THREE…TWO…ONE! Forever 21 is finally open! The grand opening of the Forever 21 store at the Vintage Fair Mall in Modesto opened on August 20, 2011 at ten o‘clock in the morning. This event ended several months of shopping anxiety for the teen girls of Stanislaus county, most of whom had been lined up since one in the morning to see their favorite store open.
Why so much excitement over one remolded store? The newly remolded store was three stories, carrying every type of apparel and different style accessories a young girl can imagine. During the grand opening day, the store gave out 500 gift cards to the first lucky five hundred customers in line. One of the gift cards was valued at $210! Forever 21 did not want to exclude their other fans and gave out an additional 400 gift cards to Tuttimelon that were valued at $4 to next people in line.
The trendy store did not stop the rewards there. It offered promotions such as getting a free gift and 10% off with a forty dollar purchase. Around the store, raffles for gift cards and the season’s hottest outfits were held–often valued at up to $150. In addition, Forever 21 was giving free personal styling appointments by Forever 21 stylists from 10 AM to 3 PM. The unfortunate rest of the line for the Forever 21 grand opening began at the front west entrance of the store and curved around Sephora, all the way to the corner of Chipotle.
In front of the line, Lucele Guzman, age 24, and a former Pitman High School student, had been waiting in line since one in the morning for the reopening of her favorite store. She said that she had heard about the reopening from the radio and her sister who worked at the mall. Lucele was excited and could not wait to go in the new store to buy everything she needed. In the middle of the line, there were two young middle school girls from Ceres who cried the day Forever 21 closed and came with their moms at 6:30 AM to see their favorite store come back to life. The girls were excited to do some shopping and crossed their fingers in the hopes of being one of the first five hundred to receive a gift card.
The moms, on the other hand, were not quite as excited; they humorously said, pointing to their daughters, “They are the spenders and we are their bank today.”
Finally at the end of the line, were three high school girls of ages 14, 15, and 16 from Enochs High School and Keyes Charter, who came at 8 AM to finally see the rebirth of Forever 21. One of the girls stated that the store closed on January 29, the day of her birthday, and she had to go all the way to San Francisco to do her birthday shopping. She was relieved that a store had finally opened up closer to home.
Kaliyah Jewell Tyler, a former Jr. at Pitman High School student, came at the last minute, running with her cousin, and a Turlock Alumni aunt just to see the opening. Waiting for the grand opening was exciting since the radio station Kwin 83.5 was there to pump up the crowd and give out prizes to the anxious customers. When the doors finally opened at ten, there were sighs of relief and cheers because the long seven-month wait was over. The store opened with loud, lively music and enthusiastic employees. The employees were dancing in the entrance, giving high fives and dancing with their excited customers. The overall experience felt like a concert. Like a mother in line said with her two teen girls, “If you had seen this chaotic scene from a distance, you would have thought Justin Bieber had come to town.”
Forever Offerings
From plain to sophisticated, dressy to comfortable, and sporty to girly, Forever 21 has something for everyone. The 154,000 square foot Forever 21 has everything that an apparel store could possibly have. The first floor of the store is the men’s section, housing accessories, makeup, lingerie, shoes, and clothes. The next level contains kids clothes, the new plus-sizes section, and of course, more apparel. Last but not least, the third level has mostly active wear.
Forever 21 has styles for just about everyone’s personal taste. It has animal print, hippie style, floral, lace, and formal clothing. In addition, these various styles are offered at low or reasonable prices. The popular store for all ages provides inexpensive fashion in a wide selection, which usually ranges under forty dollars. So take advantage of these low prices in trade for trend.
