Pier 1 Imports

I walked in there this evening and the girls at the counter didn’t even acknowledge my presence. I was clearly looking around for something and searching in the dishes area. No one came to help me. I heard them gossiping at the counter and being entirely fake with a paying customer. So that’s fine, I got my dishes and upon approaching the counter, asked a question about dishes past and the one I was searching for. Tiffany in particular was rude and dismissive, and I think her to be the manager. I walked out of there thinking how bitchy those girls were and I was literally sorry to ever have gone in. I will definitely not return. Snotty employees who don’t enjoy their jobs. Ugh…

Helpful and friendly sales staff, brightly lit store with aisleways kept clear for maneuvering, continually changing merchandise at reasonable prices and a convenient location in the Forum Shopping Center just a stone’s throw from the Whole Foods located there keep me coming back to Pier 1 to shop. Great design can cost a fortune but good and interesting design is available for reasonable prices, and even bargains here during sales, if you shop carefully and know what you’re looking for.
You’ll find cheap dishware here from China for sure, but you’ll also find good quality dishes from Portugal.
You can find an array of highly scented scented candles in dozens of colors if that is your thing or, if you are like me, ivory or white unscented votives and pillar candles to use on table settings so candle aroma doesn’t compete with food and wine.
You can find pure cotton hem stitched place-​mats and napkins from India in a rainbow of colors that are versatile mix and match pieces with other patterned linens and in much better quality, in my experience, than similar items found at Cost Plus and a great alternative to much more expensive ones found at high end kitchen retailers. (These place-​mats were recently on sale for just over four bucks each. Great deal.)
You can also find seasonal accents at low enough prices that even if you only use them one season, it is worth the cost for the fun they provide. (And they can then be recycled for someone else to discover and enjoy through donations to the local Humane Society resale shop.)
There are also art pieces, upholstered furniture and case-​goods, accent lamps, throw pillows, baskets, greeting cards, stemware… the list goes on. Some is clearly not great stuff but some is pretty darned good. And with some imaginative transformation, it can even be really good.
As example, a metal base side table with a flimsy glass top for about $ 50 can turn into something special when the top is replaced with half inch glass and a total investment of only about a hundred bucks becoming a worthy alternative to a high end piece priced at nearly $ 600 elsewhere. A dining table that has a painted base with «just right» shape and size for a kitchen nook can, with a hundred dollars or so of accent painting by an interior finishing specialist, turn out to be a great alternative to a table at a furniture retailer that is more than double the retail price of the one here.
I’m more the type who would like to have one good quality item than a dozen things of less quality. But I am also someone on a budget and I’ve found that sometimes Pier 1 provides me with great options to feather my nest at home. I’m a fan.
THIS N THAT:
This store, and maybe all Pier 1’s, now have little shopping baskets on wheels you can pull or push around the store to fill us as you shop. That means this Pier 1, which has always done a pretty good job of keeping aisleweays 36″ clear for universal access (aka ADA compiance), is doing an even better job given all shoppers with carts need clear aisle space to maneuver and buy. Makes the shopping experience here even more enjoyable.