Ivy Hill Boutique

"This is a hard review to write, but I do think it's necessary (fyi: a bit of a read). I think it's important to support local/small businesses but whether you're a chain store or own 1 store, customer service should be one of your top priorities. I stopped in because they had the usual, "going out of season sale rack" outside their store and the clothes looked cute and wanted to check out what other items they had. i found 2 dresses at the back of the store on another sale rack. Hillary, the owner, asked me if i wanted to try them on, and as she was asking me, i saw their cute little "exchange policy" [see attached photo]. I was in a rush to get to carpool so I was thinking I would try them on at home when I had more time. She confirmed that as long as I had the receipt and within 14 days, I could return. Easy enough! When I finally got around to trying them on, I decided that neither of them would work and would return them. Here's where things got dicey. It took me FOUR visits for the return. It was never indicated to me that returns had a pricing caveat. As you can see, the exchange policy gives no mention that returns are only for FULL PRICED items. 3 different sales people said, "well, it's on the receipt and there are signs around the store." Mmmm ... no signage anywhere in the store indicated as such and neither does my receipt [see attached photo]. One such sales person said, "I'm sorry, sale items can't be returned. I would need to ask the owner." I asked if I could actually speak to someone in charge. Her response, "I can text her. I don't want to bother her because she's really busy with her kids." I also felt like they were blowing me off. I'd equate it to how southerners say, "Bless your heart." Sometimes they care, but most of the time, it's a gracious and passive aggressive way to say, "sucks to be you." I was feeling really defeated. This didn't need to be so hard! As the customer, I did everything within the stated policy boundaries: I was within 14 days of returning. I had my receipt. Tags were still on the clothes. And I understand that returns and other things affect smaller businesses much more than chain stores, but it wasn't like I was asking for leniency or an exception outside of what the policy stated, as if I was returning on the 15th day or that I had already taken the tags off, etc. This really was about principle. The owner finally called and not only did she admit that she knew the sign by the register did NOT state returns were only on full priced items, but tried to convince me that the receipt did. again, please see attached photo. i did respectfully encourage the owner, that moving forward, she should really have clearly stated policies. In the end, I was able to return and get a store credit, but the salt that was added to the wound was: their receipt printer was broken, so the young lady started to write down my store credit on a business card. It wasn't very professional and definitely did not look legit. So I asked her what she was going to do with the other customers in the store that wanted to purchase something: how were they going to get their receipts? 'cause God forbid they wanted to return something."Oh! I would just email it to them." "Can you not email me the store credit?" "Oh! Yah! I can totally do that." I would like to say though, that even though it was a super big nuisance and now I'm stuck with a store credit to a store that seems to cater to a specific clientele and one I don't currently want to go back to, the owner was really nice and the store does carry some cute stuff. If anything, I'm hoping the owner will now have featured signs with more specific policy details and better employee training so everyone is on the same page."

"Amazing boutique with such cute clothes! Decent prices. Fun shopping atmosphere. When in town, I will return! The cashier didn’t say a whole lot when we first entered. I’m going to say she’s not a morning person. She did perk up when we started chatting. The air was not friendly. It was a little warm during this summer visit."

"I visited Ivy Hill around Christmastime to get a necklace for my sister. It is not at all my style or preference, but was much more welcoming than I'd expected for the type of clientele they cater to. The shop manager/owner was super friendly and very helpful."