Beat Street

I recently took my wife to Beat Street while in Snohomish. I was impressed with the merchandise and selections. I learned the shop has been in business a quarter century in Snohomish with the same ownership /​sales people. This is a store that truly reflects the taste of the ownership and my wife and I both loved it!

All I can say is, wow! I went shopping here with a gorgeous friend who was over the moon with delight at the beautiful shirts she found (she was doing a once-​in-​several-​years shop for clothes that fit her well but were also unique). I looked around at stuff but wasn’t going to try anything on because I usually feel pretty hopeless about finding clothes outside of my tried-​and-​true comfort zone.
The shop owner offered to show me some items she thought would look good but graciously indicated she would not force anything on me. I spontaneously took her up on the offer. I was stunned to find that the 3 items I selected out of the 9 or so items she recommended actually looked smashing on me. She has an eye!!!
And you know what? This was THE FIRST TIME in my half-​century of life that anybody ever had any interest in a store in even suggesting that anything could make my plain old self look nice. In small shops and in big stores, I have routinely found that sales clerks, male and female, are generally only interested in getting clothes on the backs of pretty women. This experience at this shop was an eye-​opener and a confidence boost and also netted me some lovely clothes :)

Beat Street is a special funky treat in an area where many stores sell the same type of stuff.
The women’s clothes are usually high quality. They’re styled for your 50-​something woman who used to be a hippy but now is a psychologist or something and drives a prius. They also sell great shoes, but because the store is small, they might not have your size.
They also have a section with gifts and trinkets and things. It’s a fun area to explore.

I have been shopping at Beat Street for many years and have always had a pleasant experience. The clerks have been friendly and helpful and no «attitude» has been in evidence. Give this shop a try! They have unique clothing and accessories and the styles are comfortable!

I once encountered the amazingly snotty attitude referred to by another reviewer, after years of happily patronizing the place. The clerk in question (who may in fact be the owner) seemed to take bitter offense at my unwillingness to try on something that was her suggestion after she walked up to me and asked what I was looking for. I normally am not looking for anything in particular; I’m just surveying the field of possibilities and don’t want to engage in a conversation about it. I routinely excuse myself from further conversation with an «I’m just looking» and all but the worst clerks recognize that that’s their signal to to fade away and let me browse.
Still, I happened to try a different response that one time, described what I had in mind and, geez Louise! If she doesn’t want to hear that someone doesn’t want to try on the thing she’s offering them, maybe she shouldn’t ask in the first place! It’s not a big store. Everything they’ve got is readily visible.
Anyway, because of that, I stayed away much longer than I normally would have but I finally returned because the attitude is specific to one individual and a lot of times she’s not there. (I mentioned it to the other person who works there, who’s perfectly friendly, and she was unsurprised to hear it; obviously, she’s heard it before.)
The prices are right at the top of what I am willing to pay, but I do because the clothes are imaginative and comfortable and it’s easy to find things that don’t require dry cleaning. I’ve seen clothes of nearly similar kinds with significantly higher prices at places that flatter themselves that they’re boutiques, so I think Beat Street’s pricing is fair. They aren’t catering to hordes of people, after all. It’d sure be nice if that one gal weren’t there, though. She’s enough to make me turn right around and head for the door until the other clerk is working.

I’d give more stars for great selection of all kinds of items, the single star is for the snotty salesperson. I have a huge beef with shops that don’t even acknowledge that you’ve entered their store. Doesn’t matter what they have, I won’t go back. It’s like they’re doing me a favor by being there rather than welcoming a customer.
I did find a cool felted wool mini purse, reasonably priced, and I bought it. But even during the checkout process the ‘tude was there. And it’s not like it was busy and she was distracted, there wasn’t another soul in the store.
With so many other cool, welcoming shops in Snohomish that have lots of eclectic and artsy inventory I won’t bother going back to this one.

Great artsy clothes and accessories. Love the scarves. There’s a discount rounder in the back.