I bought a pair of shoes there last week and had none of the 'not a gringo store' comments, quite the opposite actually, friendly greeting etc. I would have marmelised such impudence & I hope you did too, Spicedwine. If you care to PM me the names of the assistants behaving in this unacceptable fashion I will phone the owning family & report it.
We went in there last week, and have previously purchased men's clothing and shoes etc. My other half stated they had lots of women's clothes and I should have a look, while he was buying a new shirt. As I was browsing the ladies section several employees made loud comments about it not being a "Gringo" store, but meant for Dominican's. My Spanish may not be perfect, but it is good enough to understand those comments and the attitude that accompanied them.
No problem, I can shop in Santiago!!! And did and will continue to do so.
The other stores that are "user" friendly in PP, will continue to receive my business and my "gringo" pesos.
It was a lot upsetting and insulting as well.
I pick up clothing for "my" girls at Jimenez every now and then. It can be quite a "zoo" at times, specially on seasons like the one we're just about right in the middle of. They got a LOT of floor personnel and I don't even want to guess how many "behind the scenes". Most display the typical Dominican friendliness and nonchalance, others are highly unprepared or to much concentrated in protecting their laziness, hiding from the action or even putting up a not so friendly expression... then again, they seem to have quite a high rotation of personnel too.
The customers... well, sometimes, as I said it is quite a zoo and the more they are, the more it seems all so much more important to every each of them to be served "first
er" and quicker than all the ones before them... Dominican driving style in a overcrowded and overfilled bazaar.
And then there are some wondering tourist lost in the middle of it and others, residents or semi-residents which display a whole range of different behaviors and reactions, ranging from bewilderment over amusement to scare, paranoia and even narcissistic reactions.
There are those, who think that because they paid with their US credit card, the same
no questions asked return for a cash refund policies of Sears and Walmart apply to them here too (btw: fogitabouit!). And they are not to take a friendly "no"-explanation lightly and I have witnessed some to make it then quite a point to make it heard all over the place what they then think about the girls being sorry to tell them "sorry but no" and the store and the whole country all together, forgetting that Dominicans are for what ever reason, still very proud of their country and nationality. So, some of the personnel may be somewhat sensible when "gringos" seem to start demanding "home"-style customer service and attention. And then, there ARE at times black sheep. Language barriers are not helping either.
However, I also witnessed once a foreign lady having forgotten her bag in a dressing cabin, asking around for it, being quasi forced into paying a large "tip" for the front desk staff to hand it over to her (some good soul had left it with them).
In other words, it's not all black and white... there's a lot of gray in between, on both sides.
I was yesterday at Jimenez... it WAS a zoo and I also found that while the store was stocked full of "stuff" the quality was unusually low and the prices high. But obviously people are buying... until next February, there is almost no competitive alternative in Puerto Plata... we'll see what happens after Sirena opens it's doors.
... J-D.