If I could give a store 0 stars, I would. I've been shopping at Sephora for many years now and the Kings Plaza location is the absolute worst one I have ever been to. It's way too small as a start, but yesterday was so bad I had to come on here and put this garbage store on blast. Before I could even walk in to pick up an order I placed online, from DOWN THE CORRIDOR, I heard music from the store. Sephora locations sometimes play loud music but this was nothing like anything I've experienced before. When I got there I found out just why it was so unusually, insanely loud: I was treated to the absolutely deafening sounds of a live DJ playing Caribbean music for some ungodly reason.
Have I mentioned how small this store is? Whoever the genius was who decided to have a live DJ in a store the size of a studio apartment at best needs to be reprimanded. I don't want to sound like a boomer but there is just no good reason for that in a store. I could not hear anything at all but that music. I have AuDHD, and was so overwhelmed and overstimulated by all the noise that I very nearly had a meltdown; even with noise cancelling AirPods Pro 3 in my ears, the bass was literally shaking my chest. And God help anyone who needed assistance finding a product or something because you would have needed to scream over the music like it's the damn club on Saturday night. I saw numerous people trying to ask questions having to shout.
To add insult to injury, OF COURSE the online pickup area was right next to the damn DJ. A team member directed me over there and I felt like a cat whose tail got stepped on. It took about 20 minutes in another, empty store for my nerves to settle.
I will never go to this store again. Quite literally rather just go to the one near my work in Manhattan or even go out of my way to 86th St than deal with this store again. This one is way too reminiscent of the bad old days of Kings Plaza: ghetto, unprofessional, and aggressively disdainful of the customer experience. Neurodivergent customers and otherwise.
BTW I went into Ulta around the corner afterwards and it was a night & day experience. Pleasant, calm, staff was friendly and the store wasn't claustrophobic or chaotic. I'll be shopping there from now on and I suggest others needing beauty products in the mall to do the same. read more