Shopping At Luxury Stores

[fashionista-ta]

^ Ermine is winter weasel, yes? Weasel weasel (summer weasel) is brown I believe?

 

[djork]

^ Ermine is winter weasel, yes? Weasel weasel (summer weasel) is brown I believe?

and screeching weasel is a band.

 

[SweetFantasy]

I went to Hugo Boss and got weird looks...

 

[travis_nw8]

^ Ermine is winter weasel, yes? Weasel weasel (summer weasel) is brown I believe?

when i think of ermine i always think of those house of lords gowns- the coat i'm interested in is black weasal- similar to beaver..

 

[shadow]

I agree with what someone said in this forum. Snobby SA are often to be found in provincial towns, where there are only a couple of "good" shops and they feel la creme de la creme. I know I am treated infinitely better at Cartier in the rue de la Paix in Paris than at the crappy CH store in my Spanish birthplace.

 

[fashionista-ta]

when i think of ermine i always think of those house of lords gowns- the coat i'm interested in is black weasal- similar to beaver..

I figured you weren't talking the white stuff It always makes me think of the Queen ...

 

[Strikingly Chloe]

abercrombie is the King of snooty SA's, they're working in the dark, while I get to browse, not buy a thing (because I choose to) and then step next door for a Starbucks..

 

[Jungla_Juana]

probably the best SA i've encountered was this girl at Susan on sacramento st (san francisco), I went in to look at the balenciaga shoes and she was so nice, she really knew her shiz too... like how pierre hardy designed bal shoes, which shoes were from which season, and how she LOVEd pierre hardy (she was wearing PH pumps). when I said 'i'll take them' she was all happy and said 'yayyy', i bet that's because she was getting commission but it was so cute

 

[svetty]

abercrombie is the King of snooty SA's, they're working in the dark, while I get to browse, not buy a thing (because I choose to) and then step next door for a Starbucks..

I hate everything about Abercrombie, its just too snotty, smelly, dark and noisy! I can never shop there, i get headaches!

 

[mme]

I remember one time at Gucci, a woman walked in the store with a brand new Indy and immediately the SA's were all over her. Two SA's pratically greeted her at the door, complimenting her on her bag, and the rest of them were giving over enthusiastic smiles while she shopped

 

[knightley]

I had the most hilarious experience at Chanel in Las Vegas not too long ago. I mean, Vegas? You're going to throw me attitude?! I wish I'd known about this thread sooner!

My mother is a HUGE Chanel person. She's sort of like Snejana, you know what I mean? Head to toe addiction to it. She drug me in there before dinner and I was already sort of bored (the Marc store was too tiny to really keep me interested). Obviously, right before dinner we were up to the casual nines. Anyway, I was wearing a Fendi jumper and had my Stam bag and she was in a Chanel dress, pumps, and bag - even her earrings were Chanel, oh mom. The salespeople were actually super fantastic. Very attentive and polite, offered to get my mother a water bottle, came round with heaps of outfits to match the few pairs of shoes and bags she was picking up. I was pleasantly surprised because one of the other girls kept talking to me and it perked me up, so the next day I came in wearing ratty sass and bide jeans with some vintage Calvin Klein shirt - not anything in recent seasons if you know what I mean and they were AWFUL. No one said a word to me, at all, and when I asked, finally, to look at a pair of shoes the lady who helped my mom the night before (and had been super great to her) looked at my feet and grimaced. Still, I really wanted the pink ballet flats so I went ahead with purchasing them and when she saw the name on the card she looked up at me and said "...you were in here last night with your mother, yes?" and I nodded and she just blanched and apologized profusely. Really. Just "I am so sorry it took so long to help you, really, I am so sorry. Please accept my apologies!" Goes to show, if your mother goes in and drops over 20k in twenty-five minutes you are entitled to awesome service. If not, ...nope.

Marc Jacobs in Vegas is probably the BEST Marc store I have ever been in. Hands down. I looked awful and they were enthusiastic, super funny, really willing to help. They let me touch everything, try everything on. I went in in flip flops and they were absolutely incredible. The poor guy almost had a /heart attack/ when I told him I wanted it all. He didn't think I had the money but still treated me like I was a rockstar or a vip at least. The New York is full of annoying hipsters ;.

 

[travis_nw8]

I hate everything about Abercrombie, its just too snotty, smelly, dark and noisy! I can never shop there, i get headaches!

I know what you mean- the person who designs the abercrombie interiors should be shot- i found myself in the london store and can't believe how they ruined that light and airy ( though empty and pointless) jil sander store

The worst service i've ever had was proberly at the tods in sloane street (infamous for it...)

 

[Rubinaa]

and screeching weasel is a band.

... and here's a fan!

 

[fashionista-ta]

I had the most hilarious experience at Chanel in Las Vegas not too long ago. I mean, Vegas? You're going to throw me attitude?! I wish I'd known about this thread sooner!

My mother is a HUGE Chanel person. She's sort of like Snejana, you know what I mean? Head to toe addiction to it. She drug me in there before dinner and I was already sort of bored (the Marc store was too tiny to really keep me interested). Obviously, right before dinner we were up to the casual nines. Anyway, I was wearing a Fendi jumper and had my Stam bag and she was in a Chanel dress, pumps, and bag - even her earrings were Chanel, oh mom. The salespeople were actually super fantastic. Very attentive and polite, offered to get my mother a water bottle, came round with heaps of outfits to match the few pairs of shoes and bags she was picking up. I was pleasantly surprised because one of the other girls kept talking to me and it perked me up, so the next day I came in wearing ratty sass and bide jeans with some vintage Calvin Klein shirt - not anything in recent seasons if you know what I mean and they were AWFUL. No one said a word to me, at all, and when I asked, finally, to look at a pair of shoes the lady who helped my mom the night before (and had been super great to her) looked at my feet and grimaced. Still, I really wanted the pink ballet flats so I went ahead with purchasing them and when she saw the name on the card she looked up at me and said "...you were in here last night with your mother, yes?" and I nodded and she just blanched and apologized profusely. Really. Just "I am so sorry it took so long to help you, really, I am so sorry. Please accept my apologies!" Goes to show, if your mother goes in and drops over 20k in twenty-five minutes you are entitled to awesome service. If not, ...nope.

Marc Jacobs in Vegas is probably the BEST Marc store I have ever been in. Hands down. I looked awful and they were enthusiastic, super funny, really willing to help. They let me touch everything, try everything on. I went in in flip flops and they were absolutely incredible. The poor guy almost had a /heart attack/ when I told him I wanted it all. He didn't think I had the money but still treated me like I was a rockstar or a vip at least. The New York is full of annoying hipsters ;.

Great stories, knightley You have totally entertained me on my tea break

Is your username after Mr, Keira, or something else altogether?

I had rather indifferent service last time I was in Barney's, which is usually good. I would just as soon not be helped by a guy in the clothing department, but oh well ... He complimented my shoes, but the tone conveyed something else, as in "Your shoes are cuuuuute [I can't believe it]!!" I just took it all with a rock of salt, and he showed up every so often to cart my selections away to the dressing room. After I handed him about the 9th pair of black pants he commented, "I think you're shopping for black pants!" I handed the attitude right back to him--"yeeeah!!"

I used to work in a men's store (well, we had a few women's suits) when I was his age (and I gave much better customer service I might add ) and so I know what tailors can do. If they could make those guys look good, they can make me look good. There was some extra fabric in the seat & while he sat there saying "It looks okaaay" I got the tailor to do something about it. At the end he said "I didn't know the tailor could fix that" & I thought to myself, I guess we learned something today

But I mention this to say, I didn't let him get to me, I was perfectly capable of helping myself & I did. He improved a bit along the way, but even a store that has every intention of offering you good service, and I believe that is their philosophy here, occasionally has a bad hire. Hey, don't let it ruin your day or your shopping experience or keep you from getting exactly what you want. And maybe that SA will give the next person better service because they learn something from you.

 

[Dkammern]

WARNING! i just realized how much i’ve written and i am certainly ashamed of it! this looks like a fashionistas diary! sorry for writing so much, but last summer was the biggest shopping experience ever so there are a lot more shops i went to (miu miu, l’eclarieur, awful marc jacobs, hugo boss, didier ludot, lanvin, mulberry, gucci, dupont, valentino and many others) but if there is one conclusion i can get out of all of them is that the only thing you need is a sharp outfit that doesnt looked over-planned, very clear ideas of what you are going to ask for, and never ever let them intimidate you. because you are the one who is potentially buying!
if you still wanna read what i did in last summer in Paris, go ahead and read, but dont expect anything uberexciting!

________________________________________________________________________

My summer in Paris

Yes, last summer I went to Paris! on my onw, i knew absolutly nobody there, but i decided to take my watercolours and my brushes and go discover the most beautiful city in the world!
I got there the second week of july and it rained!! it rained a whoooole week!! and what could a tFSer do in Paris, after going three times to Louvre, and once to every other existing museum in the city, and with no other place to stay dry but my boring room or the underground?

YES, SHOPPING! (or windowshopping!)​

I think i went to every store that i adore and had dreamed of... I had been to the ones in Barcelona, but that is just not the same. Paris gets the full collections, they are kinder with tourist (like me), and they are so surrounded by other luxury stores that they would try ANYTHING to make you buy their product and not the one next-door!
I'd never been shy to enter the stores in my hometown, so I never thought i'd be a problem to do so in Paris. I always had in mind what story i was gonna tell de SAs... sometimes i really wanted to buy (specially my extensive search for a man bag), some others i was just... mmm... testing how good service they give to clients
the results to my tests are basically these:

Louis Vuitton: FANTASTIC service. i went to pretty much all the stores, but the best was of course the flagship in Champs Elysees. I asked to visit L'espace Louis Vuitton just above the store that had a very entertaining expo by different artists i love like Klein and Stark. I looked decent and they treated me decently so i kind of expected it.
What was a bit more surprising was the second time I had to go there. I was coming from Montmartre, wearing ripped jeans, a big white t-shirts all splattered in a beautiful shade of blue watercolour, but looking like horribly dirty-bohemian-gipsy that hadnt shave in a week or so. Maybe my nice tailored jacket, Ferragamo shoes and a dior bag helped me looking not so gipsy. The case is my appearance was terrible, but i really wanted to look for a charm for my sister’s birthday in the jewelry “floor/department”.
The jewerly director was kind enough to help me, he offered me a glass of Moet, i refused and chose sparkling water, and he started bringing all the charming… erm… charms!! those were certainly not the prices i was expecting. So i had to tell him that a diamond incrusted heart was probably not the best souvenir from Paris for my sister, and i subsequently invented a short story on how we hadnt seen each other for a couple of months, and i jsut wanted un petit charm pour lui faire plaisir, i didnt mention it was for her birthday, just something a lot less important. I thanked him for the Pellegrino, and politely took off still shocked by the price of those beautiful tiny things! (let’s say i expected quite a few hundred euros, but not thousands!)

Givenchy: very very good too! they told me they could only save a shirt i loved for a couple of days, I went there 4 days later, and it was still there with my name on it, waiting for me!! one of my favorite shirts ever by the way!

Armani: terrible service! they were kind of intimidating. but as Acid very well said, once they see you know twice as much about fashion as they do... they just shut up and do whatever you ask for.

Chanel jewelry: the boutique in place Vendome was kinda closed , i guess they were doing reparations, or redecorating, or whatever. So i was invited to an appartment in the first floor. I was told to wait in a sitting room, while watching a couture show... i could hear one of the SAs critizising Karl’s clothes unbelievable!! I was finally helped by a lovely lady that showed me all sort of charms that were also slightly overprized. We talked about Barcelona, the crazy weather of Paris, she told me i had a very nice french accent, which is always great to hear, and i left!

Hermes: not bad, not extremely good! just what you could expect from them ( i guess if i had been really interested in soemthing in particular they would have helped a lot more. I just took a look at some of the bracelets for my sister, after giving up on the charms)

Chanel rue Cambon: I made it clear from the start that the present for my sister was just a little souvenir from paris, so that they wouldnt bring out all the biggest stuff. I ended up buying a beautiful pre-fall collection camellia pin for the few hundreds i had in mind at louis vuitton!
One of the SAs let me take a picture of a pair of beautiful shoes as he made sure nobody saw me (apparently one can not do that, and of course i understand!)

Prada: a woman wearing a full FW07 outfit in bright green and orange helped me choose a wallet for myself, that i finally didnt buy because i still had in mind a beautiful loewe i had seen back in barcelona. and as much as i liked her, then i caught another SA making fun of the mohair jersey i was trying on! very annoying!

Dior: the guy at dior homme wanted to kill me!! i dont blame him, after asking for almost every single jean and existing jackets and 6.5 heels and not buying any, it was totally understandable!
though he cant really complain because i ended up buying a beautiful weekender bag!

Goyard: the best regarding product description. Very convincing on the quality of their bags and all the little details. I just wish they had shown me the right one! i just discovered yesterday in the Goyard thread that there was a specific model i wasnt shown! i regret it so much!

Fendi: they were hilarious! the guy was very funny, and unlike many others in all the shops, he really seemed interested in fashion. we discussed the seasons to come, the savoir-faire of fendi, the not-so-good opinion he had of gucci where he had worked before... very very cool!

Versace: too caring... i just asked for a pair of shoes, and after realizing how uncomfortable they were and telling the SA i didnt like them, she insisted on trying them again, and showing me everything else they had in the store, which i was not interested in.

Nina Ricci: i found the greatest fan of Theyskens ever. I just wanted to check out the new collection, and he was very kind to show it to me, explaining every detail and constantly referring to the show, and the feathers on the model’s hair... very funny too!

YSL: i hated the small boutique for men. they werent very nice either, and looked down on me as if i wasnt good enough for them.

Balenciaga: not bad service, but i just expected something a lot more.. um... cool? very plain and simple store

(as i didnt get enough last summer, i am coming back next july! paris, wait for me!)

 

[ChrissyM]

it's always nice to hear personal anecdotes!

thanks borja!

 

[justlooking]

yes borja, thank you! enjoyed the read.

 

[seanutbutter]

Great review, borja - I read through everything! I personally have only visited a handful of stores considered 'luxury,' notable Coach, MaxMara, and Barneys.

Coach employees are always friendly and inviting, even if you're only perusing and not buying anything. However, I've found that the one time I truly needed help (when I was purchasing a gift for my mother), no one stopped by and asked if I had any questions. Once I got their attention, however, they were helpful; it was just a matter of getting them to notice.

MaxMara has got to be one of the best stores I've visited in terms of customer service! When my mother and I went in, only one employee was working (it was a small store), but she was too kind. We couldn't afford anything, but she still seemed happy to help. I felt bad afterwards because we probably wasted her time, but oh well.

Barneys, on the other hand, lacks in customer service. The location I visited was two stories and full of employees, yet no one greeted me or asked if I needed help. One employee in particular followed me wherever I went, checking every item I even slightly brushed against (purses, dresses, etc.), which I thought was unnecessarily cautious.

So, there you have it, my noticeably small review of luxury stores. Now if you asked me to review inexpensive retail stores, I'd be more than happy to help.

 

[Cicciolina]

Great posts everyone, I love reading these sort of reviews.

Barneys NYC - I either get hounded by the sales assistants who keep on introducing themselves to me and pushing me into fitting rooms, or they completely ignore me. And I wear more or less the same outfits! Also notice that they always zero in to what bag I'm carrying.

Bergdorf Goodman NYC - I went with my mum and got the most lovely service. We did end up buying two Chloe coats and some other things. He gave us a card and told us to email him if we were back in NYC (my mum was here visiting, I'm here for a bit longer) I went a week later and the guy who served me had absolutely no idea who I was. I guess this pretty much reiterates knightley's story :9

Hermes in Paris - lacklustre service. We were interested in looking at some bags and we waited for 15 mins, although they gave us glasses of water. Decided to buy two Kelly bags (one for mum, another a gift for my grandmother) in the end, but they didn't really give us much a response, it almost seemed like they were annoyed to sell them, or something like that :S They also wouldn't let us buy two initially, but we explained one was to be a gift for my grandma, and they made us put each Kelly on credit cards with different name.

LV Champs Elysee Paris - far and beyond the best customer service. Attentive, not pushy. I spent ages umming and ahhing and half the time probably didn't seem like a serious customer. Went above and beyond searching the store and the rest of France for what I was after, even saying he could put what I wanted on hold for me even though it was the very last one in stock in France and there were people in the store asking to buy it if I didn't want it (xxl cream Mahina bag). Ended up buying it anyway, but yes, fantastic service.

Louis Vuitton 5th Ave - very rude. Asked a few questions and the SAs (who were a few years older than me, mid 20s) were insolent and rolled their eyes at each other after we finished speaking to them.

Chanel Paris - in general they were alright, better than Hermes. Though their service improved ten fold when we walked in with large orange Hermes shopping bags. The store in Printemps was the best though - but I did see another SA giving some Asian tourists major attitude which was a shame

Lanvin Paris - very sweet. Not pushy, they were there if you wanted them to be but still very friendly and went off to do their own thing if you didn't. In fact I found most customer service in Paris to be like this.

I'll probably think of more later on

 

[GalleriaResident]

Just got back from LA had mixed reviews.

Sunset Plaza:
Beautiful strip of shops an resturants,
D&G -Amazing service an all the sales ppl were very nice.
H.Lorenzo Mens Store- guy name Ron helped me Very Attentive an even took me to the back room to show me the new Dsquared stuff all the sales guys have this im too cool look but once you ask them a question they are all over it very cool group of sales ppl.
Hugo Boss-very nice ppl (as usual with my hugo boss experiences)
Angel-Devil-Owner was in town from Italy he was very helpful but pushy an the manager was nice too an not pushy but they didnt have anything for Summer in yet.

Rodeo Drive:

Yves Saint Laurent-For the first time ever I didnt have sales ppl there jumping all over the place (like their other locations) Blond sales girl came up about 5mins after i went to the mens floor. Didnt ask if I wanted help even though I totally know how they set their stores up an was opening the hidden drawers looking for shirts then I think she heard me complaining to my friend an runs from the other room asking if I needed help. I still bought a signature tee because I had been searching for it for 2years. My friend asked to see the vip an she denied it but when I asked her in the dressing room(when I decided to buy) she was all about it(totally ticked my friend off lmao) Showed it to us offered us drinks then off to the next store. Truely the most oddest experience Ive had at YSL usually extremely attentive at their boutiques, but not this time I guess.

Dolce&Gabbana-Luis very good SA pulled all the tees I wanted to see from the back room very cool guy. Even though the store was packed an bought some cool stuff!

Roberto Cavalli-Really nice sales people maybe also because all the sales ppl loved my outfit hahaha

Saks 5th Avenue-Mens Formal old school sales people (the kind I like) very nice greeting me the second I got off the elevator. Mens Contemporary Collection the floor was empty all the SA's hanging around the register couldnt tell if the the sales people were checking me out or giving me dirty looks either way didnt say a word till I started asking where the new Galliano an Dsquared stuff was.

Louis Vuitton-Last but definately not least. INCREDIBLE SERVICE!! If you go in ask for Yvette Hilton she is hilarious an nice an very knowledgable!!