Bath & Body Works

For me, this has been the week of reviewing underwhelming places. I’ve been seeing places that I would give a 3 ½ to, but not a four. I end up writing the reviews of the five– and four-​star places first, because I get excited about them, and find it easier to wax poetic about their awesomeness. Sadly, this is one of those places that I’m less-​than-​thrilled about.
It’s weird, I love Bath & Body Works, and I’ve been to many, many locations nationwide. Easton is growing so fast, and I appreciate having a wide variety of places to shop.
Firstly, Easton has a lot of Bath & Body Works locations. Like, an overwhelmingly large number. Three? Four? Do you really need that many? Probably not. This store seems redundant to me. Or, perhaps, some of the other stores are redundant. I don’t know.
The Strand is a newer development area, with a brand new Whole Foods, and a slew of other places not represented elsewhere at Easton. It just seems strange, but completely understandable given who originally developed Easton, that they would open multiple locations. Just seems like an odd way to spend your money: cannibalizing your own business by opening multiple locations with the same stock.
One of the reasons I don’t like this store, is because it has the confusing White Barn Candle Co. passthrough. Two separate entrances with two separate stores, but they’re connected. I think it’s a bad, customer-​confusing design. After years of visiting this style of store, I still don’t know whether or not you can bring products between the stores, buy them at opposing registers, if coupons share between stores, etc. If it’s just one big store, why even have a wall with a passthrough? Why not just have one big store? Knock down the wall? It’s not just that I feel this way. Friends feel this way, family, and even the employees regularly tell me that they get asked these same questions ALL THE TIME by a large number of customers. If it’s confusing your customers, maybe you should reconsider the design, or put up signage, or just ditch the model in the first place? I’m sure there’s psychology involved, and I’m sure it’s a savvy business model, and I’m also sure that confusion and keeping customers inside the store is good for business. But still… something about it gives me the creeps. I am much more likely to go to a single-​store unit than I am to revisit a multi-​store unit.
I like the corner location, as it looks pretty on the outside. But the inside feels broken-​up and the opposite of expansive — somewhat cramped. Short ceilings, lots of stuff you have to walk around and worry about knocking over. And if you feel uncomfortable with the knock-​over factor in B&BW, try walking around with shopping bags and a big winter coat in the candle store. Talk about an anxiety-​producing experience.
The stock is exactly what you’d expect to find, with nothing missing, and nothing extra. It’s darker (i.e. «richer»), which probably appeals to the Easton demographic. Unfortunately, I’m not a part of that demographic. I prefer my local B&BW location because it’s expansive, white, well-​lit, and inviting. This location feels like a specialized boutique, with the same products and service you’d find elsewhere. So that makes me feel an odd sense of disconnect. It’s like buying an Apple product at Wal Mart, or a cheap knock-​off product at Apple. It feels wrong.
So, this location is trying to act like a boutique store, without having boutique products. The staff is nice, but not noticeably any different from any other location. Probably the bare-​minimum required for a commission-​based business. If you have bad sales people, you don’t make your numbers. So they hire good sales people. And good sales people are generally personable people.
This location is a cross between Easton, where you’d park in one location, and walk around, and a non-​Easton location, where you park, shop, and then drive somewhere else. This new Strand area doesn’t actively discourage walking around? But it doesn’t actively encourage walking around either. Easton favors foot traffic in many subtle and not-​so-​subtle ways. The Strand has huge parking lots and is not as friendly to foot traffic. People drive much faster, and I don’t feel as safe in The Strand as I do walking around Easton. Aside from my favorite sushi place down the street, I’m not a fan of the layout. If I’m going to Easton, I want Easton, not some half-​baked sorta-​Easton with bad design.
But, again, this is about Bath and Body Works. Corner location, average staff, average stock, confusing multi-​store passthrough, and parking as far as the eye can see. A solid three-​star.

This location is just weird. It isn’t good or bad… just weird. It shares space with White Barn Candle Company since they are the same company and it feels confusing. Can I bring Bath & Body Works stuff in there or vice versa? The answer is yes but you still feel like you should check in case they think you are stealing.
Both stores are well stocked with product and staff. They are quick to greet you and tell you about the sales, offer you a bag and so on. The Bath & Body Works side feels like it goes back for quite a while before you hit the registers. There is a ton of product in both stores so it can start to get a little overwhelming — not only due to quantity but due to scents too. Not that I normally mind strong scents — I AM a huge fan of Lush after all! — but there tends to be an odd mix of seasonal things mixed with everything else and men’s scents too and it can start to be too much.
This seems like a new location and it is definitely pretty but Easton is heavily saturated with Bath & Body Works. Like, five different locations within a 2 – 3 mile radius according to their website and it just seems like overkill. I have been to at least three of them myself and they are all about the same. I would normally say 4 stars but due to the odd layout and connecting store, I have to go with 3. Its confusing when it should be simple.