July 2022 by T F.
The economy of downtown Northampton has seen better days. Surrounded by empty storefronts, few to no customers seen in the store at any given time, most people would expect the sales staff at Eileen Fisher to give any potential customers a warm welcome when they through the door. But maybe I don't read as a potential customer, because I have yet to be offered a warm welcome. Or any welcome at all. Like a daughter-in-law trying and failing to win the approval of a withholding matriarch, I have tried and tried over the years with this Eileen Fisher store to be treated like a potential customer. Weekday or weekend, early or late, when I walk in the door I'm simply invisible. I'm not greeted, no one asks if I need help or if I would like to try something on, and no one says goodbye when I say "thank you" and leave. On a recent visit, I walked into the store and made an embarrassingly conscious effort to browse slowly, starting at the front instead of heading first toward the sales at the back, which is my normal habit. I cocked my head thoughtfully. I tried looking at the tags, then I tried NOT looking at the tags. *crickets* I looked over at the saleswoman, who was having a laughing conversation with a similiarly-aged women about family and friends. She seemed friendly and nice. This wasn't a Pretty Woman situation. So what's the deal? When I eventually walked out of the store, I actually felt embarrassed and self-conscious, like I had intruded on a private party. Around five years ago, I had a very memorable failed attempt that is worth telling about. On that day, I quickly needed something to wear to an interview. I walked in, and asked for help (after the standard ignoring treatment). I explained what I was looking for, and that I tended to have difficulties with proportion as a woman with a small frame, so I hoped for something that wasn't too long for me and that maybe could give some definition or structure at the waist. She picked a few, and they weren't quite right. This is normally the point at which the associate and the customer would troubleshoot or try again. If I were the saleswoman, I would have maybe offered to order the items in petite, given some guidance about belting or layering, or *something.* Instead, she advised me that Eileen Fisher tends to be designed for a taller woman. Huh? I was roughly the same height and build as the saleswoman. No tips and tricks from lived experience? I thanked her for her help and left empty-handed, with that same unsettling feeling of having intruded and wasted someone's time. Why am I a glutton for humiliation? Why do I keep going back? Well, I actually do just want a nice place to shop for clothes. I would like to have the experience of doing it with the help of a knowledgeable sales associate. I'd also really like to support the downtown businesses rather than buying online. The other day I had made the trip specifically to shop the 40% off sale and to see some pieces that I had been looking at online, and was excited and prepared to buy, but the ice-box treatment let the wind right out of my sails. Why write this review? I'd like the management and staff to read it and take it to heart. I'm not the first person to write about the cold treatment, but I hope I'm the last. Especially after the hit that our business district took from COVID, we all need to work together to rally our downtown economy. A very easy step toward that goal is to be welcoming and make people want to shop in the stores.
