Anthropologie In North Hills Raleigh, NC - My Thoughts

 I had heard so much about this store from so many beauty gurus on you tube so I really wanted to check it out for myself on a visit to Raleigh, NC.

I was in Raleigh to go to the AMAZING Alice In Chains concert on May 7.  A blog post  about that concert is coming soon. 

North Hills Shopping Center is not just a glorified luxury strip mall, it has apartments, restaurants, banks, grocery stores, pharmacy,  a"park"  that is really a stage and entertainment venue  and a four-star hotel.

It is a beautiful well appointed rich people strip mall to sum it all up. LOL!

 This is the entrance to the much talked about store. Love the wood facade. I also love the all caps font. This is the graphic designer in me. Most people do not notice signage or product packaging but I always do. Was not really impressed with the window displays or the fashions on the mannequins.

 This blurry pic is of the drooping plant (from lack of watering) at the front door of the store. I was trying to quickly get the picture before the employees noticed. Very sad for the plant. Definitely not good feng shui at all.

What impressed me the most about Anthropologie was the quality soft fabrics of of the clothing. I knew I was going to get "sticker shock" so I was prepared a little bit for how expensive the prices are. There were a few pieces I would have liked to add to my wardrobe but over all I really was not impressed with the store's collection. 

My strategy for shopping this store for clothing would be to wait as long a possible for a very good sale.Visit the store often and watch the your size in the item then buy it when it is marked down. Buying solid color basics that can be worn for many seasons would be the my main objective. The rich feeling fabrics were the reason for the high prices. I understand this and I am willing to pay a bit more. On the other hand,

throw away like "used toilet paper" cheap thin fabrics and poorly made Forever 21 clothing is a waste of money to me.

My biggest complaint about the Anthropologie was the expensive "fake vintage" items. There is no way I would pay that much money for ordinary yard sale, thrift shop or flea market look a likes. It was so crazy to me that the store basically found an item in a thrift shop redesigned it just a bit, made copies then put in up for sale at an expensive price in their store. Ridiculous.

I expected to be wowed and amazed because of the hype beauty gurus speak so often about this store. Once again when I experience the actually item or location, I really wasn't impressed. 

Do you shop at this store?

Thanks for reading!