Kim Karalekas

…the various groups of shoppers at Old Navy.

After working in retail for about four years, I am able to categorize our clientele at Old Navy into specific categories, depending on special characteristics and traits.Here is a small sample of the various groups of customers I have identified:

The Discount Lady:

She wants a discount on everything. No discount = no purchase.Generally she will not spend more than $2.97 on one single item.

The Stay at home mom:

Generally in her late 20’s or early 30’s, this woman shops between 9 and 11 am on weekday mornings.Frequently, she can be found wearing a carefully coordinated work out outfit, carrying a starbucks latte, and pushing a baby stroller.She is stylist and making sure she and her children are dressed in style is high on her priority list.

Complaint Lady:

This one is pretty self explanatory.She will complain about anything and everything – the current styles, the cluttered fitting room, the hanger that fell on the ground, the music being too loud/quite/popular/old/etc., the temperature, the sales associates.You name it and she’ll find a reason to hate it.

The Return Lady:

Usually on the weekday mornings, this woman comes in with a giant bag of items to return.It seems as though she purchased one of every article of clothing in the store and changed her mind on each purchase.

The problem child:

To make life difficult, this customer wishes to purchase every single item in the store without a tag.This person usually only appears when the checkout line is about a mile long and there is only one cashier to serve the 5 million impatient customers in line.

The messy customer:

This customer has to take every hung item off the hanger and feel the inclination to unfold every folded shirt in the store.He/she also picks up an item and walks it around the store until he/she reaches the farthest spot in the store where the item belongs and then leaves the item there.Frequently, this person also decides to fill his/her cart with various items from all departments of the store, then decides he/she does not want 90% of the items upon arrival to the checkout counter.

The cell phone talker:

This person is on the phone when entering the store, while shopping, standing in line, and best of all, checking out.Because this person is distracted by their phone conversation, he/she does not read sale signs properly.While on the phone, he/she tries to argue with you that an item is on sale when it clearly is not.However, this person is continuously chatting on his/her phone and trying to get a word in edgewise to explain the error is like trying to…teach a dog to tap dance?Let’s just say it’s not easy.

The person who has never set foot in Old Navy:

Occasionally we have clients who has never hear of the name “Old Navy” before they somehow wandered into the store that day.These people can be identified when they ask where they can find the Levis or the Dungarees.

College Girl:

Spends all her parents’ money/financial aid on clothing.She doesn’t read sale signs very well and frequently purchases full price items.

The 411 lady:

By the end of this person’s transactions, I know her complete history, names and ages of her children, most recent vacation, weekend plans, dinner plans, favorite dessert and his/her stance on fiscal conservation.Of course, all of this information was volunteered as the I asked no questions to warrant the plethora of information.