally find it annoying. But i do see you're point that you traveled all that way and had a bad experience.

What I ALWAYs hate is when I walk into a boutique or even an outlet and there are 5-10 SA's standing around doing nothing and talking about nothing (this happened all the time at Neimans Men Section) and I cannot get any help, then i ask them for a size or something and they ignore me and keep talking about useless info.

The wierdest thing that ever happend was at Kaufmanns in a little mall around here. They had just gotten the new Kors by Michael Kors line for Men and I got a "pre-opening viewing/reservation" in the mail because I buy stuff alot from Kors boutiques and stuff. I walk in the night before when they were setting up displays. And this guy comes up to me ( iwas dressed normal in a DKNY sweater and jeans ) and he says "i'm sorry but this pre-sale is reserved for the older folk who actually will buy stuff (note i'm only 17) And i showed him the card and told him i plan on buying a lot of things with my OWN money. and then politely requested another sales associate to give my commission to. the look on his face i will never forget. And i bet if i went in there today and he was there, he'd probably go on break. lol
 
does anyone find that middle end stores are even MORE snobbier? ive been in a bebe (dont ask) and this place that sells, like, mavi jeans and the salespeople there were incredibly snobby...it was soo annoying particularly since they were selling such tacky-*** clothng in the first place :angry:
 
I guess I'll put my two cents in since I've been both a customer and a retail employee. I've worked in Hechts (Like Kaufmanns/Strawbridges etc.), Filenes Basement and Nordstrom. Each store has a different compensation structure which will often determine the level of service you receive.

At Filenes Basement, you get $6.25/hr. with no commission and a 30% discount. Not bad, but the people who work there aren't about to help you coordinate outfits, they're too busy putting stuff back from the dressing rooms and straightening racks. Management doesn't keep enough employees in the store to do anything but keep it open and the cash registers ringing. Its a friendly working environment and relatively stress free. No one receives commission, everyone starts out part-time and you don't get any benefits until you're full time.

At Hechts, they started me at $6.75, also with a 30% discount. Managment didn't give a crap about anything other than pushing merch out to the floor and ringing the registers. Employees are treated like meat and treat the customers accordingly. Coupons are the bane of any workers existence (i.e. the SAME SALE runs EVERY WEEKEND but people think because its a "coupon" you get more than you got LAST weekend). NO respect and it shows in who helps you. The only people in the store who got commission were shoes and furniture. Everyone else is working poor.

At Nordstrom you get the best of the best. I think I got $8/base back in 1999 with a 4% commission on whatever I sold, which at the time was ladies accessories and later ladies bridge apparel. Commission depends on whatever department you worked in, and everyone received it. Here salespeople will escort you around the store to make sure you find a sweater to match your favorite brooch and personally take your pants to the in-store tailor if you need a rush. Sales floors are not crowded so that people may safely navigate the store and that people with disabilities don't feel crowded. A pleasant working environment, but the staff can get very competitive with commissions. Seniority is usually an excuse for taking someone elses sale. Employees often have college degrees and are highly motivated. The discount was 20% for regular employees and the best seller in each department received a 33% discount for the following year. You can actually make a living wage at this job, the only one of the three stores its possible at.

When you're working on commission to feed yourself you start to become a bit pickier about whom you spend a lot of time with. Imagine how it is to "invest" an extended period of time with someone who needs a lot of assistance but doesn't ultimately purchase anything. There is an opportunity cost - the cost of what someone else could have added to your paycheck instead. You choose the guy in the Ferragamo loafers over the Birkenstocks. I'm sorry, but its true. In your position you'd do the same. Maybe not at first, but once you see its impact on your paycheck you feel the consequences of your decisions.

While each of these retail stores are not "luxury" hopefully it will give everyone some insight into the person across the counter. I'm finishing my masters in April and work retail to score some easy cash and a good discount. Another of my colleagues is midway through her PhD. Snottiness is never acceptable but sometimes you're only as good as the people standing behind you in managment. Associates don't make up lame return policies or have any say in much of what goes on in running a store. Hopefully what I wrote above will shed some light on to why associates behave the way they do in each of those types of store.
 
Originally posted by sugarpea@Nov 8 2004, 10:23 PM
does anyone find that middle end stores are even MORE snobbier? ive been in a bebe (dont ask) and this place that sells, like, mavi jeans and the salespeople there were incredibly snobby...it was soo annoying particularly since they were selling such tacky-*** clothng in the first place :angry:
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That's my final conclusion, and I grow more resolute in this belief every time I shop now. But it doesn't bother me at all anymore; I just roll my eyes and laugh at them if they act like that.
 
Originally posted by AlexN@Nov 9 2004, 04:04 PM
That's my final conclusion, and I grow more resolute in this belief every time I shop now. But it doesn't bother me at all anymore; I just roll my eyes and laugh at them if they act like that.
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Huh, they're always hella nice to me in Bebe, even though I tell them I don't need any help, and try on practically everything in the store but don't buy anything. But I don't ask for help and I hang stuff back up where it came from, so they probably like me all right because I don't interrupt their gab-sessions.
 
Kiimi, I had no idea retail paid that low. I thought stores like mall chains or Macys paid like $10 an hr. Wow, damn....6.25 is barely above min wage.
 
Well, whenever I go into those department stores I get dressed up to the nines. Classy top, nice pants, hair done, makeup. Nice bag. And they always fawn over you then. Once I went into Bloomindales' with $0 but was dressed really nice, I basically was window shopping and browsing, and the SA's all treated me with respect. One even saw me looking at a sweater; came running and told me she had more colors in a small, because I look like a small and went ahead and opened a dressing room for me. :lol: I didn't even have money. I was too embarassed to say that. So I told her I wasn't done looking, and when she was gone, I walked away. I never even bothered to try them on. Why torture myself?

The most snobby SA's are actually in the lower quality stores: BeBe, Wet Seal, and Hollister. Esp. Hollister, the girl SA's always look at me with attitude. Like they even know about fashion? Psssh!!! :lol: I hate girls like that! Ugh!!
 
Not a luxury department store, still bad service - I was in line at Marshalls to purchase a sweater, but I was in the Customer Service line, which is for returns /exchanges / layaway, and when it was my turn, the sales assistant snottily told me to go to the register lines even though I had already waited in line, so then I had to wait for another line. B*TCH.
 

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