"Shop Talk" is a weekly column in which we visit some of our
favorite stores and highlight their stylish employees. Today, meet Deb
Roldan, Store Manager of Milly's Upper East Side flagship. "I call it
Michelle's jewel box," Roland says of the light-filled, girly shop.
We've teamed up with the brand on a discount offer. January 25th only,
you can receive 25% off all full price items in store and on millyny.com.
Just enter STYLEIST2012 at check-out. (Cannot be combined with any
other sales or promotions. Not applicable on gift card purchases.)
With over fifteen years of retail experience under her belt,
this Brooklyn-native knows how to help customers find exactly what they
are looking for. Even if it so happens to be a 4-years-old, the cast of
''Gossip Girl" or Barbara Walters. Check out our interview below to hear
some of her wildest stories.
Photo by Bobby Doherty
Who is the Milly customer?
I think our customers are pretty savvy, and they’re very stylish. And
the age range is really broad, we’ll get 20-something to 50-something on
the Upper East Side. She shops at Barney’s, she shops at Bergdorf’s,
she’s shopping at Saks. And she’s also a website, e-commerce shopper, so
she’s just very focused on getting the best-looking clothing, getting
the best styles and always being on trend. So we have a lot of stylish
customers from all over the world. I think the Milly girl, the Milly
woman, is really the most pleasant person, who loves fashion, but
they’re happy people. And one thing I always like to tell you is we
recently started our bridal program, and so we have a bride who actually
lives in Hong Kong. She sent her best friend, who lives here in New
York, to try on bridesmaid dresses and we just sent her eight
bridesmaids dresses last week, so we’re so excited. Her weddings is a
week and a half, so we’re like, ‘Oh my God!’ It was a very tight window,
but we’re excited to be part of her day.
Do you ever have customers who buy pieces without trying them on?
Sometimes. I always tell customers that they really do need to try on a
dress, so when a husband or boyfriend is trying to buy something for
their significant other, I always try to get a top or bottom rather than
a dress sometimes, because I do think that for a dress, you want to see
how it lays on your body. Husbands are fun. We had a gentleman
yesterday who was probably in his 70s and it was so cute. He came and
said, ‘I want to buy a red dress.’ He was very specific, so he just
pulled everything red out. He knew his wife was a size small, so that
was so easy. We got him the Sofia circle dress, which just fits
fantastically on people. He was just a quiet man; we tried to make the
experience as painless as possible.
What is the most exciting thing that has happened in the store?
We had ‘Gossip Girl’ shoot in the store back in December, which was
super fun. And Leighton Meister was here, wearing Milly. It was really
exciting to have that experience here. We had to close down the store;
it was huge. They had railroad tracks on the floor when they had the
whole units, and cameramen were inside. There were probably 40 people in
the store, and then just three actresses. All the extras were there for
the hair and makeup, so many people for just this one scene. It was
cool because they were here for about four hours and we got to stand in
the background and some of us were on camera!
Do a lot of celebrities pop into the store?
I always feel like I have my blinders on, the rest of the team will be
like, ‘Oh, did you see so-and-so in here the other day?’ And I’ll be
like, ‘Really?', but my first celebrity in the store was Barbara
Walters. She walked in one day and we’re like, ‘Oh my God, it’s Barbara
Walters!’ I actually helped her in the fitting room, she bought two tops
from us. She came back a few days later and she said, ‘My friend, Cindy
Adams, really loved my red shirt, so can I buy another one for myself?’
She bought another shirt and then she ended up buying a dress that we
had in the window which she wore on ‘The View.’ So now I'm like, 'I love
Barbara Walters!’ It's so exciting to hang out with someone like her.
She's an icon, but she was so amazing and totally genuine, so that was
really cool.
You also have a lot celebrity stylists who come into the store. How is it different then helping the stars directly?
I’ve always worked with the stylists and they’re really great because
they know what they want, they know what they need and they’re kind of
open to suggestions, as well. We have a stylist who works exclusively
with some of clients on Madison Avenue, so she’ll come in here – she’s
probably been in here about three or four times – and literally, we’ll
get her ready, get her tea, get her coffee. She’ll sit down, and we’ll
show her things. So if she has her client with her, it kind of makes it
easier for us because she’s that go-between between us and the customer.
One of the cooler ones that came in recently was a stylist for Angelina
Jolie came in recently, like two weeks ago. And actually bought Milly
Mini products, so we’re hoping and crossing our fingers!
You must also see a lot of cute kids here as well...
We do. Our marketing person was a genius and I have to give her amazing
props, because she told us that we should bring in toys to our little
minis department. And at first, I wasn't sure, but it's such a
distracting, awesome thing for the kids. They’ll run over to the toy box
and start playing with the toys while their moms shop. Even when the
moms are shopping for the little girls, for the Milly minis, we can
distract the little girls with a book or a Barbie doll while her mom’s
shopping for her.
What are your most popular items right now?
One of our best-selling dresses is called the Chelsea halter dress.
She’s backless; she’s just stunning. And she has ruffles going all the
way down the back, and it was such a successful dress that I asked
Michelle Smith if we could put it in the bridal program. And now it’s
our best-selling bridesmaid dress. Also, our sheath dress, it really
fits everybody. Literally, 0 to 12. It’s our go-to dress when somebody
is shopping for an interview, a date, anything. Surprisingly, the most
popular color right now in the store is pink. Like shocking pink.
What items do you have your eye on right now?
We launched our handbag collection last year, and then this season we
just put our really bright, colorful ostrich embossed collection of
handbags and small leather goods, so I’m really excited about that.
There’s an amazing cobalt blue bag that I have my eye on, and I already
bought a wallet, so did half the staff here. When we’re getting coffee
around the corner together, it looks a little silly. There’s just so
many more amazing things coming in, we’re all like, “Oh my God, bring it
to us now!’ There are a lot of leather pieces for pre-fall: a leather
circle skirt, a full sleeveless leather dress, some cute leather cropped
pants. I just can’t wait. I'll have to buy one or two pieces of leather
for fall, as well.
The girls who work in the store are all so close? That's great!
Yeah, I love them. They're amazing. When we get the new collection,
every single person in the store tries it on. We have from a size zero
through size twelve in the store, and there are nine of us. It's a
really great way to see how everything fits and get a feel for the
different body shapes that are out there, so we know what to sell to the
customer. We call them ‘fit sessions,’ but basically, oh my God, it’s
too much fun. We all hide in the fitting room and pull for each other.
We know pretty much what each one of our "safe" outfits are and what we
like to wear, so we’ll challenge each other to wear something we
wouldn’t normally wear. Again, to get us out of our comfort zone, but
also to see how it fits on our body type.
