Today after my facial, I thought I would stop into Athleta to take a look at their new fall line…read morethat I had seen in the most recent catalogue.
Two stars is being generous. One and a half is for the only male employee in the store that greeted me (and then eventually helped me get a dressing room - see more below). The other half star is for the female employee in the dressing room who asked me how I was doing about ten minutes into my trying-on of several items.
After said male employee greeted me, no other sales person asked if I needed help looking for anything, and there were about 6 sales people total. The store was not overly busy - I would say about 10-12 people were shopping (and being helped).
Within five minutes, I had found a few pieces I was admiring from the fall look book. Five minutes later, I was still looking. At no point did any person ask, "Would you like to start a fitting room?" even though it was clear I was accumulating items.
After fifteen minutes of browsing, I go to the dressing room. There are two employees (female) working the dressing room, so one would assume you would get a room within 2 minutes. Oh, and there wasn't a line. Nope. I stand there, and even peek around the corner to see where were these mysterious employees. I felt like I was in a cartoon where one character tries to look around the tree, but that character darts behind them, and never the two shall meet. After about seven minutes of waiting (I'm still the only one "in line"), the same male employee walked past me and started to go into the restroom. He caught my glance, which truthfully probably radiated a lot of annoyance, and asked if I needed a fitting room. YES. YES, I DID. He finds me one in five seconds. I go in to try my items.
Now about the clothes - maybe I'm not the target demographic (after all, this is the sports section of Banana Republic and The Gap), but it seemed like every piece had something a little off about it. Pants were too long (and if you hemmed them, it would lose the shape), crops were too plain (definitely did not feel great enough to pay $80 for them). Jackets looked great on the hangers, not on my petite frame. Ten minutes into my trying on items, I hear one of the elusive female dressing room employees chirp my name - "How's it going in there?" I answer with an "ok" just for her to go away. I end up leaving with nothing. I actually was so annoyed, I forgot I wanted to buy a water belt I had seen, but frankly the customer service sucked.
They have a huge stock of merchandise - much more than it seems than the Mall of America location (which by the way, has friendlier employees). I would say that's the only plus.
It is in Edina, and I wondered if the fact I wasn't a white middle-aged woman with an expensive purse, sans makeup because of my facial, and dressed in yoga clothes merited me zero recognition as a customer. I've been shopping from Lululemon for years, and even on their worst days, the service is better than this location. The pricing is about the same, but the difference is that the design is much more current, and the fit just goes above and beyond Athleta. I will pay $80 for crops that make me fall in love with the color and fit, but not if they are basic.
My suggestion is if you don't look like you're from Edina, go to the MOA location, or shop online. My shipment is coming in a week.
