Mantique

Mantique carries Sakura items and I don’t know where else to find them. That’s essentially the only reason I visit this store. They also have some midrange pieces that are just okay, halfway decent in material and fit. The reason for the two stars — the pushy insane sales staff. From the moment you step in, it’s a veritable barrage of questions being shot at you — what’re your plans today? what’re your plans this weekend? what’s in your bag? what are you drinking? what’s your favourite colour? omg me too! that dress is cute! next time it’s all, what’s your blood type and who is your least favourite Wisconsin senator? I don’t mind salespeople, I really don’t. Sometimes they’re extremely helpful when you’re really into the fashion and they know their inventory well. It’s never the case here though. Please stop at two inane questions and let me shop in peace.

BACKGROUND — Well I guess you can call me a shopaholic… I like to venture into buying clothes outside of Portland, Oregon so no one else can copy my style ;) Vancouver, BC is my wallet diet of choice.
PROS — Great outerwear! I can’t vouch for other clothing items but their coats and jackets (Sakura brand and Bench., if that helps?) are of top quality.
CONS — The great outerwear that I’m raving above is quite spendy. I bought two coats (Bench. and Sakura) and my total came close to about $ 400. It was so much that I had to keep telling myself that with Oregon’s bipolar weather, it is certainly a grand investment.
Why 3 stars? This is why. The salespeople are ridiculously friendly because they REALLY want the sale. They are so friendly that they seem fake. The girl who was helping me went so far as to ask about Oregon and told me if she ever visited Portland, she would love a tour from me. Me, being the naïve fool that I am thought she was super friendly. My boyfriend? He saw right through her. He even bet $$ that after we exchanged Facebook contact info, she was never going to contact me again because she got what she wanted: the $ 400 sale. Needless to say, he won.
POINTERS — Expensive, manipulative salespeople (or I’m just being bitter about it) but great outerwear.

I went inside Mantique to find a winter jacket for my BF and I end up buying one for myself.
The Sales person was very helpful. He showed us the latest model of winter jacket which are made from a Vancouver Designer who understands cold, rain and fashion.
The Sales man looked at my figure and straight away proposed me one model which suited me perfectly, and the same situation happened to my BF.
He was trying to sale the most expensive item but what would suit his customer.
There is an other Mantique in Vancouver downtown on Granville Street which I refuse to go into, as the sales team will bascially harass you to buy something.
This store just really provided us advise and product but I didn’t feel oblige or harrased.
The prices are respectable for the quality that you are getting. So it is not cheap but not overpriced either.

Once again raging on my love for NEON this season, there are some neon pieces that interested me. I found these awesome NEON skinny jeans for my friend that would look awesome with his Saved By The Bell shirt. The guy at the til was super friendly and helpful.

Staff are knowledgeable about what lines they have on sale, but are REALLY interested in making the sale. I don’t like pushy sales staff.

Mantique has been in the mall for quite some time and has plenty of return clientele. There was also a time when I used to buy an item every couple of weeks from them as they seemed to be the first to carry some of the quietly hyped brands like Plain Jane.
Located on the second floor of the mall, Mantique offers both mens and womens clothing that includes casual attire and some evening wear.
The staff seem knowledgeable and helpful, as well as honest about whether something looks right on you or not. Always a big plus!