My Bath and Body Works Shopping Experience During the Pandemic

Wondering what it’s like shopping at Bath and Body Works during the pandemic? Here’s my experience at Bath and Body Works during the pandemic and how I’ll likely will stick to shopping online until this is over.

Ok, soooooo…..

Bath and Body Works opened in New York a few short weeks ago but I avoided going to stores because I was still feeling pretty paranoid about going into stores and I was also seeing long lines due to the fact that Semi-Annual Sale had started and I was really not wanting to wait in line to get inside a store. I went to Trader Joe’s last night and the lines are still crazy. I ended up leaving and just going to H-Mart instead because there was no way I was going to wait in 92 degree weather in a mile long line to get inside. I love how Trader Joe’s is handling COVID and the pandemic as they are really, really cautious however, the long lines slay me.

This is one reason I’ve avoided Bath and Body Works and also, I’m still very cautious about where I shop, when I shop, etc…! I keep reminding myself I can’t stay in the house my entire life so, I’ve been slowly trying to get back to some normal routine.

When Fall launched online I knew that now would be a good time to head into store and try my luck.

I hated everything about the experience though.

First off, this Bath and Body is a White Barn too which means the store is split down the middle with candles on one side of the store and bath and body items on the other. Oddly the Bath and Body section is smaller than the candle section. It’s a really small store compared to the White Barn part. That part of the store is like maybe 600 square feet at most. It’s like a small office or card store.

I had to wait about 10 minutes to get inside. They handed me my choice of a small, medium, or big bag at the door and I could fill it up with what I wanted to take it to the cash register. That was cool as I didn’t have to use one of their regular bags that everyone handled.

Ok, so, they should have probably put a gate between the two stores and had two different lines to get into either White Barn or Bath and Body. Why? Because there were too many people in the Bath and Body section and no one in the White Barn one. They were obviously letting a small number of people in at a time which was great but all those people weren’t spread out very well and as I said the Bath and Body store section is quite tiny compared to the White Barn. By splitting the two stores up they probably would have had better results. Everyone was literally on top of each other. Secondly, there was about 5-6 ladies in a corner of the store (this almost took up one entire area) talking and laughing really loudly with their masks down. If I worked at Bath and Body Works I think I’d probably have wanted to ask them to leave and come back after their little reunion but I see why they didn’t do this as we all know how crazy upset people are getting lately in stores and throwing fits and tantrums. So, unfortunately, they were left to shoot spit everywhere. I kept far, far, far away from them and was in the White Barn section of the store while they carried on (it’s literally separated by a wall so I felt safe, I also waited several minutes before stepping to the other side of the store and avoided the area they were talking in. I had my N95 equivalent on too which made me feel a bit safer.

Testers, testing products, opening things, it’s a Wild Wild West situation.

Testers are out and everyone I saw put them to their nose! Not a good idea as I discussed in a prior post. There were testing strips available but not very many people took advantage. I did not smell anything because this squeaked me out plus I did not want to pull my mask down to do so. My mask is one of the five layer N95 equivalents that Masksheets is selling and you really can’t smell anything through it sadly.

Secondly, everyone was opening everything. There was a huge pile of 75% off hand creams that I wanted to indulge in but I ended up not buying a single one as a lady was there opening and smelling every single one and proceeding to put them back in the bin. This was happening with all the new Fall lotions as well.

So, what did I buy? I got some Bath and Body Works Vanilla Mocha Cafe that weren’t on display because I asked the associate if she could possibly give me a lotion and mist from the drawer. I just didn’t trust the ones on display. I don’t think she was very pleased with my request but she did give me them. I made sure to put my receipt in a safe place (I always lose them) because I was def returning it if it was tempered with as many of the ones on the display were squeezed, smelled, etc… Thankfully, it appeared brand new when I opened it. I was going to get more stuff but in the end I went home and shopped online.

Shopping Bath and Body Works during the pandemic wasn’t one of my brightest ideas! I dunno if other stores are handling things better but this particular store dropped the ball in my humble opinion. But I get it. It’s hard preventing people from doing what they normally do. It’s also hard working there and telling people, “Please don’t do that!” because some people can just go off on you.

I think online shopping is always a safe bet with Bath and Body Works due to the aggressive sales reps but during the pandemic it’s even more of a good way to keep yourself healthy and safe.

Who shopped Bath and Body Works during the pandemic?

What was your experience like?

Do share!