Hey everyone and happy Thursday! So this Tuesday I made a trip to Beachwood mall which is about a thirty-five plus minute trek for me. Normally I wouldn’t venture this far to go to a mall but I needed to be in the area to get dinner with a friend who works close by. And, of course, I really really wanted to try my hand at shopping Zara for the first time! Beachwood is the only mall near me that has one and after browsing on their online store, I came to the realization that I would have to try their clothes on before making any purchases.

I’m not going to lie – I was nervous. Literally for every ten online reviews that I had read about shopping Zara in store and online, there were nine and a half negative ones. But, I swallowed my fear and entered the store anyways because there was a shirt that I wanted desperately that they had available. My first impression of the store was that it was HUGE! My second impression was that the clothes were all very cute. And my third impression was that the employees seemed kind of snotty.

When I had approached them about the shirt because when I called the store, I was told that it was in supply in their stock room, they acted like it was the biggest inconvenience in the world to get to the bottom of it for me. I then waited around for ten minutes or so and was basically instructed not to move until they figured things out but that didn’t stop me from awkwardly browsing my surroundings anyway. With every interaction that I had with an employee, I tried to be nothing but nice because who knows, maybe the whole store was having a bad day? Haha, whatever – it could happen!

Finally, I was approached with my shirt by a worker and after expressing my gratitude and making a little small talk the girl who I was primarily interacting with seemed to lighten up a little. Now, I’m sure you’re all wondering what this shirt looked like that I went through all the trouble to get and here it is:

Ahhhh! It’s so cute! I am so excited to wear this top with my velvet skinny jeans from Loft or tucked into my mustard yellow H&M skirt for work. And for play, I plan on wearing this top over shorts with my pair of army green BCBG heels or with a thick pair of tights and knee high boots as the top is long enough to be worn as a dress if paired with the right bottoms. I LOVE IT and it was definitely worth the trip out there to finally have the top that I was lusting over online in my wardrobe.

After trying the top on and having the young lady who had helped me ring me out, the snottiness was gone. I don’t know if she was just one of those people who took a minute to warm up to someone or what but, to be frank, every employee in the store seemed to be one of those people. Lol, it wasn’t the worst customer service that I had ever encountered but it just seemed a bit off in a retail environment. Absolutely not saying that I expect employees to be shoving rainbows down my throat but it’s nice to interact with people who are pleasant and don’t mind helping you considering that’s what they’re there for!

I would definitely shop Zara in store again but I don’t know if I trust their online shopping experience enough to make purchases off of the world wide web. Seriously, Google their reviews and you’ll see what I mean because it sounds like a straight up horror story if you order from them online and, god forbid, the clothes doesn’t work for you. I didn’t have very high expectations of customer service walking in the store to begin with but at least it’s nice to know about it now so it isn’t a big surprise the next time I can make a trip out there.

While I was at the mall, I was also able to put the last of my Forever 21 gift cards to good use so be on the lookout for a post about my purchases from there, too!

So there you have it, my Zara Shopping Trip. It wasn’t the best but certainly not the worst either. What is your impression of shopping with Zara? Has anyone had a fabulous or totally awful experience? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah