Unique — Local services in Burnsville

Good selection of items, but the staff is terrible. I’ve been to this store several times since the Minnesota mask mandate. The last time I went (August) a cashier asked me about wearing a mask and I told him I had a medical condition and he talked to a manager who cleared me.

I entered the Unique in Burnsville (I actually live an hour and a half north of it) in October, and upon entrance I was told by a team member (didn’t catch her name, she was Somali and had a headpiece on) that I needed to wear a mask. I kindly told her I had a medical condition. She kinda looked at me and carried on. Moments later, a tall African American gentleman approached me and said the same thing. I politely told him I had a medical condition. He told me that it was store policy. EVERYone was required to wear one. I tried to inform him of the state mandate (which is not law) that if you have a medical condition you are exempt from wearing one. He said if I had a card to show someone I should show it to whomever. There are no medical cards distributed for the exemption. I had one at the bottom of my purse, put it on, but then put it below my chin. Soon after, an older employee (blonde hair, I think she was a manager, seemed to have authority), came to the jewelry counter and told me I needed to pull the mask over my mouth. I also tried to inform her of the state mandate and exception. She also said my young child needed to wear one. She’s six. No one has ever made a comment about my daughter not wearing a mask. She proceeded to tell me she doesn’t like to wear one for ten hours. Felt to me that she was implying that I simply didn’t want to wear one. Which is not the case. And this situation was causing my anxiety to increase and I then began to cry. She didn’t seem to care. Another gal came up behind her who seemed to have even more authority than the gal who was talking to me (black curly hair, shorter). She was pretty upset that I was talking about a medical exemption. She made it seem like I just didn’t want to wear one. She was flat out rude. How embarrassing it was to be approached by four different people and humiliated. I wasn’t raising my voice or throwing a fit. Which would be the first sign that I just didn’t want to cooperate. The folks at this store need to learn some compassion and people skills.

I forwarded my complaint to corporate and was told the issue would be sent to the store manager. I...

This was truly the worst shopping experience I've ever had. I was shopping with my friend and we were sending a lot of things to go back on the rack because there were no fitting rooms and it was hard to decide what we wanted until we were able to meet up in the store and ask for each other's opinions. After we gave them the second round of go-backs (I admit it it was a lot to put back, but we are paying customers and that's how we were shopping that day), THREE different staff members came up to us and RUDELY told us to stop sending so much back because we were "creating a lot of extra work" for them. We were intending to spend several hours there, but we were being glared at by half the staff within the first hour, making it clear that we were not welcome. Since we had driven an hour to get there and still wanted to make the most of it, we were going to check out the furniture section as our last stop with our two completely overflowing carts, but on our way there one of the managers on shift angrily grabbed my friend's cart and told her we were done shopping and he "didn't want to deal with this sh*t today." We spent almost $400 there between the two of us and we were practically treated like we were shoplifters because we were making the staff do their job rather than stand around.

I've worked in retail, and I know that putting stuff back on the racks is tedious and annoying, but they were well-staffed to handle it and had no reason to treat us that way. I've never been bullied like this before, and it was overwhelmingly uncomfortable. No one should treat ANYBODY that way, nevertheless in a customer-employee relationship.

It is clear that a significant portion of the staff needs to be either retrained or replaced (and probably paid more so they're not so bitter about having to work...

Cashier Aiyan (not sure if spelling is correct) is VERY VERY rude. She gives off an "I'm better than you and you annoy me with your presence" attitude. My partner and I had a budget for the Thrift store and other errands to run so I put a limit on our items we can get. We went over the limit so we had to put stuff back. Among the stuff we put back was a silverware set. We checked out, while Aiyan was sighing, and left. We were sitting in my car and I told my partner to go back and see the price and quality of the set of silverware I left behind. Aiyan was with another employee near my partner and said, "She was just in here. I don't know why she's back. She doesn't have money for anything." She didn't even try to say it quietly so my partner wouldn't hear. After Aiyan said that herself and the other employee started staring at my partner. A third employee came forward and Aiyan told him the same thing. All the employees continued to stare at my partner. What kind of horrible customer service do these cashiers get taught? In what world is it alright for someone to treat another person like that? My partner felt belittled and embarrassed.

Aiyan.... don't assume someone's financial situation. We have plenty of money. Treat others how you want to be treated. If you want to talk about customers maybe don't do it where they can hear you? Off the sales floor? Maybe not at all. Keep your negative attitude at home? Try greeting people with a smile. Say thank you when you complete a transaction. Without customers you wouldn't have a job. Unique would close if no one shopped there. Customers are the thing that keeps stores alive and open.

Management: If you guys are hiring I would invest in friendlier people. Maybe more managers to properly train the cashiers on how to display proper...