Banana Republic

I have a few fall-back stores that I get most of my clothes from: White house black market, J-crew Factory, Old Navy for activewear.  But I still like to explore other stores.  I hadn't gone to Banana Republic in a while, but ended up spending several hours there on a Friday afternoon before Christmas.  This is my take:

Strengths:

• The quality of the items at Banana Republic is very good for the (sale) price (or the prices are very good for the quality).  This is especially true for the work clothing.  Casual clothing the quality was a little more variable, but there was some nice stuff in there.  
• The styles are nicely updated, but still quite classic, as you would expect for Banana Republic.  The fits are mostly traditional Banana Republic fits - so if you have hips, Banana Republic will work great.  Their newer Sloan fit works well for women with my shape - i.e. women shaped like boys.  This was a pleasant surprise since for many years Banana Republic just didn't have any bottoms that would fit me. 
• They have great suits for amazing prices!  If you need a new suit, check out Banana Republic.  

Weaknesses:

• At full price, the prices are only so-so.  But the store frequently has "everything in the store 40% off" promotions.  So keep an eye out for one of those.
• Their sizes often do not go down very far.  The size 0 was often too big for me, and they don't have a 00 in many styles.  There's a reason the pics below do not include a fabulous new Banana Republic suit - they were all too big for me!
• At least at the store I went to, the checkout process was painfully slow.  They have to often manually put in sale prices.  If they have convinced you to order something online (different size/color) that they didn't have in store, that takes forever - much longer than if you just go online later and buy it.  And so on.  These are issues related to the systems that corporate has put in place, so I'm guessing these problems will arise at other stores as well.  It was over half an hour, and closer to 45 minutes, from the time I got in line to when I stepped away from the checkout desk.  

I ended up getting a couple pairs of pants, a couple tops, and one ridiculously stylish blazer, but I probably won't go back for a while.  Here are some pics:

(Pants, shirt, blazer: banana republic. Pants are Sloan fit size 0, shirt is non-iron slim fit satin finish size 2, blazer is 00p.  Shoes: Nordstrom, and I bought a second pair in my size because I love these so much!)

(Pants: banana republic, Sloan fit size 0. The fabric on these is amazing. It has great texture and weight but is still a little stretchy and very comfortable. Blouse: New York and company. Shoes so old I can't remember, but totally work for the girly menswear look. I also paired this with my red blazer from Ann Taylor)