I have bought myself women's accessories in the past from myself and been pleased with them, but after my experience yesterday (4/11/14), I doubt I will ever set foot inside this establishment again. Allow me to explain. My mother has shopped in this store many times and spent a lot of the small extra income she's left with monthly after paying her bills (she and I are both on permanent disability and receive SSDI to help us survive) over time, often having to save up to pay their high prices. She rarely gets enamored by accessories (which is the main product type of this store), but fell in love with a bag in their window. She wanted me to see it, so we went there a few days ago to check it out (I can always give her a bit of expert advice in the purse department, as I sell them online myself). That time, the owner was friendly to us, I suppose assuming we were going to buy the purse that day (which was WAY overpriced at $265). I noted the manufacturer was one that my online store's supplier often carries, so we went back two days later to note the style name/number off the tag so we could check my distributors for it as well as check online for what the best price would be. As we walked in and went over to the bag, I was taking my pen and paper out of my purse, and my mom had picked up the bag to admire it and to read me the style info from the tag. The owner immediately started walking quickly towards us with a scowl, asking "Can I help you with something?", to which my mother replied "No, that's okay, we're just trying to find out the purse's details so that --" and the woman immediately cut her off verbally, saying "Yeah, I'd rather you NOT do that." loudly, in front of other customers. While she was saying that with a nasty tone to her voice, she forcefully grabbed the bag out of my mother's hands (who has osteoperosis and is at severe risk for fracture when such an unexpected jerking motion could catch her hands off guard, particularly while gripping an object), and threw it so strongly onto the mannequin in the window that she knocked over a large sale sign she had displayed. She turned on her heel and walked over to some other customers with a big smile and said, "Sorry, now how can I help you?" with a huge smile on her face and a quick roll of her eyes towards us as if expressing exasperation at having to "deal with us." I was even nice enough to say on my way out, "Excuse me, just wanted to let you know your sign fell over," to which she replied, "Yeah I know, please don't touch anything further, I'll take care of that later." Hmm, insult to injury much?
I'm sorry, but without even allowing my mother to complete her sentence, she assumed what my mother was going to say would be something that might draw business away from her, and was EXTREMELY rude. To further clarify, my mother wasn't really friends with her per se before this happened, however, she has assisted my mom with purchases multiple times over the years when my mom had saved up money to spend and even GAVE HER A RIDE HOME FROM THE HOSPITAL ABOUT A YEAR AGO! This woman is extremely greedy, nasty to certain customers based on what she guesses is the amount of money they have to spend in their wallet in her store, and will turn on you with no warning. I was going to buy the bag for my mother for Mother's Day, but after this, I refuse to ever give this evil woman a dime again. Shallow and nasty do not even begin to touch the surface of her personality. Beware of browsing in this store, as apparently, you may be nearly assaulted by the two-faced owner! As a business owner myself, I think business ethics dictate that you should treat all customers well, even if some are less wealthy and you stand to "make less money off them" versus others. What she did to my mother and I yesterday was not only insulting, but demeaning and also humiliating in public to be treated as if we were doing something wrong. Last time I checked, shopping around for specific items (especially those that demand a significant monetary investment) requires detailed information, and business owners shouldn't abuse customers for taking note of such information if they would like to.
NOTE: I have never written a review before on Yelp, but this was such an offensive, just plain wrong example of behavior by someone who has lined her pockets with my mother's money in the past, that I felt other people shopping in the area should be made aware of who's taking home their money if they choose to spend it in this store. Buyer beware! (If anyone remembers the movie "Pretty Woman," this was eerily similar to the scene of Julia Roberts going into a Beverly Hills boutique and the way she was initially treated (except our outfits weren't similar to JR's and THIS business owner got nearly physical...). ~ Ali read more
