Hot Topic — Local services in Holyoke

The staff was unbearably intrusive the entire time I was trying to look around. I've been going to hot topics for over a decade and have never had this kind of experience before. I don't know if they were sketched out that I had a messenger bag (empty, brought it with me because I was going to the arcade in the mall after looking around and used it to carry prizes since they don't have bags) or what their deal was, that's the only thing I can possibly think of for their behavior, but I couldn't look at literally anything without one of them running up asking if I needed help of some kind and then lingering around me when I declined. It wouldn't have been so weird if it wasn't 4-5 times in the span of 5 minutes, or if it wasn't completely packed in their tiny store yet I was the only one being singled out, even out of my own group. I was mostly just looking to see this location's selection, I've seen most of the stock before at other locations, but we were walking by so figured why no take a look, sometimes you find something that other ones don't carry. We were greeted normally when we entered. I pointed out a cool shirt to my friend, and the employee up front kept interrupting me while I was talking to my friend to show me other shirts. I wasn't interested and went to check out some shorts I saw on the opposite wall, but they didn't have my size so I walked away, same employee came rushing over to ask if I wanted to try them on, I said no they didn't have my size and I knew those ones wouldn't fit, so they asked if I wanted them to check for other sizes, so I said sure if they had more sizes by all means, and then they clarified everything they have is out but they could check online, so I said no thanks. My friend was looking at a bathing suit next to the shorts, so I pointed out one next to the one she was looking at that I thought was cute, so the employee again rushed over asking if I needed help getting it down to look at. I said no, I was just looking. My friend called me over further down to show me a pair of pants and I almost bumped into a different employee by accident and I said, "I'm so sorry, I didn't see you", but they gave me a weird look and said "okay". My friend then used the dressing room for the pants, so I was just browsing the nearby jewelry cases to pass time, then another employee rushed over the second I started looking to ask what sizes I was looking for, I told them and they told me what section they'd be at, but at that point I was just done with being harassed, whether or not they were being polite, so I just stared at the floor the rest of the time while I waited for my friends to be done so I would be left alone. Neither of my two friends were asked a single time if they needed anything in any capacity the entire time we were there, even when they did in fact need assistance, they had to chase down the employees, and they felt just as uncomfortable as me by the employees popping out of my rear every time I so much as looked at something. My friend used my account while checking out since I had rewards, and the cashier was insistent about being given an employee's name that helped us during our visit and it was incredibly awkward since the only actual help received was the dressing room being unlocked, but the cashier wanted to know exactly who did that to take their name down. As someone who also works retail, I genuinely don't know what was going on at this location, but we won't be returning due to the weird...

Store was really clean. Lots of cool stuff. The 2 girls working were really nice it was closing time and I was just checking out and they realized I had bought 1 item that was part of a buy 1 get 1 for $1 sale and she told me I should get my $1 item and I said I didn't want to hold them up from closing any longer than I already had, but they both insisted I go get my item and told me to take my time and then also one of them came over to show me all the different racks and sections I could pick from and helped me find something decent for my tween age daughter and they made nice conversation the entire time were both super polite friendly and went above and beyond (I feel considering what they get paid isnt much over minimum wage) their expected job duties.....highly recommend this specific...

I'm disgusted with this store. The employees are rude and the selection is horrible. For a company that sells clothing for people who don't fit the norm they sure do love to make people feel like they don't belong there, all of the pants in the store are between sizes 1-9 with the occasional 11 thrown in but even then they run very small, EDs have been a huge issue for the majority of their customers and its very disappointing that a person who is average weight won't even be able to buy pants here. I left that store feeling so defeated after I found nothing in my size (which isn't even a big size) and on top of that the store is very cramped which makes it very difficult to try to shop when there's other...