I'm from Japan, and in Japan...this brand is quite popular so I wanted to check out what the hype was all about.
The minute I entered the store, the two ladies that were by the register just kind of scanned my appearance and said hello. From that point on, I felt very uncomfortable, as if they were just staring at me and giving me a silent "if you don't have $$$, get out of here" kind of look. One lady is the manager, she is local and has long, black hair. The other one is also local, has brownish hair, and is fat. The one sales guy, John, was very polite, told me ladies stuff was upstairs and smiled (I asked his name after my purchase that day so that next time I can ask for his assistance, not the other two snobby gals who think they are better than you).
My friends from Japan has asked me to buy a neon pink jacket that they have, so I was searching for it and finally found it upstairs. The woman who helped me (local, fat, has a super messy bun style hair regardless of working at a high end brand store) was a little snobby, but I thought that she was just trying to do her "job" to act snobby because she works at a high-end store, so I ignored it and began to try on the jacket.
The jacket...I REALLY do not know why my friends wanted it...it's a neon pink, plain cotton jacket with their logo on the back, and says "Chrome Hearts" on the front pocket...it's $310. I thought my friends are ridiculous when they asked me to buy this for them and bring it back to Japan, but I decided to get it since they gave me money for it.
I was so curious, so VERY curious, as to how the price justifies the flimsy material. The saleslady said that the zipper part is made of real silver....but, the bottom part of the zipper clearly says "YKK"......YKK zippers are made in China, cheap stuff.
Since my friends are about my size, I tried it on, and asked to get 2 size smalls. The sales lady said OK, then took so long to come out of the stockroom, and then tells me that it's so limited that she can only sell me one. I was confused, so I asked,"um...one per day per person?" She flatly said , "NO, one per PERSON." I asked her why, and she said in a really cold, snobby voice, "Well, because, if I sell you two, other people can't buy it"....
Im willing to buy two $310 jackets, like, really??? At that point, I was totally clueless. I just did not understand why I can't just buy two. After, she says, "It's not fair if you get two and there's no more...what if a Japanese tourist that doesn't live here wants to buy it but we don't have anymore because you bought it.".....that's really not my problem, and in fact, if you work on commission lady, wouldn't you want to make that sale???
I bought one jacket for at least one of the friends, because supposedly that's my "limit" at that store. I walked out very unsatisfied. I wanted to just rip that jacket apart, if it hadn't been $310. A total RIPOFF store that acts like their stuff is high end and limited quantity, and their sales people are rubbing off on the store image, thinking their better than the customers.
I bumped into a friend later that night in waikiki, and she said that she was inside Chrome Hearts, but she only saw me right when I was leaving the store. My friend told me that after I left, the sales lady that helped me was gossiping about me, on the sales floor in the presence of other customers. The sales lady was supposedly telling the manager lady that I was "asking too many questions" and that "annoyed her." That just made me want to rip that jacket even more, but I had to resist myself, as it was my friend's.
Even if a friend asked me to buy something from here again, I will never go back. Hawaii is very small, I will try my very best to tell everyone I know that this place is not worth the trip. Their stuff is a ripoff, and their employees are rotten, just like their products!!!! Except John, who was the ONLY courteous employee there. read more