I was on the train to Liverpool and I caught sight of someone’s newspaper where the front page seemed to be an ad about a Forever 21 store opening in the Bullring in Birmingham. I vowed to research it later and finally, I did and found out the store was opening on Friday the 12th. After a lot of internal debate I decided I would go- why not? So I went all the way to Birmingham for some stupid insane need to do something spontaneous and fun and because come on, Forever 21! In the UK! I was a little too excited about the whole thing, maybe, but I wanted to know what the stuff was like, what the pricing was, if it really was confusing to shop there. You hear a lot about forever 21 when following fashion blogs.
Anyway. I got into Birmingham at 10:00am and rushed there to find it wasn’t opened yet. There were lots of people around and I wasn’t sure where the queue was. I lingered and watched as it opened, and was too far away catch the model cutting the ribbon or anything so don’t ask. I walked ahead and slipped into what seemed to be the queue, but was pushed out by two women. I slipped in again amongst a few guys who didn’t seem to care as much as those women and through that underhandedness (which I did feel guilty for, if it makes a difference) found myself as one of the first few hundred of so into the store, and I got a free tote bag containing an umbrella and some pens. Not too shabby.
Once inside the store I was a little bewildered, and unsure, for everything was so new and shiny and I wasn’t sure what to do. Then after wandering around some I started to really browse and shop. The store is absolutely beautiful, with some amazing displays and attention to detail, but entirely random and confusing in its layout; lots of very different things everywhere. Of course there was lots of staff around to ask you how you were finding it and it’s not like you could tell them how the layout is confusing or it’s a little pricey so I just said “it’s good” and smiled dumbly. :/
There where some very expensive items and some reasonable. Nothing was what you could call cheap. Sort of like H&M- where it’s mainly expensive but if you search hard enough there’s something wonderful and affordable to boot. I think if Forever 21 goes ahead with plans for opening new stores they could be quite a strong contender for the likes of H&M and Topshop.
It’s a really nice store with some beautiful things in it. I somehow controlled myself and resister buying all the gorgeous gorgeous dresses they were selling and just bought a few tops, a pair of cream tights and some cute headbands. They sold some really interesting and unique accessories but I’m not into that so I didn’t buy any. I managed to spend only £42…which is quite a lot. It was worth it. I had fun and hey, I was there! For the opening of the first UK forever 21! That’s pretty cool, yes? ;)
(Note: I wrote this on Friday then completly forget to edit and publish it. I clearly suck at this blogging thing. XD)