the "excuse me" lady

[KellyHabersham]

*I don't think this woman was purposely trying to be sucky, it was just frustrating because I really couldn't "move" out of her way, and I wish this particular store chain had a different layout.*

I'm not sure how "Claire's Accessories" stores are laid out in malls in other areas, but with the ones here in Phoenix, they are all kind of narrow and VERY difficult to get around in......especially when someone's got a stroller.

Anyhow, with the Claire's I was in today, there's room for one person to be in line at the register......any more than that, it makes it VERY difficult to get past to other parts of the store. And I ended up being that "second person in line" today - some woman with a stroller kept saying "Excuse me!", but there was nowhere for me to move to - I couldn't back up into a display, nor could I move up because of the woman in front of me.

[Akasa]

Yeah some stores are so not stroller friendly.

[fma_fanatic]

I've run into those type of people. My standard answer is usually something along the lines of "Lady, if I could move anywhere I would. What do you want me to do? Levitate?" The looks I get are priceless, not to mention whoever is around me gets a kick out of it.

[Merriweather]

I've run into those type of people. My standard answer is usually something along the lines of "Lady, if I could move anywhere I would. What do you want me to do? Levitate?" The looks I get are priceless, not to mention whoever is around me gets a kick out of it.

Oh, I do need to remember that comment, love it

[fma_fanatic]

The first time I used it was at a restaurant ironically. There was this awesome Chinese place when I was still living in California and the only way to get in and get out was to go along the wall and wait in line. It was tiny, but so worth it.

Some lady was bitching because she couldn't get her stroller (much like the OP) around the tables and started talking loudly "excuse me, EXCUSE ME!" She ran over my foot once with the damned stroller, so when she threatened to do it again, I looked at her and said just that. The look on her face was priceless. She left, grumbling about how rude people were and that food wasn't that good, blah blah blah. Everyone around me thought it was hilarious and gave them a good chuckle.

[Setsunaela]

The gamestop in the local mall is similarly tiny. I've known the store manager for a while and we'll banter back and forth while I shop. One time I was waiting in line with nowhere to move to and this teenage girl stood next to me going "exCUSE me!" Repeatedly, really snotty voice. So I looked at her and said "come on, you mean you haven't learned to phasewalk through people yet? Ugh what kind of mall rat are you? Its practically a requirement here!" With an equally disgusted voice. She glared at the manager and said "you're just going to let her talk to your customer like that?" And he shrugged and said "it is practically required..." and went back to his job. She rolled her eyes and left..

[MoonCat]

Why the heck do people insist on trying to shove strollers through tiny spaces that obviously aren't wide enough? Arggh...

[Caffienated_Caramel]

Oooh were you at the one at PV mall? I've known that one to be really small.

[telecom_goddess]

Phasewalk through people??? That's awesome. That I will remember.

[greensinestro]

I have twins and used to chug them around in a double wide stroller. Can't imagine what I would do now in one of those stores. Wait! I never went into small stores like that with the kids. I'd either leave them home, or the wife would come along.

[bainsidhe]

I'm not a slender waif of a person, and I'm unable to enter Claire's without always knocking something off it's peg. And it's always a peg that's overloaded, so hanging it back up means I'm knocking off other items. Ugh, now I avoid the store.

[XCashier]

I'm not a slender waif of a person, and I'm unable to enter Claire's without always knocking something off it's peg. And it's always a peg that's overloaded, so hanging it back up means I'm knocking off other items. Ugh, now I avoid the store.

Yeah, I don't like it when stores have such a ridiculously tight layout. I know mall space is at a premium, but there must be a better way.

The worst store I'd been to for this? A maternity store. Yep, maternity, as in customers with big pregnant bellies out to there. The target clientele literally could not squeeze through the closely spaced racks! Seriously, who designs these layouts?!

[KellyHabersham]

I think some of it may have to do with how old the mall in question is - because I've noticed that with the Claire's stores in the recently built outdoor malls, the cash register is in the middle of the store, so if there's a line, customers aren't "trapped" at one end of the store.

[PepperElf]

"you're just going to let her talk to your customer like that?"

i love how they forget the other customers in the store are... CUSTOMERS.

[SuperDan]

The worst store I'd been to for this? A maternity store. Yep, maternity, as in customers with big pregnant bellies out to there. The target clientele literally could not squeeze through the closely spaced racks! Seriously, who designs these layouts?!

I always got a chuckle out of the old layout of Fashion Bug back when they had nearly identical inventories of regular sized and plus sized merchandise with regular sizes on one side and plus on the other. (What? I had a fat ex who liked to spend my money.) Now you might look at the same shirt in medium and in 2X and think there isn't a huge difference in size hanging. There is a little more difference in pants and dresses between, say, a size 8 and a size 20, but not huge, right? Well, the thing is, these little differences in space taken add up. The hanging racks need to be extended out a little further to fit the same number of items, and the clothes stick out further from the racks. It would make sense to just shift everything over so the plus half takes up more than half of the store, but the problem is most Fashion Bug stores have a permanent floor-to-ceiling wall spanning about half the depth of the store and situated exactly halfway between the left and right walls. This causes the aisles in the standard size area to be quite wide by clothing store standards, while the larger sizes (worn by larger customers) end up with rather tight aisles. Symmetry is great for visual effect, but it sometimes impacts practicality.