Talbots

I had a VERY important job interview to attend this past week, and to my consternation, I did not have a decent business suit to wear. I searched around different stores, but couldn’t really find anything «severe» enough — business casual seems to be the rule now and this job simply required a much more professional look. Enter Talbot’s at the Columbia Mall.
My salesperson, Rachel, was extremely attentive, helpful and provided me with great tips and pointers about how the suits looked on me, what types of accessories and shoes would go with them, and even recommended a few other places in the mall where I might pick up some items. She hooked me up with GREAT deals — the suit that I eventually purchased would have been 500 dollars originally, but with discounts and markdowns, it ended up being only 211 dollars, which was an absolute STEAL. I was thrilled with the attention and service that I received here.
Only two small things kept this from being a perfect 5 star review —
1. The location is a bit confusing. The Talbot’s is not actually located IN Columbia Mall, but outside on a plaza, which I didn’t know and walked around for hours to find. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, since I got my exercise in, but clearer directions would have helped some.
2. Suits are cut a bit smaller here than at Ann Taylor or similar places, so in this store, I had to go back up to plus size temporarily — and since I’m petite, that limits the selection considerably. It’s great that Talbot’s HAS plus petite available, they’re one of the only stores that do, but they had maybe 2 business suits to choose from, and they were merely in different colors — it was the same exact suit otherwise. Maybe this is a problem with fashion in general, but the selection was VERY limited. Luckily, the suit that they did have looked great on me and was reasonable in price, so I was fortunate.
I will definitely come back if I need more «professional» looking clothes, and hopefully I will!
Definitely make sure you get Rachel as your salesperson. She deserves a big, fat raise.