Sales staffs at Twenty Ninth Street shops have opportunity to improve

Editor?s Note: Members of The Boulder County Business Report?s editorial staff were asked to ?go shopping? at Boulder?s new retail district Twenty Ninth Street. Here are there accounts.

Twenty Ninth Street was designed for ?my people? (women aged 35 and better), so I know I?ll be enjoying some recreational shopping there.

My Saturdays typically begin at Pilates in the morning followed by some kind of outside activity that might include biking and/or running errands and/or a bit of window shopping and end up about 3 p.m. over a latte in one of the local coffee shops. Twenty Ninth Street could easily fill the bill.

Since last Saturday wasn?t quite bicycle weather, after Pilates I drove to Twenty Ninth Street and parked underground to see if I would be able to find my car later. It was easy.
At the top of the staircase I faced J. Jill, one of my favorite stores since it caters to ?my people.? The store was very busy ? a good sign ? and I ran into a friend, but the merchandise looked picked over and messy, and there was a lot less inventory than the FlatIron Crossing store. A bit of a disappointment.

Right next door I popped into Origins for a minifacial. The girl ? a freckle-faced kid with braces who knew less about the products than I did ? gave me a very light facial and a very hard sell. She didn?t even offer samples. More training needed here.

I wandered into Coldwater Creek, which had a very friendly, mature staff, and Acorn, which was too much like Coldwater Creek to differentiate. At lucy I found the apparel not nearly as nice as lululemon, so I?ll wait until it opens to buy Pilates pants. I felt invisible in M.A.C.; none of the salesgirls even glanced in my direction.

Then I took my life in my hands and crossed Canyon Boulevard, where the four-way stop signs were mere suggestions to the drivers, to hang out at Peet?s, a café I?ve grown to love during visits to California. The place was mobbed but fun, and the drink was second to none.

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