J. Crew opens a collection store, not a lot of love for me

Hopelessly devoted to J. Crew again

thanks to the Trixie shoes above.

I don't know what's going on but I cannot stop going to J. Crew these days. I possibly bought one of everything in their fall line...or maybe it just feels that way. The people at the 5th Ave store were starting to get to know me and one of the salesmen became my de facto personal shopper before I relocated for work. I read a fan blog every day (and it is a great one at that). It is probably the sign of having a problem; then again we already knew that I am a shopaholic.

I guess that I don't give off the air of being a VIP shopper though. This past week the new J. Crew collection store opened on 79th & Madison. I'm not even going to pretend like I shop on Madison Ave on the UES regularly. I occasionally browse through some of the stores like Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors and Intermix. But I can rarely afford or justify any purchases.

Still, I was looking forward to some loving from my favorite store. I went on Saturday and the store was not too crowded. The doorman was quite nice but the sales people ignored me for the first 10 minutes I was there. It was kind of surprising only because I saw other people being offered water (Pellegrino or tap!) but not me. The manager walked by me twice, made eye contact and then turned to someone else. It was...not nice. I'm sure she was busy with it being the first weekend and all. Still. Not nice.

I went into the shoe room where my beloved Trixie shoes were waiting for me. But I had to flag down a sales woman to get my size. Another shopper was apparently having a similar experience -- she tried asking two saleswomen who said they were busy with other shoppers so she finally left. I was about to do the same when a salesperson finally noticed me. She was very nice once I had her attention and all was forgiven (see, I'm easy to please!).

The shoe room at the J. Crew collection store,
79th & Madison Ave.

I asked if I could take a few pictures and the saleswoman said, "Sure...go right ahead!" So I did -- they are up on my flickr account and are by far my most popular views. I had come in looking for a rose tee that sold out everywhere. Apparently the store had some on Friday but by Saturday they were gone. In fact, they didn't have much in the way of actual stock. I was disappointed with the selection. So I settled on the shoes only. The cashier was awesome and gave me 20% off even though I'd forgotten my coupon. Thank you cashier! That made me feel better.

On my way out, I asked the doorman if I could take a couple of photos of the showroom. He had to ask the manager. I watched as her fake smile turned to plastic as she told me, "Oh no, no photos." Criminy! Seriously, lady? Was I insulting her or something? The doorman shot me an apologetic look and said, "You know, no one will stop you from taking pictures through the door..." and winked at me. I managed a smile but the moment had passed. I thanked him as he held the door for me. I left feeling not special. Luckily I have my shoes to cheer me up.