Please tell me if I am being hypersensitive...because I often am, but I own it. Having said that, I am OVER it. I am over Chanel boutique SA's acting so high and mighty! I recently went to Milan and wanted to go to Chanel for a new wallet. As I approached the shop, no one was in line and I saw a couple coming out. The gatekeeper allowing people in and out told me to wait as he closed the door. It made me so mad, but I hid my anger and waited outside feeling like a complete loser because I just had a door shut in my face. I felt like they thought I was not good enough to enter the shop! After a few minutes, they let me in and I looked around a bit and then I just couldn't stand it so I asked, nicely, why I needed to wait. They said I needed to wait until there was an associate available to help me. (Sounded rehearsed so I"m sure I wasn't the first to ask.) There were 3 associates in the store and I was the only customer, so don't tell me no one was available. If only 1 associate was available, ok, maybe she needed to make a quick call or go to the bathroom or something, but 3 associates?!?! I remember pre-COVID, I would see multiple people looking around in a Chanel boutique, then during COVID, of course, everyone was limiting the number of customers, but NOW? Seriously? I was so mad I just left the store and came home with no new treasures. It has made me not want to go in a Chanel boutique ever again. This was the second time this year I have experienced this at a Chanel boutique, but not to this level. The first time was in Vegas and they just said, 1 second, and let me in about 10 seconds later. Why? So snobby! Ok, open the gates, am I being a hypersensitive Karen?
Chanel STILL making you wait!
- Thread starter ebeth22
- Start date
IMO, yes lol sorry!
We still have a guy at the door and he always assesses the boutique sales floor before he lets us in. It has nothing to do with me, I understand that.
We still have a guy at the door and he always assesses the boutique sales floor before he lets us in. It has nothing to do with me, I understand that.
Actually I do believe it's a marketing psychology tactic, the delayed gratification of making the product feel harder to get than it really is, the "rejected" feeling just makes u want to get it for a sense of satisfaction in the end
It feels to me more like a security tactic. Most high end stores are like this now.
Sadly this seems to be the norm now at many price points. I was in Milan last month and my teen wanted to go to Stussy and Supreme. Same thing, we were made to wait outside and the staff were just obnoxious. The girl in the Supreme store literally rolled her eyes and sighed when my son asked her for help.
If you have an issue with waiting or queuing best way to avoid it is to arrange an appointment. I don't think it's Chanel being snobby as it's very common practice with many stores.
As others have already mentioned, this is common now for many luxury boutiques for presumably security reasons, and happens to everybody. It would not have been directed towards you personally. The fact you reacted so strongly towards it makes me wonder whether this situation struck a nerve with you, perhaps hit a sore spot? I would’ve been slightly annoyed being asked to wait, yes, but I wouldn’t have dwelled upon it in such an infuriated way (especially since it sounds like you only waited a few short minutes), and it sounds like you projected a lot of emotive language to yourself (“I felt like a complete loser” etc). I’m sorry you felt this way, but I hope you don’t let it continue to ruin your day as I feel like no personal attack/offense was meant by the security personnel. Just my two cents.
All the best
All the best
I don’t think you are hypersensitive, you simply don’t like waiting in line to shop, it doesn’t feel luxurious! I totally agree and rarely do it!
I agree with the others, and I also want to add that highly depends on the country. I was in London just this week and experienced similar empty shop. I was letting immediately and treated very kindly and with a lot of patience, despite other customers being served at the Same time by others. It was a great experience and great stock too! Try another city or another country next 
Yeah, no issue on this - it’s a standard practice with many stores selling high-end luxury items, not only with Chanel but with other luxury watch/jewelry retailers too. I am not entirely sure why OP was overly upset over this. If OP has any issue with queueing, then it's better to arrange for an appointment.
P.S I got even denied to enter an AP boutique in my country without any appointment beforehand where the the boutique was entirely empty and only had a max of 3 tables for customers with 2-3 SAs available. No appointment == No service.
P.S I got even denied to enter an AP boutique in my country without any appointment beforehand where the the boutique was entirely empty and only had a max of 3 tables for customers with 2-3 SAs available. No appointment == No service.
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Hmmm I don’t feel you are being hypersensitive at all. I see people have the same reaction frequently at my local boutique and it’s understandable. The whole process lacks transparency and it’s quite different to how it was pre Covid where anyone could walk in and queues did not exist. This is just the way that the boutiques operate now for walk in clients - in my boutique each person needs to be assigned a fashion advisor on entry. Sometimes there are advisors seemingly standing around but in my experience they are usually waiting for a client or they are managers who do not directly help clients.
It is annoying and it’s happened to me recently when I travelled. I just decided not to queue and made an appointment for another day. The benefit of this system is that once you enter you have someone looking after you straight away and they will be with you until you leave. Queuing and waiting is not luxury but IMO the system is more seamless after the point of entry.
It is annoying and it’s happened to me recently when I travelled. I just decided not to queue and made an appointment for another day. The benefit of this system is that once you enter you have someone looking after you straight away and they will be with you until you leave. Queuing and waiting is not luxury but IMO the system is more seamless after the point of entry.
If its any consolation, my local chanel in washington DC does this for security reasons. They have been robbed numerous times and have now become very strict with the number of people they let into the store- maybe to keep a specific customer to SA ratio in case of any security issues? Its annoying, but I really dont think it has anything to do with you
I don’t think the waiting was specific to you, or designed to personally insult you. You didn’t have an appointment, those 3 SAs you saw standing around may have scheduled appointments with established clients within the next 15min, and thus can’t start servicing a new client.
