Schiro’s Shoes & Uniforms

Doesn’t take American Express… considering the premium they charge on uniforms, a few extra cents here and there on AMEX’s fee shouldn’t be a problem.
Unfortunately for me, I only had my AMEX card today, so I guess they traded the dollar they saved on the transaction for my inconvenience. Thanks.
BOTTOM LINE: Doesn’t take American Express… charges a premium anyway on their products.

Friendly service!!! I received personal attention when shopping for my daughter’s uniforms. I went in May and they offered a 15% discount.

If I could give this place 0 stars, I would. But alas, Unilocal decides that they are deserving of at least 1 star in order for me to provide a review. Each and every experience at this place was worse than the one before leading up to the worst customer service encounter of all time. I refuse to ever spend another dime in this place and will make certain everyone I know finds alternative companies from which to purchase their school uniforms. They’ve had a monopoly on a lot of the uniform business here in NOLA but I’m happy to see other, more customer centric companies open up & flourish — likely thanks to Schiro’s incompetence. I even called our school and informed them that I wouldn’t be shopping here ever again and the school provided other shopping options this year! Do yourself a big favor: do not shop here. Not unless you’re into things like being humiliated in front of other customers, or self inflicted wounds.

If you’re at Schiro’s, you’re there for a reason. Usually that reason involves a small child who wishes he or she were doing *anything* except trying on school uniforms.
So, yeah, poor Schiro’s is going in at a disadvantage for ratings (it’s not like someone’s shopping here for fun, right?)
Anyway…we went on a Wednesday at about 11 am– good time to go, apparently, because someone was available to help us right away. We gave the school name and she knew what he needed and retrieved it from the back quickly for us. She suggested he try on the XXS and XS sizes for shirts (he’s starting preschool in the fall) — so we had him do that and found the right size quickly. She measured his feet for shoes and got those settled. Basically, it was an utterly painless experience– which is what I want out of a school uniform store.
There are TVs in there playing cartoons, which helped keep the munchkin from becoming a broken record of «when can we go?” — so that’s a definite plus.
Two major things:
1– Schiro’s typically offers a discount if you get your uniforms early– it was 15% if ordered before May 31 and 10% if you got them before June 30. So you save money by going early.
2– Don’t be an idiot and go on May 31 or June 30 and expect the place to be anything less than a madhouse. Every other parent in the city knows about the discount, too– and procrastinated until the last applicable day. Do yourself a favor and go on May 25^th… or June 12^th… or some day other than the last day possible. You’ll also be happier going on a weekday instead of a weekend, I’d guess.
Ok– and a third thing– you can also order uniforms online through Schiro’s — so if you already know your kid’s size or just want to order a couple more pants or shirts or whatever, you don’t have to trek all the way to the store.
(and randomly– I have no idea what someone else who reviewed Schiro’s is talking about when they say it’s not Schiro’s anymore. The name of the business is Schiro’s and they’ve been a school uniform place for quite a few years– maybe they got it mixed up with a different business?)

Going to try to boost these ratings a bit. This is the only place that I could find my son’s nap mat that his pre-​school requires. They had a ton of colors to choose from. Monograming it would have taken two weeks, and I didn’t have enough time for that. They have a small selection of toys that look quality. Five staff members were there to help customers on this particular Saturday. Seemed like a lot but maybe they get busy.

Customer service is terrible! Go early and get uniforms early. They don’t have sizes needed and if you have to special order… say a prayer. It will take 2 — 3 times longer than they tell you. Most of us don’t have a choice but seriously, if I did, I’d pay double!