Chapel Hats

I own one hat. It is a black beret. I bought it 30 years ago.
I accompanied my sister and her husband to this comprehensive hat store in WEM. They wear hats all the time.
It was packed with paying customers. I scanned all the shelves and displays. Nicely organized. I loved looking at the fascinators, and wished they had more. I could be talked into something with some pheasant feathers, for sure.
Not sure I like the idea of 100’s of people trying on the same hats. I started getting the heebie jeebies. I had to get out of there as it was so crowded. I snapped a couple of photos from outside.

Chapel is a great place for hat lovers of all types. My fiancé and I have spent much more time in here than we should have, and rarely leave with empty handed. The staff are always friendly and offer and honest opinion, and never get cranky no matter how may hats you try on. I’ve always been a fan of their selection of fascinators, and I’ve noticed recently that they’ve been getting a wider selection. I do with that they offered some custom options, but they are a chain store, so I’m not really expecting that to be an offering any time soon. There are several milliners in the city if I need something specific. The only complaint I have is that some of the more delicate pieces I’ve purchased don’t come with a hat box or any kind of storage option, and that makes keeping them in my closet a bit of a chose without going out and getting something separately. Other than that, fun head wear at good prices!

I cannot walk by a hat store without popping in to try on some chapeaus — which is exactly what I did when I wandered by Chapel Hats in WEM.
The only difference from my usual routine was that this quickly changed from a goofy movie montage, into an actual plan to purchase.
They had a lot of really nice hats, for quite reasonable prices (most less than $ 50!).
The summer stock was a bit thin, but it is late August in Edmonton — so summer is almost over.
But they had shelf after shelf and rack after rack of gorgeous fall hats. So many colours and styles that I had trouble choosing just one.
The salegirl was also really friendly and helpful — finding complimentary styles for me to try and searching for sizes to fit my abnormally small head.
They even had headband/​facinators, and a good selection of men’s hats, though I couldn’t convince my Hubs to buy one for himself (a men’s hat, not a facinator).
I know Head Case is considered THE hat shop in town, but for bang for my buck, I will definitely go back to Chapel Hats.