XXI

«Cabrina» is ghetto as f*ck. Lmao

Anyone in business will tell you the product matters, but the service matters more. I went to this shop twice over the past weekend — once with my girls once and with them and their friends the second time. Both times the store was a mess, the sales clerks (who seem to number one for one with the customers) were unfamiliar with their own stock, the dressing room was a disaster, the line to check out was the population of a small country, and the worst part? The managers and sales clerks took time to complain to me about their hard days, their overwork, their poor cash registers, their desire to get other jobs because management wouldn’t invest in the business, etc. I’d never met these women in my life and I knew more about their personal and business affairs than I do about some people I’ve known casually for years. To top it all off, we found a dress my daughter loved but it was ripped in two places. The assistant manager spent some time looking for a replacement in the stock (needle in a VERY messy haystack) and when she couldn’t find it she told me she”d give me $ 2 off and make the sale final. I felt like billing her $ 125 for the hour I spent waiting to come to that really crappy conclusion.
Forever XXI friends, you are just going to be the flash in the pan you’re trying to be unless you invest a little in some quality training, service and standards.

I love to hate you. And I hate to love you.
Forever 21 gosh, there are soooo many workers at all Forever 21s I just don’t know how one store can become so discombobulated. I mean I love when I find a cute top/​shirt/​pants/​dress for $ 12-​$ 20, but I hate taking home that item and it has make-​up, rips, or dirt marks on it and then I can not return it because their return policy blows. Three stars because I can not scrutinize ALL the staff and there are good finds for cheap!
I hate that everything is so unorganized. I want to blame the workers but they look like they struggle with the mess too. I should blame management, because a system should be set up in which certain areas need to be sized and faced every x hours. That’s just how I would do it. Or I mean get behind the workers and tell them to pick up clothes from the ground! I see so many workers run by and there are nice clothes laying on dirty tiles. This is probably why I end up with the effed up shirts.
Get it together forever or else there might not be a forever. =)

I bought a $ 100 gift certificate for my daughter for her birthday as she turned 11 in October. I would have not done so had the sales associate told me there wasn’t a junior section at this location… When I brought her here to shop we found NOTHING but a scarf and that is when one of the sales associates told me that we needed to be downtown because there wasn’t a junior section at this location. She was so disappointed and it was mid-​day so trucking downtown so late in the afternoon wasn’t going to work especially with the parking fiasco and all.
So just last week, her birthday was back in October, I finally was able to get her down to the XXI on State St where she found ALOT! There was also a buy 1 get 1 free sale in clearance going on and she racked up some good sales and got a pretty big selection of clothes.
If you are shopping for a pre-​teen or teen avoid this location. Even in browsing I didn’t find anything I would even be remotely interested in… I usually love XXI but this location is rather whack. The store is completely disorganized and the sales associates aren’t really that helpful.

I’m not a big fan of their return policy (store credit or exchange only), long lines at the register and fitting rooms but their clothes fit my budget and keep me trendy. They have tons of cute clothes and accessories. I’ll buy good quality long lasting items elsewhere but this is where i shop for something that’s going to go out of style in a month anyway. Employees have never been helpful because they’re all so busy putting the tons of clothes back from the fitting room (or gossiping). Employees are mostly all teenagers who don’t really care about good service and can’t answer your questions anyway. The store is huge and very messy on the weekends (good luck). You can’t expect much from this store, just cute inexpensive clothes. Hope you’re not in a hurry when you visit cuz you’ll be there for a while.

hit or miss…
… hit or miss…
hit or miss…
Don’t mistake «Forever» for a customer service based department store. It is obvious that the turnover rate is high as one would assume that the staff gets paid next to nothing leaving customers with high school teeny bop robots to point where they «think» stuff might be.
Actually, their return policy shouldn’t even be called a return policy because you only get store credit back in exchange for your buyers remorse.
So why the 4 stars?
I really do love this store! Like I said, it’s a hit or miss so sometimes I walk out with something and sometimes I don’t but anytime I’ve taken any piece of Forever 21 under my wing…
I GET COMPLIMENTS on the piece ALL THE TIME!!!
Yeah really!
Accessories are the best because it doesn’t get any cheaper… If you take the time to really look at each piece, you’ll find diamonds in the rough.
See the trick is to expect to be there for at least an hour rummaging through racks and piles of stuff that the 12 year olds before you didn’t know how to put away. Also, put the ego and tiara aside. Ya can’t walk into a Forever 21 and expect a red carpet to roll out followed by rose petals thrown at your feet.
It’s Forever 21.
;)

I love getting a good bargain, so I was excited to learn that Old Orchard would be opening up a forever 21.
The first thing that I noticed was how big the store is compared to other stores in the mall, it is big. You you like to think that a bigger store means things won’t be cluttered and messy. WRONG. Every time I go to this place there are clothes mixed up on different racks and some are piled on the floor. Don’t ask a sales associate for help… I don’t even know what they are they for. I think they are as confused and lost as the customers.
However, I do like the fact that they have their huge cheap and fun jewelry section (that woodfield mall keeps in an entirely different store).
So, if youre in the mood (and have the time) to actually dig through all the racks… then this place is okay.

Seems like these days almost all clothing is made quite cheaply. So you might as well not pay top dollar at the Gap. Forever 21 imitates runway designers, but almost all the clothes here are less than $ 50.
At those prices, don’t expect the best service. Don’t bother asking where anything is. It’s a jungle and finding nice things here is generally up to luck. I’ve had things I’ve bought here last a week and others last years.
Once you find something, expect to duel with a Northface-​clad Ugg-​stomping high schooler for a fitting room. You need the fitting rooms because XXI has a draconian return policy, but there aren’t many to go around.
On busy days this store is anarchy. Clothes are tossed all over the floor as the staff struggles to put things back on the rack. It really is sort of an awful experience. The Woodfield XXI is much better organized and staffed.

This is another Forever 21 endeavor. They call this one XXI I suppose to give it a more upscale appeal to the Old Orchard shopping clientele. It is also considered one of their mega stores so it combines their Meritage 1981(men’s line) Forever 21 (Women’s line) and 12×12.(Their high end) I have never seen their men’s line in person, so that was interesting. They also feature a very large accessory area. There are actually a few malls that feature this section of Forever 21 as a stand alone store. XXI is located near the Bloomingdale’s entrance… across form Payless shoe stores of all places!
The merchandise is exactly the same as you would find in all other Forever 21 locations. Same quality, same cheap prices. Super trendy, not made to last, but an awesome place to shop cheaply for days that you can’t find anything to wear, want to spend money, or just need a quick change outfit.
This store is definitely better maintained than the others that I have shopped at. Great lighting, space to maneuver, and bonus, not all the clothes are in complete disarray. Very cool, would have loved to browse, except I was there on a mission. I was asked to find a specific sweater. I was told that they had 7 of these in size small according to their computer. Ha! Anyone who has ever been to a Forever 21 will know that trying to find a specific item there is worse than finding a needle in a haystack. Nothing is ever where it should be. I’ve worked retail, I know what animals people can be. You’d think that having the photo, the sku number, the price and size would help. It doesn’t. I asked 3 different employees for help. Not a one was able to assist me. Supposively they had a floor change. Supposively, all the knits were supposed to be located in this area… or was it that area? Sheesh. I was a retail manager for over 18 years. Where the hell has customer service gone? Who trains these people? More and more I have noticed that stores are hiring inexperienced staff that just don’t care or don’t know how to be helpful. Maybe I’m just old school, but I think that a good retail clerk ought to know their merchandise, let alone know where it is located.