The first thing you notice when you come to an Etude House entrance is that the door is wide open and there are cardboard k-pop idols propped up outside welcoming you. Inside, there are several female associates who almost form a blockade so you can't get very deep into the store. I don't know why they did that, but my guesses are that they either work on commission and want to assist people with a sale or are so fearful of thievery that they make sure they can zone in on people as soon as they get into the store so they can shadow them. Or, just maybe, they are so customer service oriented that they want to be readily available to assist in any way they can. As we walked into the store and began browsing the perimeter, trying out perfume samples and creams, an associate came and stood so close to us that I could almost feel her breath on my shoulder (that's because I am so tall....if I had been shorter, I would have felt it on my neck...just sayin). I turned and smiled at her and greeted her in Korean. She smiled back and just stood there. Ok. Awkward. I tried to ignore her and continued moving around, looking at lip glosses, bb creams, and more fragrances. It's like we were synchronized swimmers because she mirrored my every move. That must be a pre-requisite before employment at Etude House...the ability to synchronize movement...because everywhere I went, she followed me and stayed a cm away, yet never touched me (and it was cramped in there)...that takes talent! I finally became so uncomfortable with her...should I call it suspicion of me right now?...that I grabbed the perfume bottle pictured above, showed it to her so she understood that I wanted to buy it, and then made haste to the register where I quickly paid my 12,000 Won and got the heck out of there. I shouldn't have bought it because I was truly conflicted by their behavior towards us, but I just had to have something from Etude House. It was on the bucket list. After the fact, I can't help but wonder if it is a cultural thing...where shop workers really are that helpful and don't realize they are violating personal space or privacy. On the other hand, maybe they thought that because we were foreigners, we needed to be watched extra carefully. I didn't check to see if they were doing it to other shoppers because I was so paranoid at the time that I all I worried about was Teppy and me and the moment. If anyone could email me and shed some light on this, I would really appreciate it.
Once I got the perfume back to our room, I decided to put some on and wear it out that evening. Unfortunately, the perfume didn't really linger once applied. It smelled mostly of alcohol and Teppy insisted she could not smell it on me despite the fact I had liberally applied it. I am really sad about my whole Etude House experience. I was prepared to drop a lot more money in there but I just didn't feel comfortable shopping in there. In hind sight, it is probably a good thing that I didn't, because the perfume didn't measure up to my standards and I more than likely would have felt the same way about their other products. They do such a good job with the presentation of their products in the store that there is no way you could ever assume their products would be lacking. Sorry Etude House, your perfume does not impress and our shopping experience was not pleasant, so we will not be returning.
One last thought.....maybe we were too old to shop there? We are 40ish and the store seems to cater to young people. Maybe they were thinking, "what the hell could these ahjummas possibly want in OUR store?" Who knows?