Francesca’s Collections

I’ve always been a fan of Francesca’s Collections — this store is so cute where it has cute gift pieces, accessories (such as headbands, cocktail rings, earrings, and bracelets), funky/​colorful purses/​clutches, make-​up bags, and tops and dresses. The staff here are super friendly and lets you peruse at your own leisure. I love their selection of the headbands by the cashier, as they have a great variety and have a cute whimsical feeling to them. They don’t have much cocktail rings anymore, but be on the lookout when they have major clearances on accessories and dresses — they are an average of 40% off. :D
+headbands
+cute dresses

I agree with one of the fashionista Unilocalers. On the fashion richter scale this shop sits in the middle of forever21 and anthro.
And like Madewell, I lurk in this spot for layering pieces like loose flowy tanks/​camis plus cute impulse gifts like playful iphone cases, party favors, and adorable earrings.
I’ve gotta check out their other locations. Apparently there’s one just about outside me window.

Francesca’s Collection reminds me of a broke-​ass version of Anthropologie… and I’m totally okay with that! Since I’m more of a quantity over quality girl (when it comes to my wardrobe) Francesca’s totally fits the bill. They offer a wide variety of fun printed (synthetic fabric) summer dresses for approximately $ 40 and chunky colorful statement necklaces for $ 20 (at other stores similar styles run for $ 50 — $ 150).
The store layout is really cute as well — it reminds me of a gypsy caravan with its variety of different wares.

I’ve been to Francesca’s Collections multiple times, after hearing the store name thrown around by some of my friends so I’ve been by a few times.
My first visit: completely horrible. There was a shop clerk, singing Christmas music to herself and made eye contact with me not once, not twice but THREE TIMES and proceeded to ignore me. It didn’t stop her from saying hello to all the other women in the store. Wow, awesome. It didn’t stop there: I wasn’t sure if I could just go in and try on clothes or if I needed to let her know that I was going to. I politely asked if I could try on a couple of dresses and she looked up from her cell phone at the register and said «yeah I guess so». WTF??? Needless to say, I quickly tried on the dress and jetted the hell out of there.
My second visit: I returned said dress. Maybe if I spent more time in the dressing room, I could have better evaluated how the dress looked. The second visit was surprisingly much more pleasant! A gal with super red hair and cool bangs processed my return and even said, «I’m so sorry the dress didn’t work out for you. Come back soon!» Aw, what a sweetie pie.
My third visit: I had to come back to buy some jewelry for my boss (since it’s one of her favorite stores). They were having a deal on necklaces (buy 1 get one 50% off) so I got two heavily beaded necklaces for only $ 37! What a steal. I also got a white lacy dress ($ 48!), perfect for New Years. This visit too was so much more pleasant, as the girls who were working there were super accommodating and friendly. If it weren’t for the shopkeeps I encountered at my second and third visit, this would have been a 1 star review.
I’ll definitely come back here for accessories, as the selection is fairly wide. Their clothing size runs can be limited but FC’s is a good locale for unique pieces.

Clothes are overpriced. If I’m going to spend money like that, I’ll go to Anthropologie at Tyson’s Galleria.
Their junk jewelry is fairly priced. I got two sparkly necklaces for less than $ 40.
It’s a fairly new store. It’s worth checking out, but I don’t plan on being a regular.