Renee
07-31-2011, 06:03 PM
(sorry for the length of this escapade) Well, I finally got some time to go shopping. I always shop in drab as I am not sure just how well I pass. It has been a while since I got to shop for Renee, so I decided to go somewhere that I hadnt been in years. I went to a discount mall about 25 miles away. Wasn't even sure what stores were there anymore. When I got there I made the rounds and found 2 good potential places to find some bargains. First I went into the Burlington Coat Factory. There were many things there in the lingerie dept and I browsed for a while. Didnt find anything new or exciting, so I went to the dress dept. There they had some cute dresses and suits on clearance. I selected 3 dresses and a suit to try on. I went to the fitting rooms and showed the girl at the desk the 4 items that I had and she just looked at them and directed me to one of the larger booths. I thanked her and went in. The dresses fit fairly well, but just didnt do much for my plus sized figure. The suit jacket didnt feel right so I took all of them back out to the desk and sighed as I handed them over to the girl there. She said "well how did they fit?" I just told her that they didnt do much for me but that they were cute, just not on me. We both had a little chuckle and she told me good luck with finding something. I browsed around a bit more and then went to the next store which was Group USA. This is a formal and wedding dress store with some gorgeous gowns and dresses. I was looking around when a nice middle aged SA came over, introduced herself as Linda, and asked if she could help me with anything. I told her that this was the first time in the store and that they had some very lovely dresses. She thanked me and asked if I knew what size "she" wore. I looked at her and said I wear a 20 or 22 depending on the style. Without skipping a beat she said well come with me, we have some lovely plus size dresses right over here. As we were walking Linda asked if it was for a special ocassion, and I said not really, but a girl must have a beautiful gown or dress on hand when that ocassion comes. She laughed and said you are so right and ecorted me to the plus size area where we looked at so many dresses. They ranged in price from $99 to $500. Now I cant afford to pay that much for a dress that will sit in the closet for most of its life, but it was so much fun looking and discussing each gown with Linda. I think that she was gettinig as much fun out of it as I was. When we had looked at most of the gowns in that area she said, "maybe you would like to look through our clearance dresses?" "CLEARANCE". The word that makes my heart beat faster. I told her that would be great so we went to the other side of the store and found 6 or 7 dresses that might fit. They were originally priced from $499 down to $149. We chatted about each dress and gown that we thought might fit and narrowed it down to 3. The first was a maroon spaghetti strap full length gown with a jeweled overlay. The second was a deep blue satin tea length spaghetti strap dress that had diagonal ruffles. The third was a black satin full length gown with white trim and 3 spaghetti straps on one side with a white bow. I also saw a pair of black palazzo pants that I thought might fit. As we discussed each dress Linda would hang the ones that we liked on a rolling rack and put the others back on the circular clearance rack. When we were through looking at the clearance dresses, Linda looked at me and said alright girl, lets go see if any of these are the one. Linda led me back to the fitting area and told me as we were walking that this side is where we usually have the men try on the dresses. I told her that was fantastic, and asked if many men came in to try on dresses. She said actually more than one would think. As we came to a dressing area door, Linda unlocked a door and told me that I could take a dress and step inside to try it on. She said that there was a mirror inside the fitting room, but that there was a 3 way mirror at the end of the hall that would give me a better look from 3 sides. Linda then said not to worry that I was the only one in that side , so no one would be there except her if I wanted, so that she could help me with zippers and the like. I thanked her and grabbed the maroon gown and disappeared inside the dressing room and closed the door. I took off my sandals, shorts, and shirt and hung them up and the begab trying on the gown. It was lovely and felt great when I put it on. The zipper was on the side so I could reach it fairly easily. Linda must have known that I was starting to zip the gown as she asked politely if she could help me with it. I opened the door and stepped out and she closed the zipper and stood back and just said "lovely". I walked to the end of the hall and looked in the mirror with Linda behind me. We both discussed the gown and agreed that it looked great. I returned to the dressing room with Linda in tow. This time Linda came in the dressing room and unzipped the gown and said ok now I will step out and you can try on the next one. I thanked her and took off the maroon gown and put on the blue tea length dress. Linda must have seen me put it on over the top of the door and said for me to come out for her to do the zipper for me again. I did as I was told and Linda again zipped me into the dress. We looked in the 3 way mirror and agreed that the ruffles, while cute werent quite as good looking on me as the previous gown. It was back to the fitting room and again Linda came into the dressing room with me and unzipped the dress. She then started to step out, but hesitated and asked if I minded her staying as the next gown would take some help getting into. I told her that it wouldnt bother me if it didnt bother her. She laughed and said well I am here to do my job, and that is to help each customer if possible. So off came the blue dress and Linda took the black gown off of its hanger and held it for me to step into. She said "now here is the tough part. Getting the straps in the right place." I was so thankful that Linda had stayed with me, because I am not sure that I would have figured it out for a while. lol As we got the straps in place Linda stood back and said "Oh my, now that fits you nicely." After again looking in the mirror we agreed that this gown was by far the best of the 3. We went back to the dressing room and I removed the gown with Linda's help and tried on the palazzo pants. They were too big, but looked very nice. Linda said that they didnt have them in the next size down as they were on clearance. I sadly put my shorts, shirt, and sandals back on and went back out to the store with Linda towing the rolling rack with her. We then discussed each piece and looked at the prices of each. As it turned out the black gown was the least expensive after all discounts. It was originally $169 marked down twice and now was $59.98. Linda then said "and on top of that it is 70% off the lowest price. I think that you just hit the jackpot because with the additional markdown it comes to $17.99." I couldnt believe it and almost jumped for joy right there in the store. Linda asked if it was the one for me and I said that I couldnt pass that up. We talked for a while at the register and Linda invited me to come back again anytime and we could have more fun trying on dresses. She said that there was just one pre-requisite. I looked at her and asked what that was and she said make certain that you ask for me. We both laughed and I said that I certainly would and would recommend her to all of my girlfriends both male and female. What a day!!!!! and what a bargain !!!!! I have added a pic or 2 of the gown. Let me know what you think. I added the shrug cause my shoulders are too fat. lol