Complaints: Banana Republic Staffers Are Too Friendly

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Yesterday, we were struck by the difference between staffs at Superdry and Banana Republic. Both stores were just winding up an exhausting opening process, but while the Superdry folks seemed like they could use a well-deserved nap, the people at Banana Republic were downright chipper. The Shophound noticed the same thing at Banana, and it ruined his NPR experience. Mere hours after the soft open, he wandered in while listening to his iPod and was immediately and aggressively greeted by every single person in the store.

One determined woman launched into a whole story about how it was a soft opening and the store really was opening on Thursday and something about a charity shopping event and just wouldn't stop even after we looked at her funny, pulled one earphone out and said, "Okay, thanks". She mostly succeeded in interrupting a perfectly enjoyable edition of the "This American Life" podcast.

That monster! To avoid a similar fate, the Shophound advises waiting a few weeks for the opening eagerness to wear off.

He also lays out a fairly hilarious exception to his strict "Don't talk to me, I'm shopping" rule: "We could let the gorgeous kids at Hollister say 'Hey! Whatsup?' to us all day long if we could stand the disgusting perfume that store pumps out onto the sidewalk, but that is a special, gimmicky case." Everyone, of course, has a different threshold for salesperson friendliness, but we like his rider that really attractive 18-year-olds get a pass.
· Now Open: Superdry, Britain's Hollister, Hits Noho [Racked]
· Banana Republic Will Welcome You To Death [The Shophound]
· Makeovers: Soho's Banana Republic Gets Peeled [Racked]