Zara

I’m not a fan of this Zara location on Princes Street. It is always completely strewn with disorganised clothes left and right. My impression of the staff was that they were themselves disorganised and inefficient since even when the store isn’t busy it still seems just as messy. As for the clothes themselves, most of their styles either seem to skimpy or too flowy (and either way are unflattering on me). Also, their sizing is really weird and inconsistent, making it a process of judging item by item what I think may fit me. I don’t really enjoy visiting this Zara and will try to avoid it.

Disclaimer: This review is for this particular Zara, rather than the brand as a whole.
I love Zara, I really do… to me they strike a good balance between the trendy, but «oops I’m just a tad too old for that» look of H&M and, sadly, even Topman at this age, with the chic, but «oops I can’t afford much in here» look of Reiss (and the higher end «maybe I could afford a wallet in here, oh… never mind «shops we all love to loath)… personally I think this comparison works well in regards to their style, quality, and price… Zara is not the top of the food chain for fashion, and their clothes may or may not last a lifetime, but for commoners like me the balance is a completely acceptable one. (Side note, I especially love their coats!)
Now, on to the reason for the three stars, had this been my first experience in a Zara I may have been a bit put off… I felt more like I was in a TK Maxx, but more black, white, and tan given Zara’s preferred colour schemes. (I’m a big fan of simple colours with the uniqueness coming in the design, but you’re not reading this trying to get an idea of my often random fashion sense.) The TK Maxx comparison comes in that there was stuff scattered everywhere on my last two visits, which is to be expected at some shops, but it just stood out in the wrong way for a Zara… of course you can rightly blame the shoppers for the mess, as it’s obviously not the staff throwing things about, but many of the Zara stores that I have visited in the past have been larger and in some of the busiest shopping districts while still managing to maintain a clean and orderly look.
I know it’s funny for such a thing to really matter, but experience and presentation play into the overall experience in my humble opinion… I like to have a pre-​shopping martini somewhere (I’m lying, it’s usually a few gin & tonics, or something more exotic if I’m lucky… «martini» just sounded fancier), walk into a decent shop and pretend that I’m somewhere posher with more money than I actually have… Zara normally lets me escape into my little fantasy world, but it just didn’t happen for me at this one.
On to the shop itself sans the aforementioned mess, the men’s section is definitely small (ish), but suitable enough so I’ll still give them three stars based on the brand… perhaps four stars if it were a larger shop, but as it stands I can’t justify more than three.

Winter is coming (how many times can I use that in a Unilocal review? It feels that way in Scotland 8 months of the year). Walking down Princes Street in the rain and wind, with my flimsy summer scarf on and in search of winter boots, I passed Zara and saw the jumpers. Oh the jumpers.
Big cardigans that are so thick and wooly and cosy, it’s like wearing a hug.
I didn’t buy any yet (gotta wait for pay day) but I can tell Zara will be making up a large part of my winter wardrobe.
And I’m sure come spring, they’ll make up a large part of my wardrobe then too. I really like Zara, it’s simple yet effective, and a lot of their stuff is affordable (but they also do some more expensive, higher quality unique items for special occasions). With office wear, smart wear, mature wear, teenage wear, and somewhere-​in-​between-​late-​20s wear, it suits every occasion really.
Heart Zara.

Zara is currently my favourite shop. I especially love the TRF range, with loads of quirky and trendy tops, skirts, dressses all laid out in a way that they coordinate with each other making it easy to plan an outfit. The clothes feel better quality than River Island and are a fair bit cheaper as well. There are often new ranges of clothes from week to week so shopping here is never dull. In the past I’ve found Zara staff to be quite rude and ignorant, but recently I’ve had a lot of positive experiences with kind and attentive sales people.

One thing that turns me off with clothes in the high street are the material they use. Zara has cool clothes with nice materials used to create their designs. I love that they segregate the colors on the outfits. You can easily browse around what color of clothing you prefer to wear and choose from their designs. Though sale prices are still pricey but I guess, you get what you pay for. Overall, it’s a nice shop. It’s clean but tend to get messy and the sales staff do not mind that there are clothes that fell of the hangers or are just thrown down.

I became somewhat of a Zara devotee when I first visited their store in Stockholm. I’m a big fan of minimalistic clothing and whilst you might sometimes find items resembling dead animals in their stores, a lot of their clothes are quite trendy, classy and usually great quality without unnecessary sequins, glitter, tassles and the general ghetto fabulousness that I abhor.
I went in there to hand in my CV earlier this summer, and although they weren’t hiring, I had the most amusing conversation with the manager who kindly gave me several tips.
Zara may be a little pricey at times, but it’s worth the extra cash and there are definitely bargains to be found all year round. All in all Rezzi hearts Zara.

I like Zara for a change, I often forget about it until I stumble across it on a shopping day and am reminded how much I like it. I guess their stock can be a little bit hit and miss but for me, it’s usually more hit which is good for my wardrobe but not so good for my bank balance.
Zara confuses me in the respect that all the things I see that look like they’ll be really expensive are surprisingly cheap and all the things I see that look cheaper are always a little more expensive that expected.
They do a great range of t-​shirts, jeans and always have fabulous winter and summer clothes. Their cosy winter jumpers are always great and their summer bikinis and kaftans are always gorgeous too.
This branch is located on Princes Street, it’s a good size and they always have a good range of sizes too.
Zara always comes with it’s trademark bouncer and I’ve never been in a Zara that didn’t have a burly security guard, sometimes more than one. Paranoid much?

Zara is a hodge podge of good and bad, but I still like it!
It’s not one of my more regular haunts but I do always manage to find something cool when I visit. I think it’s more popular in Europe than it is here (it’s a bit like a grown up Bershka and Pimkie) but I quite like its often crazy designs.
In this store, there are some more sedate and sophisticated offerings downstairs, but they’re usually more expensive. Their clothes seem to have a longer lifespan than H&M, though!
Upstairs, there are some cute garments for kids, not to mention their range for younger women. They have some tacky items, but most of their skirts and t shirts are really cute, with a lot of them on special offer for as little as nine quid!
The staff are always really chipper in this branch and with its consistently good bargains, I’m a fan.

I might come across as a bit odd here, but whenever I think of Zara, the first thing that comes to mind is a French women in a beret, sipping coffee on a pavement café. That’s perhaps utter nonsense, but the very European feel of Zara does make it stick out a bit from the usual high street stores.
Their clothes tend to be simple and classic looking and consequently unless you’re after something in particular most of the stock isn’t really eye-​catching as such. It’s all very good quality though, and quite reasonably priced.

Zara can occasionally have some pretty nice stuff for a very good price.
The ground floor is more sophisticated and has more business type clothing. The first floor is the young trend and children’s wear. I find the children’s clothes are too expensive for what they are. I’m not going to buy a t-​shirt for a baby at ten pounds when you are also selling adults t-​shirts for ten pounds. There is usually a sale section in the store, which is always a mess and full of clothes that have been trampled on for months so they look a bit tatty.
I never seem to find anything I like enough to buy in here. Some things are a little too European for my taste. It is very affordable though and I think if you shop in the ground floor section you could probably pass your outfit off as being more expensive than it actually is.
And to continue from Emily’s point, I always find this store far too hot so don’t enjoy shopping in it. Maybe the insane heat is contributing to your headache?

I have never been a really big fan of Zara, but after my experience here I certainly won’t be back in this branch.
Trawling through the sale, I found a top that I liked and with a £10 sticker on it down from £35, I was glad to be getting a bargain and headed to the till. When I was then asked for £35 (and that was literally all she said; no conversation, no small talk, no please and thank you) I told her the top was in the sale along with 3 other ones which were the same, and they were all tagged. She audibly huffed, trotted over to the rail and picked the three tops up, brought them to the till and scanned them all. She then proceeded to tell me that all of the tops had been priced wrong because they had a ‘new girl’ in who must have made a mistake. Working in retail, I know if all units are priced at a certain price and left there then you should get them at the advertised price. She literally said to me ‘do you want it or not cos I’m not giving you it for a tenner?’…I was speechless and walked away.
Never before have I been spoken to like that. She wasn’t polite, she did not offer me any alternative and she was just downright ignorant. Safe to say I won’t be in this branch again, and I would advise you to check before picking anything up in the sale incase the ‘new girl’ has been on the rampage with the pricing gun again.
Thoroughly disappointing.

I like Zara — what’s not to like! Their fashion is always amazing, they always seem to get it right even if it’s not in all the magazines. It’s quite refreshing to get away from bright floral prints and over-​sized tee’s.
I’m not sure what it is, but every single time I come to this particular Zara I get a splitting headache. I think it’s something to do with their alarm, my mum gets it too. So I don’t tend to stay too long! And I find it difficult in here to shop to be honest, although there is some order, I find it difficult to find things in the same place and often have to look around it to find it sitting somewhere else.
It’ also a bit daunting to have the security men watching my every move — I feel guilty for being there. But I suppose the clothes themselves are more important than the shop — and so because of that Zara is a winner

I know, I know. Zara isn’t really exclusively an Edinburgh thing, and even though it’s always a mess and full of gay guys but, it’s good isn’t it? I got 3 dresses for £30 which hasn’t happened to me since I shopped at Tammy.
I usually ignore all the jeans and trousers because I’ve never been tall enough or thin enough to fit into them. so to the stretchy dresses I went. Obviously, as always, the style was just replicated in loads of colours so I asked the shop assistant (I think her name was Kate) and she was unreasonably helpful to find me all stripey version, peach version, navy version. Move over Topshop, because of her Zara’s my new favourite shop.

Just had a fabulous shopping experience here. One of the staff was great! He should be on the TV, what not to wear. He was honest and helped me find the perfect outfit, without trying to sell the most expensive things in the shop. He is an encyclopedia of fashion knowledge, even recommending shoes from another store on Princes Street that were the perfect colour for my outfit. And they were, I bought them and it saved me hours of time.
For me, Zara is now the first place to go for any outfit. All my friends thought I looked amazing, and I truly felt a million dollars.

One of my favourite shops on Princes Street due to the fact that in addition to having nice clothes, it also has three very nice sets of escalators J The staff are friendly and the atmosphere is pleasant, however the sizes can be very hit and miss as there are only extra small, small, medium and large sizes.