Banana Republic

Went looking for some shoes. …Sandro couldn’t have been more helpful and patient helping me try on some different pairs and sizes. Unfortunately, didn’t buy anything (irregular feet I suppose). I don’t usually shop BR, but I’d be more inclined to go back after a good experience.

Thanks are in order for the super smart cashier that (working at 1230pm today) said she could only return one of my two items… sending me all the way to Rosemont to return a shirt that she said could only be returned there. Well, now they say it isn’t returnable and mail in only.
I appreciate you wasting my gas and even more so, my time.

Excellent is the word I have to use to describe my experience at Banana Republic. Sherry is one of the associates and her advice was simply flawless. I was attempting to achieve a look I just saw online for a job interview and she was able to guide me through the whole process seamlessly. My shopping experience was superb.

this is the worst BR store I’ve ever been. the staff are not helpful at all. apparently they made a mistake by putting sigs of 30%off on several items and when I’m about to pay in the cashier they try to trick me by saying that i needed to get a BR card in order to get the discount which was BS. In the end they had to give me the discount after i spoke to the manager but they were giving me attitude about it. other thing is that they don’t have things in stock so i would recommend not wasting your time going there.

After several years, I finally broke down and made my first BR purchase a few weeks ago. I never bought anything from BR because the curtomer service was always horrible, regardless of the location of the store — Chicago, LA, Florida…
There was the cutest dress that I just had to have, so I pushed aside my contempt for the store to get the dress. I ended up buying quite a bit from the store because everything in the store was 40% off and I opened up a BR card for an extra 15 or 20% off. Everything was cute in a monochromatic way that makes you think you look chic because you’re in all black but you really aren’t. But, to the people I work with, I look cutting edge and hip and stuff.
I have learned a few things from this experience…
1. I still do not like shopping at BR stores. Despite spending a small fortune at the Skokie location, it’s likely that I will not go back to a BR store and
2. I like the customer service by phone because they offer additional discounts that you’ll never get at the store. So you’ll likely get another 15−20% off of your all black BR clothing just for calling their 800 number.
3. If you purchase by phone and don’t like it, don’t fret. Just return it to your local BR store and make another purchase by phone.
Well kids, that’s all I have for you today.

The GAP Inc should consider what the employees from Skokie BR store have been doing to the customers. The salespersons were very annoying with very loud voice, it’s almost yelling at the customers. If you don’t buy the things that you’ve tried on, then they will be very RUDE. I’d rather go to North ave or other stores… This store was the worst BR store ever I’ve met

I like Banana Republic for non original, traditional, just tolerable clothing. Nothing says «I want to look like everyone else» like walking into Banana Republic. With that said, sometimes there isn’t anything wrong with looking like everyone else. My issue is with THIS location, alone. The lines on the weekend to cash out are ALWAYS really really long. To me, this is a sign of one of two things. 1. THEY NEED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES TO KEEP THE RIF RAFF OUT or 2. THEY NEED TO JUST GO AHEAD AND TURN THIS INTO AN OLD NAVY WITH 200 CASH REGISTERS. My biggest pet peeve when I shop is having to wait in line to SPEND money it took time for me to make. A store’s job is to sell you things. When I have to wait in line to be a consumer it makes me want to burn the place down. With that said, I won’t harm the store, I will probably be back, and NO! I don’t want to put it on my Banana Republic Charge Card even if it discounts your mass produced threads.

Overall, this store’s service is hit or miss.
I had awesome customer service followed by awful customer service. Very Jekyll and Hyde… Oh well, the selection is decent but seems very picked through sometimes. I’d rather go to the North Ave store…

On one hand, the discounted merchandise brings the price down to what I feel is a reasonable amount to pay for most items (not sure if I have paid full price for a BR item ever as it’s a bit pricey for what you get) but then I’ve noticed that the quality on some items is poor.
A belt buckle loop came undone easily and the pant leg near the pocket stitching came loose. It’s not because I tried to squeeze into something I could not fit into. It was just poor quality control.
Some things are good though but overall, it was a bit hit and miss.

The staff is particularly helpful at this location. Today I learned you can bring pieces back for a steam any time they need it. Good to know for scarves! Otherwise, the usual good selection of Banana Republic staples. I am partial to the tops.

Banana Republic is a beautiful store and has some pretty nice clothes. But I rarely purchase anything from this place because of the price point and the fact that I can find clothes of equal if not better quality at other stores like J. Crew.
If you going to dress very formally, Banana Republic is a great place to shop.
If not, shop elsewhere and save yourself some money.
this is a review of a shopping experience in October 09

Banana Republic is Banana Republic. I’ve been shopping here for five or six years, and for the most part nothing ever stood out. I was oblivious to the staff (and occasionally amused or annoyed by their repeated requests to help me) and they were indifferent to me. However, today I had a great experience worth sharing.
I wanted a blue v-​neck sweater in medium, which the store did not have. I also wanted (not as much) a lavender shirt in medium. Of course the young woman helping me radioed in the back for both, but failing that, she offered to check with other area stores. Since I wasn’t willing to drive to another store (I’ve lived here for years and happily have no idea where Woodfield is), she offered to do a «charge-​send» in which the store with the item in stock will send it to me as if I had ordered it online. (By the way, we had already determined that these items were not available through the online store.) Plus, the in-​store sale (30% off in the case of the sweater) would still be in effect using this method.
All of this took a loooong time for this BR woman on the phone; I ended up getting the stuff from New York because… I’m not sure. Somehow it didn’t work out with the Chicago-​area stores. The thirty-​minute wait was worth it because I REALLY wanted that sweater. But overall, I was impressed with the lengths to which this woman was willing to go to satisfy their customer.
In the meantime, I bought a few other things and was being rung up by another woman. I had a 40% off «friends and family» coupon which was good on any non-​sale items. Three of my four purchased items were 30% off, making the 40% off coupon effective on only one item. However – the woman ringing me up said, «I cancelled the store sale 30% discount on these three items so that we can apply the 40% off to all four items.» Score. That saved me another $ 18 or so. That was unexpected, and very much appreciated.
Also, during this entire process, a woman who was a/​the manager came over a couple of times to make sure that everything was satisfactory. She was pleasant (and really cute), not to mention of a reasonable age (late 20’s probably), so I was pleased to talk to a real, responsible person with some intelligence.
So next time it will probably go back to continual harassment by sullen (male) or ebullient (female) 19-​year-​olds, but today I was pleasantly surprised. And of course, I’ve loved their clothes for years but I can only browse through about one-​third of the store because most of their «hipper» offerings are just too garish. Give me a nice, plain, classic shirt or slacks please. They’ve been on a multi-​colored vertical-​stripes kick for about four years now and it’s really disgusting.

Before I begin, full disclosure: I’m a former Gap, Inc. employee so I hold current Gap, Inc. employees to high standards, which were the standards I worked by when I was employed by them and standards that I think are totally reasonable when you’re paying upwards of $ 130 for a cotton sundress.
I am endlessly disappointed by this Banana Republic. With the exception of one woman who only works Sundays in the dressing room (she is awesome – wish I knew her name), most of the staff here is often unprofessional and borderline rude. Here are my two most recent nightmares with the Old Orchard store.
ONE:
I arrived at BR on a Sunday to drop off jeans for a tailoring. After getting bumped around from one salesperson to the next, then waiting in the dressing room for quite a long time while their «fitting specialist» forgot her tools for fitting (you know like, pins and measuring tapes – those silly things), I was promised my jeans would be ready the following Friday. On the following Saturday morning, as I am getting ready to trek out to Old Orchard, I receive a call from BR informing me that they had lost my jeans, found them again, and they’d be going out to their tailor the following week. Remember, they’re informing me of this mishap a day AFTER I might have gone out there to pick them up.
‘Um, if you lost my jeans, are you sure what you found actually are my jeans?’ I asked the guy on the phone.
‘They should be,’ he replied. How reassuring!
The following week, I arrive to pick up my jeans. Somehow, the staff had managed to «misplace» my jeans again. I stood around while they searched and eventually found them, handing them over with no apologies about their mistakes. If these jeans could speak… just imagine the stories they might be able to tell from their last two weeks!
TWO:
The boyfriend and I stop here the other evening to get him new jeans. Perhaps the girl helping him was new, but she didn’t know boot cut from relaxed fit – literally. When he asked her if jeans often go on sale, which we BR’ers know is a rare thing indeed, she wavered and said she thought a sale just ended. (It hadn’t.) Then, when he asked if Gap, Inc. administers 30-​day price adjustments when items go on sale after purchase, she asked what a price adjustment was. Let me be clear – the girl was nice, but whoever trained her and sent her onto the floor with such little knowledge was NOT nice to her or to her customers.
When we finally check out, a very pushy cashier ignored my boyfriend’s three «No, thank you’s» in response to the Banana Card offer. (Boy, howdy. How we Gap, Inc. employees are pushed to push those cards.) This guy was like a rabid dog, foaming at the mouth, deluded and single-​mindedly focused on issuing another account.
‘I think I’d rather wait until I have a bigger purchase,’ says my boyfriend after the fourth insistence by the cashier.
‘This IS a big enough purchase!’ pursued the cashier. ‘You’ll get coupons for bigger purchases in the FUTURE. You shouldn’t wait – ‘
I couldn’t take it any longer. ‘I think he’s okay,’ I snapped. Honestly. You’re trying to push a card on a guy who’s buying ONE pair of jeans and has already told you three times he’s not interested? Offering someone a credit card account shouldn’t be like Chinese Water Torture – it’s not an attempt to break someone’s will.
I LOVE Banana’s clothing and accessories, but I have been excusing the OO BR for over five years now and I’m done. As long as I can shop at other locations with nicer, more knowledgeable, and more helpful employees, I will.

I really love walking around this store. The quality of clothing at Banana Republic is always great and I can find a cute outfit for work without a hitch. The staff here has always been friendly, and both the men’s and women’s departments are large with a great selection.

this is a large Banana Republic (I’ve seen smaller). The store is always well stocked and has a good supply of clearance clothes. The customer service is great, and, on busy days, they have a ton of cashiers open — so you’re never in line for too long.

I worked here for over a year so I’m a little biased when it comes to Banana. Four years later I continue to buy many of my clothing at Banana because they carry adorable clothing, it’s affordable, and the sales associates are very helpful.

This popular shop is tucked within the Promenade at the Old Orchard mall. The layout of the store has a bright and modern look to it, so having a browse around is a good idea. The exchange policy here seems reasonable too.