Parade

I’m surprised by the comments on this page. I always find the owner very helpful in saving my time by making suggestions about what might work best for me. Usually she’s right.

I went into this store because the dresses in the window were very pretty, and the signs said up to 70% off. I can’t usually afford this kind of boutique, but I thought with a sale, I might be able to get some work clothes. The owner was helpful and asked about what kind of clothes I was looking for, what colours I liked, and my size. She suggested a couple of dresses and skirts. While I was trying on these items, she continued to bring more and more stuff.
The sizing in the store is different from other places, and most of the stuff she brought was a little tight in the arms. Everything I tried on was ‘beautiful’ she said. And she continued to bring more things for trying.
Eventually I got tired of it, and picked 2 things to buy. She exclaimed ‘That’s it?!’ when I explained how a skirt puckered she said, ‘no it was perfect’. I did buy the skirt since it was pretty and on sale, but it didn’t sit right. She had given me a pair of jeans to try on and although they were nice, they were also $ 150. That is way more than I would spend and when I asked if they were on sale (they weren’t), she gave me 20% off. I really should have left them behind.
In the end, I spent way more than I would on clothes for myself. Some of the clothes were nice but I hate that kind of pressure and the sticker shock when you get to the cash register. I’m chalking it up to a learning experience.

Cool clothes in a great neighbourhood.

I’m going to echo Giuliana B’s mixed feelings.
I first wandered into Parade last week after seeing some pretty dresses on the windows and big signs saying «no HST on items over $ 50». I was greeted by a pleasant blonde girl who allowed me to browse and we chatted about a couple of the dresses. I was wondering whether or not to go to the work Christmas party and in the «I might go if I can find a dress» stage.
I went back this weekend to try on one of the dresses I had seen last week. I’m still carrying more pounds than I’d like so wanted to finding something pretty inexpensive-​the aim is to not need to wear it again soon. I’d seen something that looked good last week so made a beeline for it and the assistant started me a dressing room. There wasn’t much to start since that was all I wanted to try. The dress was fine but she kept coming back with other options-​twice and three times the price. Luckily didn’t push them too hard.
When I went to pay, I noticed that HST was added so I asked them about the signs. She and an older one (presumed owner) referred me to the small writing at the bottom of the sign that said «except holiday». I was a bit confused-​what holiday? Apparently holiday means dresses. I think. Despite much debate involving the owner challenging me to tell her precisely what term I’d prefer her to use, I never really found out. I’m guessing party wear. Which is what I suggested as a term. She said that she’s in retail so holiday is a known term. I apologised for my lack of education and for my stupidity. She thanked me for my input…
Anyway, I vaguely noticed that the security alarms beeped when I went into Zellers later but didn’t take much notice. Which is unfortunate because I got all the way home before realising that they’d left the security tag on. That meant a long trek back to Parade to get it removed. Nice blonde girl was on again and was apologetic. Poor thing-​she was trying to remove the tag and had the owner calling her asking if she was finding items for customers (trying to make them buy more). When she said a tag had been left on, the owner said «good». Good for whom, I’m not so sure. Perhaps the walk did me good. Certainly not good for my sanity or her business. On a positive note though, they had changed the HST sign to make it less misleading.
In summary-​some cute dresses and many are quite affordable. Prices range from $ 150 to $ 450-​but it’s hard to tell much difference in quality between the things. Maybe 10% of the stock is cute, the rest is so-​so with lots of repeats. I’m not sure I can put up with the stress of shopping there again though. We’ll see how many social engagements come my way…

I have very mixed feelings about this place. First of all, they have some really great dresses. I’ve been there on numerous occasions and have always found something that I had to have. They are a small boutique, and their stuff is mostly cocktail dresses, however they also have a few skirts and tops, and some accessories as well.
Everything is decently priced at about $ 120-​$ 250 price range for dresses. They also have great sales a few times a year, and reduce their stuff by quite a bit. I’ve been able to score dresses that were previously $ 150.00 for $ 70-​$ 80. Awesome!
But most importantly, I really enjoy buying dresses here for special occasions such as weddings and such, because I know that I won’t show up at the party/​wedding and see 3 other women in the exact same dress as mine. Every woman’s worst nightmare! Everytime I’ve worn a dress from here, I’ve been complimented on it, and asked where I’ve gotten it from. :)
Now the negative, well its a BIG negative. The owner of this place can very unpleasant. She sometimes has a «better than you» attitude, and looks down on you, she can be rude and snotty, rushes you if you take more than 15mins trying stuff on, and I won’t get into it but one specific occasion she made me want to call her a few choice words and storm out.
I do have to say though, that the last time I went, she was actually kind of nice and fairly pleasant. So maybe I’ve managed to make her warm up to me a bit?
Anyways, I guess I’m a bit of a masochist because I keep coming back to buy dresses from her. Is just t hat she really has some great finds, and I keep figuring that the abuse is sometimes worth a really great dress. *Sigh*
And that’s why they loose 2 stars. Great clothes, but the completely bonkers owner can really irk me!