I was so excited to visit the Market and Allyssa Bryn Accessories yesterday as my best friend and her little sister have been raving about the store, its merchandise, and their stunning holiday decorations for weeks! We had been frolicking around Old Town Manassas visiting a lot of the stores, and finally made it to Allyssa Bryn. I was overwhelmed with a sense of joy and spirit at the marvel of Bryn's decorations; they're gorgeous and honestly could be in a center-fold of Southern Living.
I had heard about how the store is collecting donations from patrons that take pictures with the decorations, collecting funds for those less fortunate. This made me want to support the store even more as I very much believe in supporting businesses that give back to their community.
All three of us were having a great time admiring all of the items they have in the store. It's really accessories galore - so many different kinds of jewelry, purses, clothing, scarves, shoes, items for the home, and by far the most accessories I have ever seen that can be monogrammed!
My friend's little sister admired a pair of earrings, and while she wasn't looking I grabbed them and a matching necklace and asked the sweet owner Bryn, who had already warmly welcomed us to the store, to put them behind the register. A few minutes later, I also asked the manager to put a sweater, that my friend's little sister had had her eye on for weeks, behind the counter. I mentioned how all of the items were a surprise for her so that's why I was putting them back behind the counter so that it would stay that way!
We continued to walk around the store; all-in-all probably for at least an hour. When we returned back into the area where the rest of our items were being held, my friend walked up to the register first. The manager had gone ahead and rung in all of the items we had put behind the counter together. I will give her the benefit of the doubt, she did not know that we weren't necessarily paying for all of the items together because I had been the one that put all of the items behind the counter. But long story short, she assumed that they were all being paid for together and had already rung them all up together. When we discretely mentioned to her that one of us would be paying for the earrings and necklace, and the other would be paying for the rest of the items (remember, we were trying to hide the surprises from our fellow shopper), we were glared at; it truly felt as though we had inconvenienced her. Needless to say, as she was trying to separate what she had already hung up, she loudly repeated all of our items back to us in full detail -- anchor earrings, anchor necklace, gray and white sweater... So much for that surprise! Mind you, I could've easily let that go if her tone had not have been so disrespectful.
She rang up my friend begrudgingly. The nice young lady also working there packaged everything in a bag so nicely, it was gorgeous. Allyssa Bryn clearly has a high standard for the appearance of their packaging and it didn't go unnoticed. What I did notice was how the manager also spoke down to this sweet young lady who was just doing her job. The manager then began ringing up my earrings and necklace. Though in the middle of that, just stopped what she was doing with me and began addressing another patron, who was clearly her friend, completely neglecting the fact that I was standing there. She then finished having me pay, and then my items were sitting there in a bag. She began talking to her friend again and after having to wait for another minute or two because I guess her intent was to decorate the bag as the nice young woman (who had then moved to another area of the store) did for my friend, I just said "I actually don't need the tissue or ribbon, but thank you." She did then said, "Are you sure?" And I kindly replied "I was sure" and walked out. I have been in retail, and know that what we received is not the level of customer service any patron deserves whether they end up spending $0 or $1K. On top of that, after interacting with Bryn, one of the owners, at the beginning of our visit, I can guarantee that's not how she believes her patrons should be treated.
I walked out of the store with a bad taste in my mouth. I'm sure many of you have seen "Selena." I was reminded of the scene when Selena and her best friend go to a gown store in an L.A. mall to purchase a dress for Selena to wear to the Grammy's. The woman working in the store assumed she was poor based on her dress, ethnicity, and appearance and that she couldn't afford anything in the store - until Selena walked out of the store and had hundreds of adoring fans wanting her autograph. This example is a bit extreme to our situation, but I honestly felt as though the manager had absolutely looked down on us.
Please reference Jodi C.'s review re: other interactions with the manager.
I had wanted to shop here again in the future, but am not sure if I'll be back. read more
