Elements

I love Elements. Great customer service and a fun selection of clothes, shoes, and accessories.

An update of my review of a year ago — and Elements gains a star for its excellent customer service.
Since my original purchase of Sanitas, I returned to purchase another pair in another color.
These are fantastic shoes to wear if you’re on your feet all day. These shoes are so popular in fact, that the owner Jason, had to put me on a wait list for a particular color and style.
I actually had a credit in the store, and I trusted that when the shoes arrived in 6 months (yes, I waited that long for a pair of Sanitas), that my account would be honored.
And indeed it was.
Furthermore, when I returned to purchase my new pair, I had my original pair polished with the exact stain found only at Elements.
Quoting the owner, Jason, they’re a full service store :)
They have a sales woman who is an expert on their lingerie, sales girls who are experts in jewelry and clothing items, and the owner is the expect on shoe maintenance.
As for my Golden Gate Bridge «Landmark» necklace produced by Hrvst 3D based in Emeryville and created on their 3D printer? It’s a big hit, especially with the guys!
Definitely check this store out!
Support local!

I was nervous about walking into a chi chi college ave store in my laundry day clothes, but I was desperate for some new bras (my body likes to change shape on me without warning) and this place was open on a Sunday, so in I went. The sales ladies greeted me as I made a bee line for the bras and started flipping through for my (somewhat unusual) size. As soon as I grabbed one, a lady appeared at my elbow and asked if I wanted a room started. Sure. She asked me if I was looking for particular style or colors (no, just something that fits) and she began combing through the racks for my size, holding up what she found and commenting knowledgeably on the feel and fit of each. She encouraged me to try on as many as I wanted. I ended up trying on about 20 bras and was thrilled to find a brand that fit right. The lady regularly cleared out my discards and was attentive without being pushy. I ended up with four comfortable, pretty and moderately priced new bras. Two of them were on sale! I was very happy with the experience, the selection and the excellent customer service. I am set on bras for a while but will be back to browse their clothes very soon.

Cute, current fashions… incredible shoes!
Family run and friendly staff, full service shopping experience, but not pushy or overbearing.

Shopping! Yay!!!
I visit this shop very often and mostly love their stuff. It is a bit of a mixed bag and I end up browsing more than buying unfortunately. It is a small boutique, not a department store, so their selection and sizes are limited. One thing that I tend to come back for the most is their jewelry. It is mostly locally made jewelry that is reasonably priced. I ALWAYS find lots of shiny things that catch my eye.

I recently brought back a clothing item to Elements. They were friendly, professional and resourceful! I highly recommend this beautiful store! They have everything a girl could ask for:)!
Thank you Jason and staff:)!
Peggy

I had a really strange experience in this store. I was in Therapy (down the street) looking for black flats with pointy toes, which they had, but in snakeskin. I wanted something a bit more formal and simple, so I decided to look around at other shops.
I stopped in Elements and asked the salesclerk if they happened to have black flats with pointy toes. She said something along the lines of «No, we don’t,» and added, «you’re going to have a hard time finding that because it’s not in fashion right now.» Other the fact that her comment was inconsiderate and slightly rude, that particular style is, in fact, in fashion.

Wish they were a little more attentive to customer service, especially customers who make an effort to support local businesses.
Tried to return a gift a little later than the return policy and was flat out refused any consideration despite shopping here regularly. So much for local shopping!

They had some cute stuff… They surprisingly had some lingerie, fair shoe selection, decent clothes, etc. If I could freely spend $ 500 I could have bought a jacket, a dress, and some shoes. But that’s too much for me ;) service was meh.

Went in today for specific need. As advertised, had exactly the lines of comfort footwear I have been looking all over The Bay for — all in one place. Shop is stress free and the lovely young lady who promptly greeted me was also knowledgable and PATIENT during my entire store visit. Wonderful experience. Will definitely be back! Thank you!

I could easily spend thousands of $$ at this awesome store… if I had thousands of dollars to spend. In the meantime, I enjoy purchasing the occasional pair of shoes for myself or the honey and great gifts for family– particularly snuggly sweaters during Winter.
My favorite employee there is Natasha, she’s so sweet, really knows shoes, and she even has a call list to let you know when you wish list items arrive in the store.
A bit about their style — lovely jewelry ranging from funky handmade pieces to carefully set precious stones, decent selection of designer jeans (Joe’s, etc), awesome funky, sleek, & supportive shoes (Hunter, Ugg, Dansko, & more), sweet little summer dresses, sexy undergarments of all kinds, and –what decent boutique wouldn’t be complete without– Hanky Panky panties on the counter! :)
Even though I don’t want you to buy all the goods before me, I still recommend you check this place out. It’s just too good to keep to myself.

I am NOT good at buying bras. Furthermore, it’s not a process I enjoy particularly.
A friend recommended Elements to me after I complained to her about the sorry state of my one and only bra, which had taken me through 6 years of college and a variety of other adventures that it probably wasn’t designed for. I was only willing to give it a try because the safety pins and shoddy mending jobs keeping my sad boobholder together were on their last legs.
In my grubbiest art school getup, I walked into what was probably the fanciest shop I’d ever been to, and asked for a bra that would take me places without poking me in others.
Surprisingly, I was treated with respect and straightforwardness despite my appearance (and likely smell). I walked out with two bras that did their jobs perfectly and comfortably AND made me feel pretty. I recently went back and got another. I can safely say that I do not fear the bra-​buying excursion anymore. I honestly think that having nice bras has made me dress more nicely, too (or maybe it’s that I’m out of college, now). Nothing more contradictory than a $ 60 bra under a painty, thrift-​store outfit.
I held back one star because the gal who helped me this second time didn’t seem to know a lot about the stock (maybe she was new?), and I ended up finding what I wanted myself even after she had looked for what I’d asked for. Also, availability of a range of colors in a style (even just more than one color) would be great. One more thing: I feel that a truly high-​end shop would remove the ENORMOUS dye pack tag prior to you trying something on that is going to be tight around your torso. It’s uncomfortable and makes it hard to know if the item fits correctly.
All in all: I will continue to go to elements for my lingerie needs, and ENJOY the process from here on out.

This store was in a nice area, had nice items, but the interior is a bit weak considering how much they charge for there items. But I did get a super good pair of black boots, a scarf, and a top here that I really enjoy wearing. I would recommend coming to there Berkeley shop and not there Emeryville one because they don’t have nearly as much of a selection and they have an even lower selection in show sizes as well. And just a heads up ladies, there boots are extremely hard to get on, so if you want to get someone boots as a gift, don’t! Just get them a gift card!

Found it to be spendy, and an odd mix of clothes. Some of it seems quite trendy and quirky, other pieces are old lady, like it can’t make up its mind about who the target demographic is. Beautiful shoes, but not a varied selection. There’s jewelry but I didn’t spend much time looking at it. I think if the store was more focused and didn’t try to do everything, clothes shoes and accesories in one place, it would have a better result. It’s like Anthropologie, but not big enough or quirky enough to carry it off. Pleasant staff!

hmmmmmm. I am so puzzled by the other reviews. I go into Elements every time I am on College Ave. mostly to window shop, but I’ve made some purchases here over the years. the staff are always friendly, but not pushy.
I love their jewelry– something at every price point & I ALWAYS see at least 3 pieces I LOVE. their clothes & shoes also run the gamut from bargain to (in my book) ridiculous, but not always my style. they have a pretty good lingerie selection, for such a small store.
always check out the sale rack– you can get some amazing deals there!

I love this store because it carries a good range of casual and smart casual clothes, party dresses and shoes and accessories and even underwear, although its largest cups are D or DD. They have great sales and do free gift wrapping too. It’s always worth passing by when going to Ici or any of the other restaurants in the neighborhood.

Two things that are very important to me in any store.
— selection
— customer service
My sister and I walked and received no acknowledgment from the staff who were all hanging out near the registers and no other customers. When it looked like we were looking at the shoe selection one of the ladies finally came up and asked if we needed a pair. I was in the middle of my sentence ’ No, but if … ’ then she just turned around and walked away. Wow, nice!
This store use to have a separate shoe section next to it but they down-​sized and tried to make the whole store accommodate whatever stock they have. Its honestly a confusing mess of a wanna-​be-​boutique that its more of a smaller version of a department store.
I live in Rockridge and College Ave. is my home, don’t ruin it with attitude because we locals are your number one customers. Theres an obvious lack of attention to what kind of customers they are targeting and an even obvious lack of attention to good customer service.

What a GREAT location. They are like the only big boutique on that strip of College. They could be a one-​stop shop. While the clothes are bleh, the shoe selection is decent and the jewelry can be exquisite. I bought the most bad ass necklace there last week and now wear it everyday.
Perhaps in the new year?

So much potential… Stopped by here on the continued holiday shopping adventures — mission: present for mama marie.
There was so much possibility here — in fact there were a couple items that struck me. But the staff was so blah about it that I decided that they werent special enough. And who wants to give a not special present? Not me.

I’m always so dissappointed everytime I walk out of elements. I keep on wanting to give them another chance though because you cannot have that much space and not have more than 1 piece of cute clothing item. I think there is something wrong with the buyer’s style. They usually have a pretty decent line up on the mannequins but overall their style is not quite impressive or chic.
I always go in thinking that things will change and that I will find that cute outfit to go out in the night with but that’s quite rare. I bought 1 thing from the 25 times that I go there and that’s saying a lot because I like to burn a hole in my wallet until it’s on fire!!! If Element was a girl, she will look like the girl you really want to get to know because she is cute and friendly but then when you talk to her, she is actually a robot. haha. Random, but oh well, it’s midnight!
Also, it always smells like feet there, I dont know if that has changed recently but I notice that the ventilation sux.
The price is decent, you won’t find the trendiest pieces here. The only brand that I can say was quite decent was BCBG and maybe to the max.