Disclaimer: it should be noted that GWS, while taking photographs for this blog, had a bit of a run-in with a harried-looking saleswoman (manager?) who, apparently in an attempt to protect the “exclusive Zara designs, you know” with her inquiries of “you take pictures for something?” but no intention of listening to the answer, rid GWS of any desire to prolong her stay in the store. It seems she had noticed neither the pictures of the collection that have been publicly available on the brand’s website for some time, nor the increasingly unbearable line-up in the women’s section that she likely could have productively addressed instead. Therefore, this review is incomplete, and will be revisited when the bitterness subsides. And with that…
… so! Zara has landed in Ottawa, eh? Repeatedly, GWS has noticed in her travels that this is one brand that is consistently inconsistent from geo to geo. While it’s affordable across the board, the style differs significantly – in Moscow it’s edgy, in Monaco – quality-within-reach, in Toronto it’s sort of trendy, but mostly just cheap. Unfortunately, the Canadian flavour was carried into the Rideau Centre location in the nation’s capital. While some items were decidedly fun and incorporated pointers from designer ready-to-wear collections for this season, the quality did not strive to exceed the standard for the price point.
The men’s section, which GWS had a chance to explore, offered a fairly exciting alternative to the ALDO-only affordable shoe selection that seems to plague O-town. Of especial note were John Varvatos-esque brown sheepskin-lined rugged leather boots at a fantastic $129. The coats and sweaters seemed terribly square and bulky – admittedly, on hangers, not on man-forms.
The women’s side presented a hot mess. Literally, jackets on the floor, boots in a pile, clothes that looked tried-on arranged in a mountain atop a bench – overall, nothing much of anything that inspired impulsive credit card un-holstering. There was a gray scaly pair of over-the-knee (which is just a less negatively connotated and au courant way of saying “thigh-high”, did you notice?) boots that looked interesting – unfortunately, in a size 39, they were too big for this Girl Who Shops. Plus, as previously mentioned, the line-up on the women’s side was abysmal; unfortunately, salespeople were too busy scorning visitors to distribute the waiting customers evenly to the men’s cave.
Wait… cave? Interestingly, one thing that was quite noticeable around the facilities was the lighting. Too sparse in the men’s section making it look dingy, too harsh washing out some parts of the women’s – this is an area that the management will want to reconsider.
Here’s hoping that your experiences at the new Zara were more enjoyable!