Akira

Not my usually shopping place but came here the day before my birthday in a frenzy. I had already gone shopping crazy and needed something trendy but on a budget.
As soon as I walked in, I was greeted and helped right away by who I believe was the manager. She was extremely personable and picked out tons of outfits for me to try on and was there to give me an opinion on each piece. I didn’t expect so much service and attention at a place like Akira but it definitely made me feel vip.
They also have killer sales. Buy one discounted, get one for a penny.
The quality of the clothes is not the best, similar to forever 21, but they’re cute while they last.

Thank you Akira for making homecoming dress shopping not as painful as it usually is! My daughter found a simple yet beautiful dress for home coming and the price was not too morbid as compared to the one we got from Nordstrom last year. I guess it also pays off shopping a little early and not waiting the last minute when all the dress racks look like a hurricane just hit the store. Shout out to Jon for being so helpful and picking out nice pieces for my daughter. Great customer service Jon and thanks again Akira!

My friend and I were rushing to find a dress for a wedding that we were attending the next day. The mall and store closes at 9 and the staff allowed us to put a dress on hold, run to another store to make sure we didn’t want another option, and offered to keep their door open for us to come in by 9:30 while they cleaned if we decided we wanted to purchase the dress we had on hold. It was such a nice gesture. We were rushed and felt terrible and they were so incredibly kind to stay for us. I asked for their names because of how impressed I was with how they treated us as customers. Thank you, Marquia, Jackie, and the whole team that stayed behind for us.

Can’t go in this place without spending $ 300. I always find clothes that I like. The girls working there are always helpful. They also have a mix of expensive and not so expensive items. Def one of my fav shopping spots at Westfield mall. Also a plus that it’s right by Starbucks.

So upset!!! One of the workers asked to start me a fitting room, little did I know that she would be irresponsible and somehow lose my dress.

Love this place to pieces. Everyone is just the nicest sweetest person and I could spend hours in this place. As a boutique, their range of stuff either is pretty cheap to pretty pricey, you never know what you get. Their Akira brand/​Black Label is pretty reasonable price, where other brands they care get a little ridiculous in price.

This has to be one of the best shopping experiences I have ever had. I have lost a lot of weight and want to look good. You walk into Akira and you are treated as if you are a star. It is a lot of fun having someone pick items out for you and giving a lot of suggestions. Yes, it is more expensive than Forever 21, but every piece I have picked out lasts.
You do need to be careful because the items do range from inexpensive to a couple hundred dollars. The sales staff will try to get you to buy items you do not want. It is okay to say know. Also, what is interesting is that each store seems to have its own unique selection of items. This can make them hit or miss especially with work appropriate items. Akira has turned into one of my go-​to spots for clothes. Can’t wait to come back!

The quality of the merchandise is not good. I purchased a skirt and even though it was supposed to have been machine washable, it shrunk to a bare «doll size skirt» when it came out of the washer; plus the material was completely deformed. I am all of 120 lbs (5’4″) and the only size I can fit into at Akira is a large! How’s THAT for a self esteem boost! BTW, that was a size L skirt that looked like an unwearable size 00 when it came out of the washer. I think clothes are the same quality as some of the teenybopper stores (Discovery?) but with a fancier name and a more «upscale» staff.
Speaking of the staff… they tend to be pushy and that’s just NOT my thing. I’m an engineering sales professional and I know that’s not the way to sell. Don’t get me wrong… they are VERY NICE but at the end of every sentence is an attempt to sell another garment. Last weekend I tried a dress in the dressing room that simply didn’t work, and the sales associate proceeded to ask me «why» it didn’t work, and how come I didn’t like it. She was sweet as pie, but I shouldn’t have to justify myself to anyone.

This location gets an A+ from me! I went in to take a dress back for a wedding I was in b/​c within the month I bought it and the day I decided to bring it back, it didn’t fi tme very well anymore. The receipt said you only have 2 weeks to exchange or get a store credit and it had been a month… so I was nervous.
I went in and spoke to the Manager, she was perfectly fine with giving me a store credit. The sales girl took me around the entire store, going through each rack to find a new dress. Thankfully, I found one for just about the same price ($ 7 cheaper actually) and was thrilled!
The staff is great-​they are all super friendly! This is my new favorite Akira location.

Akira is a great store, and this is my favorite location in Chicago! The sales girls are all very helpful and nice, and the store is always well-​organized.

3.75+ Sometimes I find some great pieces for a party and sometimes I don’t. I do like their accessories. Staff is hit or miss but Akira has done a great job in breaking into the mainstream.

I usually love their pieces. If I’m searching for the perfect dress to wear to a wedding or a girls night out and haven’t been able to find the ideal piece at other stores, I know Akira won’t fail me 9 times out of 10. Their staff is extremely helpful and cheery. The only negative?, I overheard two of them insulting a customer while trying on some clothes in the dressing room — how incredibly rude!!! It made me question whether they’d do the same thing to me when I left the store.

I came here this past weekend and I was very pleasantly surprised.
I’m not really a shopper. I kind of detest shopping, all the trying on and such. And I’m a definite jeans, t-​shirt, and flip-​flops girl. However, when your mother and your boyfriend’s mom start suggesting to you that you’re starting to look a little frumpy, you probably need some new clothes. So my boyfriend took me shopping here for a little birthday shopping spree.
The salesperson helping us (I believe her name was Leah) was incredibly helpful and awesome. She basically asked me what kind of things I liked (lace, ruffles, etc) and what I was looking for (fancy stuff, more casual) and then walked through the whole store with me pulling out stuff and asking if I would like to try it on. She did make some choices that turned out to look terrible on me, but about 75% of the stuff she pulled looked awesome.
I tried on about 30 dresses (which is great, no multiple trips back to the fitting room with a batch of 5 or 6 things), and ended up purchasing 5. They ranged from pretty inexpensive ($ 30) to a little pricey ($ 100 for a very nice fancy date dress). I also bought 4 belts, because goodness they have a ton of belts. My salesperson also kept pulling things as I tried on stuff and narrowed in on styles I liked, and was standing outside the dressing room to give her opinion and help «style» the look with belts and such. While normally I would find that totally overbearing and overwhelming, she was very nice and easy to talk to about clothing. She never pushed me into something she could tell I wasn’t comfortable in.
All in all, I spent just over $ 400 for 5 dresses, 3 belts, and a couple of their slip cami things (which are awesome for wearing under dresses and cost less than $ 20). I thought it was pretty reasonable, and in general I tend to not spend more than $ 30 on any piece of clothing.
I am definitely returning, because this store actually made me have a little fun while shopping, which is pretty rare.

Akira has absolutely adorable clothes, a great selection, styles and colors. However, literally everything I tried on in the fitting room was damaged. Each item was either ripped, missing buttons, or had a broken zipper. This was a very disappointing situation, as I really liked the things I was trying on.
There was one dress that I really liked, but it had 2 missing buttons. Upon asking the extremely helpful sales associate, I found out that all of the dresses on the rack had some missing buttons. I bought the dress anyway with a 15% discount (which made it non-​returnable), and sewed button on for myself.
In the end, I wore the dress and it looked good, but will not go back to shop at this store.
It is quite obvious that the quality of the clothing at Akira is extremely low, which is not something I look for in my clothing choices.
If you are going to shop here, please check the clothing extremely well before you buy it.

Love the selection of dresses. They are very unique and lots to choose from. However I’m very disappointed with quality of dress. I purchased a dress for $ 90. The same day I bought it, I wore it in the evening. The zipper broke while I was putting it on! Not cool! Not sure if I am going to make any more purchases here.

Oh my goodness. I was away at school so I hadn’t been to Old Orchard in a few months, so I was VERY pleasantly surprised to see the new Akira location!
I guess you could say I had done a lot of online «window shopping» up until this point and there was literally nothing that wowed me. As soon as I stepped in the store, I wanted everything. I found the perfect New Years dress and there were several other dresses and tops I absolutely loved.
During my visit, the sales girl was incredibly helpful. Her sense of style was light years better than mine and she made great suggestions for accessorizing/​styling the dresses I was considering. I will definitely make several more trips to Akira. but I want to buy out the entire store which could be a problem.

I LOVE the new location at Old Orchard! I bought 3 dresses for $ 150 the other day and they had a huge selection of really cute stuff. I wanted to stay longer and keep trying things on! The store is literally crammed with awesome stuff plus it’s right next to Tiffany’s :) The only downside is that their clothes come in small, medium, or large, not actual sizes so sometimes things fit strange but usually they work out. Obsessed!