I did not have a good experience here.
This boutique is the shop you can visit after visiting the Gucci Garden (Archetypes). To be honest, I wasn't even interested in visiting this location, but was here with my husband and our Aunt and she wanted to go. We waited in line for awhile too and found that there was an entrance fee to get into the exhibit part (students get a cheaper rate). I'm not sure if they allow visitors not frequenting the exhibit first.
The shop carries items of the theme of the exhibits - so not typical Gucci store items. They also sold books, dining ware, games, stationary and such on one side and clothing and accessories on the other.
My bad experience came when I felt like I was being followed on side with the games, books and stuff. I was with my husband and I asked (in Italian) about the pricing of the picnic basket set, just because I was curious. As we walked around, I asked him if he was interested in a pen or other little things.
Perhaps I wasn't supposed to touch anything I might want to buy, but after checking out a pen and picking up a chip from a game set (and placing them back as perfectly as I could), I noticed the woman who checked us in and the one I asked about the picnic set, eyeballing me and almost immediately heading over to where I just was needing to "fix" whatever I touched. At the same time, I noticed what felt like a security guard following me and another one coming at me from the other side.
I didn't want to feel paranoid so I just continued moseying and looking around. When I was done and I was ready to go, my husband and I walked towards the doors we came in from and the security guard there kindly directed us to the other part of the shop to exit.
It was a chilly evening, but I was happy to have been window shopping in the warmth. As we were walking to meet up with our Aunt, my husband said to me "You know they thought you were stealing right?" He said initially when the woman was watching me, he thought she was looking to see if I might need any help. Then another person came into the room and they were both watching me. Then a security guard just so happens to come by and now 3 people are eyeballing me. He told me that they were following me around the store and even into the next room!
So I wasn't imagining it! When I really took a minute to think about the situation, I was truly disgusted. I mean really? Was it because I looked at a few things too closely? Were items for sale not allowed to be touched or inspected? There was no particular stations where people manned the counters (except at the cashier) so why wouldn't I think it was okay to look around? I guess if they didn't want anyone to touch anything, they should've said this was part of the museum too! And why weren't they watching him?
Honestly, nothing was even really worth looking at, but we paid admission to get in so figured I'd max out my warm time before dinner by looking around.
What a pretentious bunch of snobs. Ugh! Will never visit this place again. The museum also sucked and was a waste of money except for this one room that was good for photos. Otherwise, it was just meh and then trying for a cash grab with their ridiculous boutique. Who'd want to steal anything when no one's even buying?
Your time is better spent browsing at Chanel where there are super friendly staff and security.
I haven't tried the Osteria that serves food, but I'll be fine never having tried it after this terrible experience. read more
