American Apparel

This was a fun store to browse, even though it was really small. But I was gone all semester and came back during break to find that… the store CLOSED. Permanently! Disappointed bc the next closest AA is in Evanston and that sucks.

Selection is awful! Compared to other AA stores I have been to, this one is the worst. I understand this is a small store but they only stock their most basic items here. The man that was working there, the day I went, was super nice though. Unfortunately I was only able to get his help once before the store was bomb rushed by a bunch of teenagers. It must have been allowance day. Would have been nice to have more than one person on a weekend.

I love this store. My bank account doesn’t.
I’m on a quest to find simple pieces of clothing in a variety of colors that I can layer up in many ways (think: leggings, leg warmers, socks, tanks, shirts, and simple skirts). My dream is to be a walking rainbow. American Apparel definitely had what I was looking for. I was so excited to find multiple basic items available in more than one color (although they didn’t exactly have a rainbow of colors). I was sad, however, to note the price of these items! Since I’m trying to stick to a budget, I couldn’t leave this store with a purchase that would be OK with my conscience. And they don’t have many sale items. Maybe next time. Now that I’ve been here, seen it, and can envision the clothes, my bank account and I will have a talk about some allowances.

I am notorious for procrastinating, which is really sad considering the brilliant ideas that pop into my head quite often. I daydream about costumes that never reach their full potential because I’ve spent more time figuring out exactly how to get my creation to go off without a hitch inside my head than actually putting in the time or effort to procure the necessary pieces. It was a similar scenario that brought me to American Apparel.
ACen: Animé Central was coming up and I was dead set on transforming myself into the SunDrop Girl (
). I had taken my laziness into account and started preparing about a month in advance. I ordered the official shirt on eBay, had a pair of black leggings and gym shoes, and I picked up a pair of jean shorts from Goodwill a week ahead of time. I was well on my way to pulling this look off. All I needed were bright red leg warmers and a red sweatband. You would not believe how hard it was to find these things in the off-​season, let alone a specific color (unless you buy from Henry Ford, in which case «You can have any color as long as it’s black.»).
In my defense, I searched before but didn’t put my heart into it. I figured that I could find a cheap red sweater and a Tim Gunn attitude and «make it work» if I had to. But it was the day before the convention and I really didn’t feel like running all over to get something so simple and pr starting a craft project. I decided Woodfield Mall would be my best bet. I walked through Macy’s and made my way over to Lady Foot Locker and Torrid. They all told me to try American Apparel.
I was skeptical about shopping there. I’m not a huge fan of their advertising, but I can’t deny that they have a wide variety of clothing and colors. If I couldn’t find it there, I’d probably not find it at all. Technically, they didn’t have bright red leg warmers in stock. They had every other color but red. However, they had bright red, thick, thigh high socks. I may not be handy with a needle and thread, but I’m great with a pair of scissors. The woman working there had led me to the sock section and then over to their bright red sweatbands. I was good to go!
My total was $ 26.22. It pained me to pay $ 18 for socks and $ 6 for a sweatband, but now my costume is complete. I’m sure I’ll wear it enough times to make it worth it. I even ran into our Suburban CM, Candice G, who was also putting together a last minute costume for the convention. She seemed to be on the right track, so maybe procrastinating pays off in the long run as long as you have an American Apparel nearby.

I know they’re *pretty much* all the same, but still, I’m reviewing because this one’s just that much better than the rest.
This American Apparel is hidden in a crevice of the mall usually reserved for come-​and-​go indie ethnic shop that only sells one type of odd thing like only Amish quilts, or only dream catchers, or those stack-​able Russian wooden doll things or something or other. The point I’m trying to make, it’s easy to pass up.
Inside it’s about the same as most AAs– maybe a little more cramped, maybe a bit smaller, but still the selection holds better sizing options than most other stores where there’ll maybe be sayyy 4 pairs of assless leggings in a size M and L, but none in a size S. Boo!
Today I needed several entities for superhero and villain outfits, and because it’s roughly six months to Halloween, I didn’t have too many options but to fork over the premium dough at American Apparel to get the items I NEEDED to make my costume.
2 pairs of shiny legging… check!
1 shiny part mesh dress/​top (depends on how hooch you wanna go, I guess)… check!
2 body suits to layer so my girls don’t pop out… check!
1 thick black elastic safety belt small enough to act as a choker… check!
1 set of lace bloomers so when I don’t have to panic about my underwear or worse, what’s under my underwear, showing through dresses and skirts.
All these items, multiple trips to the dressing room, one super helpful lady staff member who was doing everything from fixing some guys watch, to checking to see if they might still have some winter items in back, to helping find sizing, and so much more, with a positive and proactive attitude.
I spent more than a pretty penny on my novelty dress items here today, so much so that I really feel a lot more comfortable calling it an ‘ugly penny’, but it was as pain-​free as shopping for mulitple layered skin-​tight leotards can be thanks to the staff and sizing sitch.

Okay, so I love American Apparel. But not the store– go online and register your email and you’ll get a 20% off code. Plus if you spend enough you’ll get free shipping, too (I think $ 75).
The only plus about this store is that the employees here are actually friendly, helpful, and nice. My experiences with AmericanApparels in Chicago and NYC have been that the employees are generally rude and feel like it’s an imposition to answer a question— that’s simply not the case here.