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Suzy Shier is a Canadian retailer of women’s fashion with over 140 stores across the country.

When I was a teen, I remember shopping there as an in-betweenie size 15, I would be able to find a rare gem at a price I could afford on my minimum wage salary at the time. But, in my adult years I haven’t stepped a foot into one of their stores until the recent news: Suzy Shier was launching a plus size line! :D

HAZZA! It’s about freakin’ time, right!?

There happens to be a Suzy Shier close to my office in downtown Toronto … so, I stopped by at lunch to peruse their offerings. I’ve got to say, the prints and patterns I was seeing were lovely, bright and fresh. Perfect for summer!! Thrilled, I began looking for my sizes – plus sizes.

Only to discover that there were none to be found. :(

Some of the Regular Size options currently available online (www.suzysheir.com)

A shopgirl informed me that only a select few locations carry the larger sizes, and that the downtown core wasn’t one of them. She did, however, let me know that some of the more ‘popular’ styles I see on the floor for regular sizes will be made in the plus sizes!

Feeling less inconvenienced by this news … I returned to my desk to launch their website to see what lovely fashions could be mine and where I needed to get them from.

As you can see from these two images => offerings for regular sizes vs. plus sizes aren’t nearly as “fun” for summer.

PLUS SIZE selection – mostly black and white….le sigh

Nonetheless, I thought I should visit a location and see the plus size options up close and personally, as often you never really get a good feel for an item until you’ve actually tried it on yourself.

Using the handy-dandy store locator I discovered this: of the 140 stores – 3 are located in Toronto (First Canadian Place, Gerrard Square and Duffrin Mall) – and of those only 1 carries the plus size line. Grrrrr… Lucky for me, The Duffrin Mall is in my hood so getting to there isn’t a big deal.

Suzy Shier @ The Duffrin Mall

At first glance to the very back corner of the store seems dedicated to the plus size options – that looks colourful and plentiful. And as you can see … the prices are just right!

Suzy Shier+ section of the Duffrin Mall location

But upon closer inspection, the pieces available on the floor didn’t really grab my attention – most were not my taste and most did not quite fit my body right. And I found that I needed to try on all three sizes (1x, 2x and 3x) as the sizing really changed from one item to the next.

My top two coveted items I had hoped to find in store from their website were the following:

Sadly, the Gingham shirt dress was nowhere to be found in store :(

What I Didn’t Buy

Ok, before we get into all the pieces I tried on — let’s talk about the change-room situation at this location. Yikes!

They are pretty narrow, with one sad hook. Which ultimately forces you to make a decision: do you hang up your beloved purse and the clothes you are wearing OR the clothes you’d like to try on currently on hangers?

Oh! And to top it all off: no mirrors inside the wee room. Which means you must step out of the room, and strategically position its door while making sure it doesn’t lock you out of the room that now houses all your stuff, all in an effort to see your reflection on a mirror that hangs on THE BACK of your change-rooms door. #brutal

Tsk. Tsk. Poor planning Suzy Shier @ Duffrin Mall.

And what’s a girl to do in those moments when the outfit-tried-on is a complete disaster and you’d prefer not sharing the embarrassing moment with others by stepping outside of that room for a glance at that mirror? I can only imaging the number of unpurchased items simply because ladies wanted to avoid stepping out of the change-rooms in questionably fitting try-ons.

I had the added obstacle of having to compete with a rack of returns that cluttered up the narrow hallway between change-rooms in order to catch a glimpse of my reflection as I emerged from my change-room. Le sigh…

Here’s what caught my attention enough to want to try on:

Faux wrap aztek printed dress – I’m wearing a 3x …way too big on me and am clearly not impressed by the baggy boob situation. LOL!

This navy scuba dress with beige lace wasn’t bad. But it wasn’t making me excited about it either… Meh! I dunno…

Scuba sheath dress with lace – I’m wearing a 3x – $30

l did find the dress I was spotted online. It was on the sale rack (woot! woot!) but sadly it had a few pulled threads and only sizes 1x and 2x remained.

I would have liked to try on the 3x to see if it fit me a bit better – I’m not a fan of the boob-mashing-situation going on below.

Diamond print jacquard skater dress — I’m wearing 2x – $30

Overall, I was a bit disappointed – especially because the shopgirl assured me that the plus sizes would be the same prints and styles shown in their regular line.

Which was not the case at all. And then to find out that the only Toronto location had cramped quarters for trying on items AND that they didn’t have all the sizes and styles as their website displayed for the plus line. Le sigh… :(

What I Bought!

On my way out, I did find a size 2x in the faux wrap aztec printed dress. But the thought of having to go back into those cramped change-rooms AGAIN…. ew. No Thanks.

I guesstimated that I’d be safer to purchase this item a size smaller, and if worst case scenario… I’d simply return it if it didn’t fit right once I got it home. Right? Right!

BIG FYI #1: Suzy Shier has a strict Exchange Only policy (14-days). Absolutely zero Returns for cash back. **insert eye-roll emoji here**

BIG FYI #2: If you are hoping to do an exchange, know that you can ONLY exchange plus sized items to Suzy Shier stores with plus size options.

Yup. So, before you decide to spend your cold hard cash on a piece from this retailer, make sure you REALLY want it and that you like the way it fits, cuz there is no turning back once you fork out the $$. And with the sizing being so different from one piece to the next, ordering online without trying anything on IS NOT A WISE CHOICE here, don’t ya think?

Lucky for me, the 2x I purchased without trying on, fit like a dream! Even the exposed long zip down the back even lays flat from the top of neck to tail of hip! Very exciting news for my curvy self.

The neckline was still a bit big…or rather more revealing than I’d like. Thank goodness for safety pins for a quick fix ;)

Have any of you shopped Suzy Shier+ yet? Have you had much luck with fit, selection and style available to you? What are your thoughts on the pieces I tried on? Did I make the right choice?

Let me know in the comments section below.

I wore this number out this past weekend for BuzzontheBridge, part of 100in1Day event in Toronto –>

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