I genuinely don't think I've ever worked this hard to buy a dress…read more
We went to Windsor at Woodfield today because my teenage daughter was dying to shop there for a dress. When we arrived, there was a sign saying it would be a 45-minute to 1-hour wait just to ENTER the store.
Fine. She really wanted to go.
Then we learned you can only take six items into the fitting room. Also fine.
But apparently, if you need another size or want to try another dress after entering the fitting room, you have to LEAVE the store, get back into the 45-minute+ line OUTSIDE, and start over.
What?!
Once we finally got inside, another mom had the brilliant idea to immediately get into the fitting room line while our daughters shopped. Thank goodness we did because that line stretched from the fitting rooms, past the registers, almost to the front of the store, and wrapped around.
So my 8-year-old and I stood in line while my teenager picked her six dresses. For context, my 8-year-old had played flag football in the rain that morning and was being an absolute trooper through this entire ordeal.
And then came the sentence every mother dreads when trapped halfway through an enormous line:
"Mommy, I have to go potty."
She tried to hold it. She really did.
Knowing there wasn't a restroom in the store, I asked an employee what would happen if I took my 8-year-old to the bathroom. I specifically explained that neither she nor I were trying anything on, my teenage daughter was still inside shopping, and we'd already waited in the entrance line.
I was told that if we left for my child to use the bathroom, we would have to go back outside and wait in the entire entrance line again.
Seriously?
We tried to wait. We waited another 30 minutes before it became clear that an 8-year-old bladder was not going to cooperate with Windsor's crowd-control policy. So, I took her to the bathroom.
When we returned, the SAME employee who knew exactly why we'd left stopped us and insisted we couldn't reenter without waiting in the outside line again.
I explained that my teenage daughter was literally still inside, waiting to try on dresses, and I was the person PAYING for them.
Her solution?
"You can Apple Pay her."
At that point, I was done debating the logistics of an 8-year-old bathroom emergency. I told her my daughter was inside, we had already waited to enter, and I walked back in.
My teenager was mortified. The mom I'd been standing with told me she would've done exactly the same thing.
And the insanity didn't end there.
After roughly another 30 minutes, my daughter FINALLY reached the fitting rooms and tried on her six dresses. My 8-year-old and I immediately got into the next enormous line - the checkout line - while she finished deciding.
Once she picked her dress, we handed her my credit card and went for a walk because at this point my 8-year-old deserved financial compensation for her time. Frankly I did too. We settled for a smoothie.
We did eventually leave with a dress because it's what my daughter wanted, but between the hour-long entrance line, enormous fitting-room line, enormous checkout line, six-item restriction, inability to grab another size without apparently starting your entire Windsor journey over again, and a policy that doesn't accommodate a CHILD NEEDING TO USE THE BATHROOM...
Next time, I'm ordering online.
The dress is cute.
The experience was absolutely not worth it.
Do not recommend. We will not be coming back. Ever.
0/10 stars