11/11/11 and Fashion Place Mall's Grand Re-opening

Fashion Place Mall had a grand re-opening on 11/11/11 with a total of 11 new or reopened stores.  Crate & Barrel, The North Face store and H&M have opened stores in Utah for the first time with this addition to the mall.  Other stores include Ann Taylor, Yankee Candle, Bastille, Brio, Art of Shavings and Loft.  I was most excited about Crate & Barrel and The North Face store. 

There was much hullabaloo about H&M.  The first 500 people in line when the doors opened received a gift card with values between $5 and $500.  News reports estimated that there were approximately 700 people in line.  People began showing up at 4:30 am or so.  There had been a false report on Facebook that stated the mall would start allowing people to camp in line Thursday evening at 10:30 pm but it was a hoax. The H&M is a full line clothing store in that it has women's, men's, maternity and children's departments.  The maternity and children's departments are on the second floor.  The store offers women's sizes through 14.  However, their clothes are slim European cut so most women need to go up from their regular size.  It is unlikely that I will purchase clothes for myself but their accessories are reasonably priced.  I will also shop for my grandson from their children's department.

At Crate & Barrel, the corporate rep was absolutely shocked at the flooding of customers when they opened the doors. There was a group of women at the beginning of the line who had driven down from Montana for the opening and they were really excited.  I am so with them. I will, however, delay gratification and wait until January to go check out the store.

Despite the madness at the mall, Skip wanted to go directly to The North Face store after I picked him up at the airport in the evening. We had to park very far away from the entrance but we enjoyed the walk. The North Face store was not too crazy. They were giving away gift cards but very few.  Our ticket garnered us free t-shirts.  I was really surprised that the t-shirts, which were a marketing tool, were not crappy cheap ones.  It was so wonderful to be able to shop in a The North Face store rather than at Dick's Sporting Goods because of the variety of product and helpful salespeople.  Our two big finds were "e-tip" gloves and jackets with "side vents".  The e-tip gloves really work so if you have a touchscreen device (iPhone, iPad, etc.), they are worth the money. The salesperson, Kaycie, helped me find a jacket that keeps me dry and blocks the wind but does not make me sweat.  I am a polar bear so it needs to be really, really cold for me to need a warm coat.  The side vents allow airflow to keep me cooler. LOVE!!!!!  We spent a lot of money but we had saved up because we were anticipating the store opening. We will definitely be returning again and again to this store.