AKIRA — Local services in Chicago

Akira has a fantastic selection of trendy fashion items and accessories, but unfortunately their STRICT return & exchange policy dampens their appeal, specifically with this store.

I recently purchased a beautiful blue and green dress on 5/17 to wear in Puerto Rico, however, I realized the item did not fit as intended. Naturally, after my vacation, I returned to the store to make an exchange. I had help from one of the sales assistants to pick some new items for the exchange, and I was feeling happy about the new sale. After the sales assistant brought me to the counter, two new employees appeared to help process the exchange, one of whom I assume was the manager. They begun to scrutinizingly review this dress in and out, remaining quiet while doing so.

After a few minutes, the manager says to me over the counter they can't accept my exchange or sell the dress to another customer because the dress has an oil stain. First, I ask to see the stain and, after taking many seconds to do so, they show me what appears as a droplet close to the inner seam of the dress. Second, I then ask how do they know that this "oil stain" came from me? Many people try on clothes in store; it would be very easy to stain a tight fitting dress after one wear. The manager explains that this "oil stain" could only come from wearing a dress for an extended amount of time. Third, I place my finger over the "oil stain" and it is wet. I explain that I had a drink hanging over my shopping bag that likely was dripping water into the bag and onto the dress. Not accepting this explanation, the manager says the droplet did not appear on the outside seam of the dress so they can't believe that.

Fourth, I explain that even the items I wanted to purchase had stains that I knew I wanted to wash out. The manager then states these stains can be easily washed out, but an "oil stain" can not be removed from the dress w/ a Tide brush. Fifth, I ask the manager if there's any deal they can offer me, even a markdown on one of the items I wanted to purchase that had a dark collar stain. That was rejected. I was even willing to purchase more than one item to pay over the original sale price of the dress, and the sale was still rejected. I wished the manager a good day and walked out feeling defeated.

A week later, I went to another Akira store and successfully exchanged the dress without a hassle for the exact new item I wanted. The team at Block 37 had no interest in helping push a sale forward or keep interest in a return customer despite all the options I...

I made a purchase 1/30 for a birthday trip planned 2/15 for Dubai. The day I wore this sandal, 3 hours later the strap ripped from the sole. Today I went to the store, being I only come downtown once a month for an ortho appointment and it’s the location I made the original purchase, the store Manager Cindye was very incompetent and condescending. Ironically she was my cashier the day of purchase. From photos clearly the shoe was worn once, she demanded a receipt. I found the receipt only for her to read me the store policy. Where in the policy does it say a loyal customer can’t get a fair exchange. During this time in Chicago, the weather doesn’t even permit for this type of sandal, but when it does I suppose to just take my losses.

No I refuse. While in store I called Akira’s corporate office and spoke to a customer service supervisor (Christian) who promised to escalate my case and mentioned I should receive a phone call within a day of the district managers (Maria, Flow or Maritza) checking their email. Hopefully they will be of better assistance. Great customer service these days are rare and unfortunately one of the reasons people chose online purchasing...

The good - the staff were friendly. I love the website, so I was excited to go to a store (I am from overseas). I was so disappointed. There is a lot of stuff but just way too much. I felt like I was in Rainbow/Easy Pickings back in the day (I am older), and for the prices they charge that's not good. If you want to see everything from their website (but I could not find many shirts) in a small space with not many sizes then it's the store for you. But to me they need scale down and show some and not all. To me its just took junky and low class.

*Added after Akira responded: I still like Akira and will continue to shop online as they have good sales and my many purchases have been of good quality. Maybe one day I will return to a store but with Zara across the way you could get those customers if you organized your store as the quality of both stores' items are similar but the stores look...