My First Visit to an Anthropologie Clothing Store

Urban Outfitters seems to be a hot name in retailing, but it wasn't until last month that I discovered Anthropologie. If you haven't heard, seen, or visited an Anthropologie store, you are missing an experience, no kidding.

After visiting the store, I researched some stats that shocked me. Here's one that really left an impression: the average Anthropologie shopper spends 80 minutes in the store per visit. Eighty -- that's an hour and twenty minutes on each visit. Can you guess how much time the typical customer spends with other retailers? Fifteen minutes. That's an incredible figure that should convey loads about the feel of the stores.

Anthropologie was founded to profit from patrons of the Urban Outfitters store who outgrew UA's fashions. As such, the target customer for Anthropologie clothing is a 30 to 40'ish sophisticated woman with high disposable income. Not a bad market to target!

Ask ten women how they feel about Anthropologie and you'll likely hear . . . one opinion! Almost unanimously, people love the store, but aren't crazy about the prices. Granted, they are steep, but for good reason. Anthropologie is very selective and exclusive with their clothing lines, and just about all of the clothing you find in a store is a limited edition run. Heck, they even have some one-of-a-kind pieces!

These items tend to fly off of the shelves, leaving mismatched items here and there, but that leads to an opportunity for shoppers: namely, sales racks. There are a bunch of sale items if you're not against searching, which I'm sure is responsible in part for the long shopping visits.

What I like most about Anthropologie clothes is the distinctive styling. Their clothes include a lot of floral prints, laces, and velvets, but look elegant and sophisticated at the same time. The feeling that I get is that it's a clothing line for confident women who aren't compelled to reveal half of their bodies to look attractive. Home run, I'd say.

If you're really looking for a bargain, you can find discount Anthropologie clothing online – not through the Anthropologie store, but through other retailers. I can't imagine that this stuff is wholesale, and with the high turnover in clothing, I don't think it's made up of last season's items either, but the price is attractive!

Bottom line: if you haven't yet stepped foot in an Anthropologie store, determine if there's one near you. It really is a great shopping experience. But beware of the prices!