M.A.C Store Opens Today!!! - Initial Review

Today was the first official day of operation for the highly anticipated M.A.C store that opened at Sovereign Centre in Kingston. I got the chance to pop in for a little bit so I could do a quick review for our lovely Jamaican followers. First, let me establish that I am basically comparing our (Jamaica) M.A.C store to others that I have been to. I have been to M.A.C stores in Hong Kong, Singapore, Istanbul, N.Y. and Miami. Also, I want to apologize for the limited photos because I had to use my phone outside of the store because they don't allow persons to take photos.

Store
First let me start off my discussing the store itself. The store is pretty big as I was expecting a much smaller store since the Jamaican market is not that large. So the size of the store is quite impressive. You can walk around and shop with enough space to breathe. The layout is very typical of a M.A.C store and the organization of the products is pretty much the same. There is also a little private room sectioned off, which I am not sure what that is all about. They also have most of the permanent collection/products that you would find in any M.A.C store. Also in stock is the current "Glamour Daze" collection. All in all, I am happy with the store itself.

Staff
Le sigh. Where do I begin? First let me express that I am giving them some leeway since its officially the first day of service and they were probably overwhelmed. The staff was dressed in all black of course, which is typical for M.A.C, however, their make-up was very underwhelming. Normally when I enter a M.A.C store I am fascinated by the makeup that the staff is wearing. Tonight, all I wanted to do was to take some makeup remover wipes and wipe off their faces. One or two girls got it right but overall I was very disappointed. As for customer service, it was horrible! Jamaica is known for bad customer service but I was hoping this store would be an exception. I had to ask four,  yes four persons before anyone would really pay me any attention, even when they were not doing anything. One girl was actually really rude. However, finally a MAC MUA (makeup artist) by the name of Nyoka came to my rescue. Also, I realized that they don't have much knowledge about the products which is pretty scary if you asked me. They are also VERY slow! However, on a brighter note, I did see some MAC MUAs testing products on some customers so if you need to find your shade in a foundation, they might be helpful.

Pricing
The Jamaican M.A.C store is also the first M.A.C store that I have been to where the price isn't displayed by the products. If you need to get the price of an item you have to go and find a MUA to get the product for you, then you have to take the product to the cashier, wait in line, then have them ring it up...talk about annoying!!! So, of course I was not able to get the price for a lot of products. The MUA also did not know the price of the items, so it made no sense asking them. I got the price of the M.A.C Matchmaster foundation to use as a comparison. In Jamaica is retails at approximately $4200 JM ($46 USD) after tax. On the M.A.C website this foundation retails for $33 USD. With that, you can do the math. This is not surprising though because things are usually more expensive in Jamaica.

Happy Shopping!!!
Shannon