Brooks Brothers

I’ve been a customer of Brooks Brothers for several years and my wardrobe is almost exclusively BB clothing. The quality is unbearable. I showed up to this location and was disappointed. The salesperson was snobby, rude, pushy, and made me feel unwelcome. Based on previous reviews, I am not the only one.
Coming from the north? Go to the Brooks Brothers outlet in Pleasant Prairie, WI. Its on the IL-​WI border. There are PLENTY of retail stock being sold there in addition to the lesser «346» line for the outlet stores. I’ve gotten plenty of Luxury, Country Club and Red Fleece shirts there for a competitive price and the best service you’ll ever experience.

My husband has been a loyal customer for many years and always turns to Brooks Brothers for his professional needs. I recently made a huge request to return shirts that were bought 6 weeks ago, dry cleaned (never worn) that were the wrong size… I honestly expected I would be walking back home with the shirts and donating to a local charity. Then I met Gar, the store manager at the Michigan Avenue flag ship store.
Gar was beyond professional and was the epitome of excellent customer service. Gar was thoughtful, understanding and worked with me to resolve the issue. After confirming that indeed the shirts were purchased at the store, a merchandise credit was issued allowing my husband the opportunity to purchase the correct size in the near future. I would like to thank Gar for making what I am sure was an exception to the rule. We will continue to keep Brooks Brothers in high regard.

Their dress pants for women are high-​quality, sturdy, and comfortable. The inside of the pants are fully lined. It is an excellent investment for your work wardrobe.
Hubby and I also love their well-​cut and convenient non-​iron shirts.
The customer service is excellent.

Agree with all negative reviews — especially if you look younger — and God forbid — not Caucasian. The saleswoman (Monica) in women’s literally ignored me while absolutely doting on the only other shopper who herself was mean, nasty, demanding, and for some reason felt it necessary to give ME dirty looks.
As I waited behind her to ring my selection of a cashmere blazer– her card (s) were ALL declined.
She left with no merchandise after shopping for an hour. While ringing me up the saleswoman made catty remarks about her and was nauseatingly «sweet» to me.
Ugh.
The only reason for the extra star is the tailor (other visits) — who is excellent and has a charming personality.

Setting the base line for a well dressed man. I have been a client for over a decade.

There is a common thread behind the reviews on The Chicago Brooks Brothers and the chain as a whole. This is not the Brooks Brothers of the ages since Retail Brand Alliance has become the current ownership 10 years plus ago.
They have gotten away from the staples that got them their reputation and Claudio Del Vechio– the chairman has pissed away. Truth is that as American of a icon that BB was, their obligation was a t minimum, to be the stewards of classic American men’s fashion. Instead it has become a high price wannabe’s of Ralph Lauren and Paul Stuart — who have maintained their standards of giving American businessmen what they want.
I used t spend $ 10,000 a year in custom at one time and they lost my business based on poor quality and selection.
Chicago’s store has become stuffy, uninviting and arrogant. Since when did BB become this way. 20 years ago or even 15 years ago, they were the choice of so many men.
Like I said– they pissed away their reputation and forgetting their roots.

This was one of those experiences where I didn’t bother to look up a Unilocal review before visiting, and immediately regretted it.
Like many people, I’ve shopped at plenty of Brooks Brothers stores throughout the years, and until now, they all at least met my expectation of service. Unfortunately, this store is the exception.
I’ve walked in twice in the last month, looking to talk to someone about refreshing my wardrobe, and since I was in the market for some new suits, coats, shirts, and slacks, I figured I’d give Brooks Brothers a shot. The first visit wasn’t very positive, and the second was downright frustrating. Most recently, I walked in on a weekday evening. Having done some research online before coming in, I had a reasonable idea of what I was looking for, and eager to see what other trouble I could get into. I walked in and said hello to the first salesperson I saw… who literally looked me in the eye, said nothing, turned around and walked 10 feet to fold some shirts. My first thought was «Maybe they didn’t hear me… or maybe they are stockists and are not allowed to talk to people (for some very odd reason)… or, I don’t know, maybe my fly was open?»
I decided I didn’t want to deal with that first guy, so I continued into the store, looking at shirts for outfit ideas, and digging a few ties. There were 3 clerks working at the register, so I decided not to ask them for help… they seemed perplexed by some crazy Point of Sale mishap that always seems to happen.
I saw another sales person (named Monica, according to her nametag), and walked up to ask her a question. «Could you help me?» Again, eye contact, a look like I was speaking Farsi, and then she turned and walked away. Losing hope, I thought «Maybe she’s helping someone else???» As it would turn out… she was just helping herself. More on that in a second.
I walked back to the custom suit area, not only because I wanted some sharp bespoke additions, but also because I thought I might be able to find someone here. And I was right… sort of. Monica was back here hiding out with a couple other co-​workers, talking about their vacation. At this point, I was finished with this store, and likely finished with Brooks Brothers hence forth.
On my way out, I passed another cluster of clerks talking amongst themselves, and one more shirt folder who did want to talk to anyone.
After almost 15 minutes in their store, I passed more than a half-​dozen sales people, and received exactly 0 signs of acknowledgement. I get that good service can be hard to come by sometimes, but I truly can not remember the last time service was so bad that, not only did I want to avoid a particular store in the future, but it shifted my opinion of a brand so radically into the negative.
I strongly doubt I’ll ever walk into that Brooks Brothers again, especially with so many other clothiers within a block who treat people so much better. I also doubt I’ll purchase anything from Brooks Brothers in the future, because of how they treat their customers. Save your time, save your money, and save your frustration.

All Brooks Brothers are NOT created equal! I recently moved from NYC, and have been a 20 year customer of the Madison Ave Flagship location, this location has the absolute WORSE service of any Brooks Brothers location I ever been to (in the US or abroad). Sales personnel stand around and talk to each while customers look for help, and when you do get a salesperson they act as if they’re doing you a favor! Don’t waste your money here! Walk a few blocks to the Paul Stuart on Oak street!

Key learning from my visit to this Brooks Brothers store: they are not all created equally. My visit started with me wandering around the store for a solid 20 minutes waiting for someone to offer to help me. Eventually, when I found a shirt and went to try it on, an associate stopped me and offered to measure me so that, get this, we can avoid the issue of having to re-​fold the shirt. Are you kidding me?!
I calmly informed the associate that I have been noticing that the sleeve length I have been buying from Brooks doesn’t let me show as much cuff as I like when I wear my suits, in addition I’m interested in a French Cuff, and I would like to see what the longer sleeve length looks (as well as what a Brooks’ French Cuff feels like on my wrist). He said let me look and see if we have an unfolded one. I responded ok. 5 minutes passed as he rummaged around in the back. He emerged with the same shirt in hand and said I hope you know this is a $ 120 shirt and there are no promotions offered on it, if you still want me to unfold it, then oook.
I won’t relay how I responded, for the purpose of this review; I left shortly thereafter without buying anything. Do yourself a favor and go to any other Brooks Brothers in the City, unless of course, you like getting attitude when your trying to buy a shirt.

*SHORT*
The clothing will last. One of my BB suits is 10+ yrs old and still looks great. Most repairs are free.
Been to this location 5 or 6 times and the staff is consistently condescending. I’d hire a server from Applebee’s over any of these clowns.
*LONG*
I hate long reviews (never read them) so I usually don’t leave them, but I should probably explain. I’ve never been bonkers for BB «style» but the suits blend nicely for courtroom/​accounting/​retirement home settings (I work in one of the aforementioned). Over the past decade, I’ve been impressed with the durability of the garments and return (albeit infrequently) to expand the business wardrobe. The staff always treats me as if I’m carrying dog sh*t in my pocket but I go for the clothing, not for them.
Associate Adam Simmers springs to mind when thinking of creatures in the service industry that would benefit from an internship at Outback Steakhouse. He was this round’s ignorant mutt that «assisted» in my «purchase.» I intended to purchase 3 shirts and 2 pairs of shoes. ALL this guy did was bring requested boxes from the back (just requested pairs, nothing was recommended; the mule didn’t care why I was there) and hand me a shoehorn. His knees never bent to check the fit or offer any assistance. My girlfriend asked him TWICE if he could measure my foot (length, high arches, wierd toes = sizing nightmare) and he gave us his best 7-​yr-​old Helen Keller impression. So we did it ourselves. The last straw was when he mentioned a «last.» Being a straight male that collects cars, not shoes, I asked if I heard him correctly. «Yes, a laasssst» he hissed, more audible than before. Well, repeating a word louder and longer does not equal an explaination so I finally decided that this guy wasn’t getting my shoe commission. Grabbed a few shirts and some pants she liked, paid, walked next door to Nieman Marcus and purchased a pair of Armani and a pair of Ferragamo from a perfectly pleasant associate.
Take a sedative, get sized in the store, show them that hangnail on the end of your middle finger, go home and order online. That’s the best way to begin your collection if you’ve never been inside Ed Debevic’s Haberdashery.

I like many of the products and looks at Brooks Brothers but I think there’s a lot of room for improvement in offering younger, more modern looks that are still just as conservative and work– or family gathering at the in-​laws– appropriate. Definitely need better service. I walked in very well dressed and typically that equates to better attention and quality from the staff but not this time. I actually had a question and didn’t get great help with it. There are other locations so I probably won’t go back in this one. And there are better places in general, so I won’t be back that quick.

Poor quality of clothing. Poor customer service. Nathan did not even come to speak to me after asking for a manager and I had to track him down. «More expensive does not mean better quality» were his exact words when I explained I wore the shirt three times before it ripped

I wish I could give a split rating for Brooks Brothers.
On one hand, their products and selection are great. The quality is high, the style is great for business, and the value (relative to other high end stores) is good. But I’m sure everybody knows that and it’s not really the reason for a Unilocal review.
Unilocal reviews, for stores like this, are all about service. And, on purely service, this Brooks Brothers is atrocious. As other posters have said, if you are young, your service is almost guaranteed to be terrible. I’m 27 and I can’t say that I’ve ever had the salesmen at BB proactively approach me — always had to approach them.
I’m not going to go into the details of my current issue with them, but I’ll say that it really shows they don’t care about attracting and keeping young clients. I thought that spending about $ 3.5−4k there in the last few months might earn some brownie points — nope. The service hasn’t gotten any better.
Going forward, I will be ordering from them online and having my alterations done at a private tailor. I don’t want to give them commission for service that has routinely been sub-​par.

The fact is that Brooks Bros. carries quality clothing that many people appreciate. What isn’t welcomed is the attitude and tone of some of the employees. I was in the store making a purchase and had forgotten my corporate discount card. The associate helping me made it seem like looking it up was a huge task that was burdening his busy day. Look, I agree that it’s easier to have the corporate discount card with me so I don’t have to have it looked up, but tons of companies have this arranegment with Brooks Bros. and it’s really not that big a deal for you to help a customer retrieve it.
Additionally, this gentleman seemed to raise his voice when discussing the issue in not a reprimanding way but more of a let me speak louder to slighly embarrass you and make it look like you’re a difficult customer sort of way. I really don’t get that. Why would you want to alienate a customer like that? Or do you have enough repeat business from regular customer as well as the millions of tourists that sales are good without too much service.
I will admit that Brooks Bros. makes great durable clothing that has always lasted and I appreciate having multiple locations in Chicago so I don’t have to go to this one anymore.

It pains me to say this as I have been a loyal Brooks Brothers customer since 1999, but the service at this store is terrible. Perhaps I just expect too much, but when you are paying $ 1600 for a suit, you shouldn’t be treated the way I was, and others on Unilocal seem to have been.
For starters, let me echo the comment a few others have made: «I the agree with other reviews, if you are under 40, no matter how much money you have to spend or how loyal you have been, you can expect the service to suck. You will be treated with unfriendly, unaccomodating and argumentative staff.»
This describes my experience with this store perfectly. When I walked in, no one even acknowledged me. I had called in to explain that I had a suit I ordered online that needed to be tailored. I asked if there was anything I needed to do or bring with me, or if I needed to set an appointment (knowing the weekends can get busy). I was told that I could just come right in, and that, «if the suit says Brooks Brothers on it, we take care of it.» This would turn out not to be true. I asked about the cost and was told that any suit I buy from Brooks Brothers, they tailor for free. This has always been my experience — except for a 346 suit I brought in once, they’ve tailored, fixed, etc. at no charge.
So, I get on the train and go down to the N. Michigan Ave. store, where I had to chase someone down to help me out. I don’t know if it was the fact that I’d walked in with a Brooks Brothers suit bag or what, but I couldn’t seem to get anyone’s attention. The person I flagged down had me wait on line to talk to someone behind the register. Once I got to someone, he took me and my suit to the tailoring area where I met with a tailor and he started fitting me for the suit. This… is where I guess it got worse.
Something about the tagging on my BROOKS BROTHERS suit seemed to annoy the sales guy. I bought it off of their website and told him this, but still there seemed to be an issue. We went through the entire fitting, and then he brought the manager over, who told me I was going to have to pay for all of this. For some reason, she/​he/​they thought my suit had come from Nordstrom. I assured them it hadn’t and asked if they wanted to pull up my Brooks Brothers credit card history to assure them that I had bought this and plenty of other suits, shirts and ties from their company. No, evidently this was not possible (though reading other comments, I’m starting to wonder if they just plain didn’t want to).
To reiterate, this was a Brooks Brothers suit. With Brooks Brothers tagging. Something about the tagging they didn’t like though. I assured them that this was not bought elsewhere, but even if it had been, would that mean you don’t stand behind the quality of your work if someone else sells it? I didn’t get an answer. Let’s discuss this though, because I am a little concerned. If I buy a Brooks Brothers suit, tie, shirt, cuff-​links, etc. from somewhere that isn’t Brooks Brothers, does this mean it is shoddy quality? Why wouldn’t they stand behind it??? I get that if they sell something IRREGULAR to Marshalls or TJ Maxx, there’s an issue — it’s stamped right on the item, but if I had (and I didn’t) bought this suit at Nordstrom, is it somehow inferior? Is it a lower quality? Are they selling garbage with their labels on it and going ‘oh well, we didn’t sell it to you???‘
To re-​iterate, I didn’t buy the suit at Nordstrom. I didn’t buy it at Marshalls. Etc. Etc. Etc. None of this seems to matter one iota though. What I think mattered is that I didn’t buy the suit at this exact, particular store, and because I didn’t, the sales people seem to feel they had the right to be rude, condescending, and treat me like the scum that I so certainly must be.
That’s fine, I have called Brooks Brothers customer service. I will keep this suit and bring it to my personal tailor to have the pant cuffs done. The desire to nickel-​and-​dime me out of $ 47 to tailor the suit, and treat me like garbage though cannot be un-​done. Hopefully Brooks Brothers the company can see the whole picture. If you buy a $ 1600 suit from their company, you should be able to take it in to any of their stores and get it tailored. If not, that’s fine, and they have sold me the last suit I will ever buy from their store. Hopefully the manager at the Michigan Avenue store gets a lesson in the lifetime value of a customer versus the joy derrived it acting like a «mean girl» to them because you hold the key to the register.

Exceptional. Very good quality and selection. The tailoring is also quite good.

As always, Michgan Avenue Brooks Brothers came thru as the quintesential classic/​conservative but splash of spice fashion for men.
Women it’s conservative and great for business & business casual attire.
The staff ALWAYS cordial and amazing!

Dire service. I came here after some correspondence with online customer service in order to return a shirt. Not only did they not want to take the return, they also managed the whole process in a highly condescending manner.
I the agree with other reviews, if you are under 40, no matter how much money you have to spend or how loyal you have been, you can expect the service to suck. You will be treated with unfriendly, unaccomodating and argumentative staff.
What was particularly concerning was that their online customer service rep emailed to say I did not need a receipt to return an item and their in store communication was completely different. I mentioned that I had bought the shirt online so there must be a way they could look up the order, and the representative was shocked at the idea of actually having to pick up the phone or look something up online. I’m sure they typically leave their brains at home and only expect to be in folding mode most of the day, heaven forbid the need to actually think for a second. Also, after figuring out how to lift a receiver and speak to someone, the representative also seemed to forget I was standing only a few feet away from him, as he stared me in the eyes and spoke to the person on the other end of the line as if I was not there.
Do your business a favor, treat all customers with some respect and hire staff that actually give a sh! t.

The people working here are not familiar with their own product. When I asked one salesman if they carried a marcella wing collar shirt he went back and looked. He then came back and told me he checked the inventory and then looked online, and BB doesn’t carry it. I went home and looked online and sure enough, they carry one.
Seems like the workers here don’t even know how to navigate their own website; makes you wonder what else they do poorly.

I don’t know why I’m so ashamed to admit that I like Brooks Brothers. For some reason it makes me feel like a sell-​out or a yuppie or something. But, there’s no shame in my game.
The non-​iron men’s button down shirts are kick-​ass and last forever. My husband has one that is 8 years old and looks brand new. Yes, their stuff is expensive but the quality makes it last a long time.
I have yet to have a bad experience in any of their stores. Brooks Brothers is the only credit card we have from a retail store and the deals make it worth it. We usually go in during sales, use coupons AND our rewards cards. Last year I bought a really comfy wool sweater that was $ 300 but once I applied my coupon and rewards cards, it came to $ 75. And this sweater will last for a LONG time.
Minus one star for some of the ugly clothes like the colored paneled shirts (see picture).
And, I get a kick out of all the catalog models wearing wedding bands.