I really wanted to enjoy this place because I am an outdoorsman but probably don't look like the typical "sporty" person people are used to in Seattle.
Ironically enough, the loss prevention guy was friendly and gave me no troubles but I ended up cutting my shopping trip short because I couldn't shake the feeling I was being followed around. When I walked in I said hello to one of the staff and instead they looked me up and down, particularly at my big puffy jacket. I’m from the south, and to me, this place is freaking cold. Weird, but I carried on because I’m socially awkward myself sometimes. I’d catch her leaning around displays to look at me, and again, gave it the benefit of the doubt. I shrugged it off that maybe they were looking around the aisles for me to see if I had a question but at some point I really felt like I was making the staff uncomfortable.
When I went to the clearance rack and suddenly was joined by staff, I decided to go ahead and check out. If they wanted to see if I had questions, they could've asked but they never did. Once I checked out, the first staff member suddenly didn’t feel the need to make any more eye contact.
I had been several other stores before this and never felt the "hair raised on the back of my neck" feeling, as well as walked and sat really close to someone's bag at Starbucks who really didn't seem to mind or care. It was just an overall awkward experience, that I just hadn’t felt at the Apple Store, Sephora, or anywhere else. Sometimes, it's not just in your head.
Later I went to back country and had a fantastic experience. Same shopping around but definitely did not feel followed and the staff were friendly. Like I said, this part of the country is not really used to certain demographics, nor do they realize that outside of the west coast, many of us are high income working professionals. I won't be back and im actually just here on business which makes it even worse, but sharing this review in case it helps someone else.
