Ulta Beauty — Attraction in Tukwila

While I have told this story to so many friends, I am compelled to tell the world after witnessing the abuse retail employees are expected to endure on a daily basis - and still smile and provide excellent service to the next customer. There is such negativity online, that I wanted to take time out and share a truly special retail experience.

I have always wanted to love Ulta from the first moment I walked in like 20 years ago. I mean a superstore for makeup with a salon, too!!! A dream come true, now I get how excited my husband gets at electronic stores. Throughout the years, this Blue Ocean idea has let me down every time. I tried to recreate that first euphoric feeling experienced at the Southcenter store. Unfortunately, no matter which location I felt like I've been ignored and the stores were just dirty - the testing stations are not well kept - out applicators or cleaning solutions and the staffs were more interested in talking amongst themselves than making sales.

I am a person who grew up working in luxury retail in the South so my expectation of staff is top-notch and assisted without feeling like I'm bothering staff. A few weeks back, a dear friend begged me to go to the Southcenter location. We both used to go girly shopping with another friend who passed away a few years ago, so shopping is a bit bittersweet.

What a difference 20 years make! Someone welcomed us the moment we walked in. The store was pretty busy but the sales lady on the floor who approached us was juggling two other customers -- and offered help and was actually smiling. She told us her name was Mariah (spelling? And hope you only have one employee with that name.) She did a great job asking the right questions to my friend and I mentioned that I have hated my foundations ever since Prescriptives stopped custom blending.

I got on my soapbox on PNW beauty counters that lack representation in people and training, which is ridiculous given how much Black women spend on cosmetics. Seriously, does senior management not have demographic research?! I explained that sales clerks don't understand that dark skin with yellow undertones and so every time I've trusted the advice and believed that it was just the harsh lighting in the store I still ended up with what looked like chocolate frosting with red undertones on my face at the end of the day after spending $150+ on foundation, concealer, loose and pressed powders.

I went on to explained that I just buy a few different shades at the drug store and custom blend myself every time, but I lost my love of cosmetics with the lack of good products and service. I was shocked when she actually empathized with me, apologized that I've had such frustrations for years and expressed sympathy for our departed friend.

Mariah offered to color match me, but I felt guilty since I wasn't going to buy and didn't want to waste her time. She said that she really didn't mind and would love to help me fall back in love with beauty.

I commented that she must have been part of the new training and she shared that the company does have great training and that she's been in beauty for over 10 years and is part of the management team -- Obviously, she must have started working in middle school. She recommended Dermablend with sunscreen after I told her that I am now wearing sunscreen since I didn’t know that sun damage is what's causing me to develop moles. I thought it had been discontinued by Flori Roberts 30yrs ago! My friend and I bought all kinds of things we didn't know we needed. She is so knowledgeable about different cosmetic brands and fragrances.

I have made the trek to the Southcenter store several times to transition to Mariah's recommendations - a BIG deal since traffic is awful in Seattle. I am in love with getting glam again and feel like I am honoring my friend as well.

A big thank you to whomever decided to...

I’ve been to this location a few times in the past 3 months, and won’t be going back because the experience of looking for the right product and with the employees here is incredibly irritating.

This store constantly has products incorrectly placed. I usually go in needing a kind of product (like a lip scrub or a spot treatment) so I like to compare different ones based on ingredients. It’s hard to do that when the product I want to find isn’t in the spot the placards say they are. Their credit card signup push is INSANELY annoying; the employees ignore you when you say “no” and are jaded in general. I have to tell the cashier- at a minimum- 5 times that I’m not interested before they stop talking, and the only reason they stop talking is because they finished their memorized speech. They have talked over me while I said I was not interested, ignored me, and all in a way that makes it clear they aren’t listening to a word I am saying. I get they are required to try to close a deal, but when a customer says no, LISTEN TO THEM. This is a huge part of why I will not be returning. The employees constantly badger you, asking if you want help, or need a shopping bag. It is incredibly frustrating to have 3 or 4 different employees coming up to me and asking if I need a shopping bag or assistance. If I decline one of their massively oversized bags (I only buy 1 or 2 small products at a time), the employees give me weird looks. They insist it will be helpful so I don’t have to carry the product around- which doesn’t make sense, because if I am only buying one thing, I’d either have to carry that thing or the bag around- both are one thing to carry, and a huge bag is more of an inconvenience than a tiny item. Also, talk to your associates!!! If someone already asked me if I need help, why does another associate come up to me 30 seconds later asking if I need help? If I didn’t need help then, I probably don’t need it 30 seconds later. And don’t follow me around every aisle pretending to sweep lol. I didn’t decline a bag because I want to steal stuff, I declined it because I don’t want to carry around a 3’ bag for a...

UPDATE: booked another hair appointment the day before, for early morning Sunday, 8:45am to be exact. Though, Ulta itself doesn't open until 11. I arrived, and another gal standing outside and I were talking, we had the same appointment times with the same stylist. They let us in, but our stylist wasn't there yet. We stood around and a newer manager let us know after attempting to get ahold of the stylist and salon manager (or a more senior manager), that apparently my appointment was canceled, that would have been nice to know before I came to the salon. The other girl's appointment somehow didn't get canceled but should have because the stylist had a family thing come up. Their online booking system is pretty unreliable, and it doesn't tell you (via text or any communication) that your appointment has been canceled by the stylist. We waited around for 30 minutes before we were notified that our appointments were canceled. Nothing was done to remedy this issue. The last time I booked it did change my stylist, and I found out when I got there, but at least it didn't cancel completely. For me, this was my second time using ulta, well, attempt to use Ulta for my hair needs and for the other gal that waited with me this morning it was her first time using Ulta salon. Cannot say I'd recommend them, or this location. Their stylists seem pretty unreliable.

OLD: I visited the salon for the first time, and my hairstylist I used to go to moved. I needed something right away, I got it in on a Sunday and spent about an hour and a half with Mia. I went in for a trim, the oleplex treatment, and then I needed her to thin out my hair. Price wise, it wasn't bad. The treatment was the most expensive part, I hope it actually helps repair my hair. Overall, I am very happy with the service. Mia was excellent, knowledgeable, and overall so nice! I will likely be back to see...