J.Crew Factory Store

J. Crew Factory may have great deals but I don’t think it is worth it to get a good deal in exchange for being ignored by all of the store staff.
I feel strongly that it should made known that there is a lack of customer service at the J. Crew Factory (#154) that is located in the Plymouth Meeting Mall (500 West Germantown Pike Plymouth Meeting, PA 19 462). I moved to Philadelphia almost 10 months ago from Richmond, Virginia and was thrilled when I found out that there was a J. Crew Factory and a J. Crew store within fairly close proximity. I’ve visited this particular store before this past spring and had fairly good customer service with a woman that I believe was the manager on duty. I do not know her name but she was extremely helpful and as I result, I left the store with many items that I had not originally planned on purchasing. This visit occurred during the weekend so I am not certain if the weekday staff adhere to a much lower standard of customer service.
If they were graded on how well they folded a table of sweaters and ignored the customers in their store, I’m sure they’d get an A+.
Today, October 1^st, I went to the store again as I had just visited the Lehigh Valley Mall J. Crew store and picked up a couple of items for work and figured I might as well check out J. Crew Factory to see if there were any good deals on some work attire. I must say that the Lehigh Valley J. Crew staff were great. Ashley was extremely helpful and next time I’m back that way for work, I will visit again but I digress…
I’ve worked in retail in several stores through high school and college and I expect a basic level of acknowledgement when I enter into a store. A simple «hello» or «welcome» is more than enough. When I entered the store around 4:10 PM today, there was a lady with brunette hair in a ponytail in black pleated skirt, white button-​down shirt with a cardigan that was right next to the door folding clothes and organizing the table. It was clear that she saw me but didn’t say one word. I actually walked over to the table where she was folding clothing to check out some sweaters, I was looked through the pile for my size so I see how big it ran and still not a word. She in fact walked off in the opposite direction. I probably encountered her about 3 – 4 times while in the store– working my way from front to the back. Another male employee in a plaid shirt and chinos, also decided to pretend that I was invisible and did not say a word. It is very rude and disappointing to go to store and feel like your presence is not welcomed. Since I did have a pleasant encounter in the same store months before, I would assume that the company does believe in providing customer services and that perhaps these two individuals working today were the outliers.
I was very close to just leaving the store and not purchasing anything as I really did not want to give my money to people who blatantly ignored me during my 20 – 30 minutes in the store. I did; however, find a dress that was too good of a price to pass up and purchased it. The male at the register (a different one with a red button-​down shirt) was a little more pleasant but still didn’t seem like he wanted to bothered. He never asked if I found everything OK or if anyone was helping me. I don’t know if he knew that his associates weren’t too keen on helping customers so he didn’t even bother to ask me or if that is not customary in your store.
I am seriously rethinking shopping in that particular store because I honestly found the whole experience to be for the most part, very disappointing. No one deserves to be treated that way. When I exited the store, the first male employee and the female employee were in engaged in conversation, they both saw me and continued to pretend that I didn’t exist as I walked past with my shopping bag. As I was getting ready to push the door open, I did tell the male employee that it would nice if they actually acknowledged their customers because it’s kind of rude to have someone in your store and go out of your way to avoid speaking with or acknowledging them. After first he carried on as if he didn’t understand what I was referring to and then gave a half-​hearted «I’m sorry,» when I restated my concern but it was very clear that he could care less.
I sincerely hope that corporate cares and that this matter will be addressed so that future customers of this particular store are not treated in the same manner– it is just wrong and should not be tolerated.
I really expect more from J. Crew and J. Crew Factory.