Printed with special permission from the Washington Times.
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Retail Relay
Pro Shopper Delivers For Busy Clients
Section: Business Washington at Work
Friday, December 22. 2000
Page: B8
By: Chris Baker
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Before you tell Pamela Burns how much you envy her, walk a mall in her shoes. Ms. Burns is a professional shopper. People from around the D.C. area - as well as some from other countries - pay her to buy clothes for them. Her clients are primarily people who do not like to shop, or people who need help finding clothes that look good on them.
She says her job makes her the envy of friends, but they don't realize how tiring it can be. "It's fun, but you spend a lot of time on your feet," she says.
Ms. Burns was on her feet Wednesday morning, buzzing around the Tysons Corner Center mall in McLean. She began her morning at the Bloomingdale's department store. At the jewelry counter, she picked up three pairs of rhinestone earrings for about $16 apiece.
The earrings are for friends of a client. "I bought the same pair for [the client], and her friends liked them so much" that they asked for pairs of their own.
Next, it's off to the men's section, where Ms. Burns searches for a casual shirt for a client whom she describes as a "very conservative lawyer." A sales clerk shows her several plaid shirts from designer Ralph Lauren, but Ms. Burns rejects them because they are partially black.
"There's no point in me looking at them. He does not want anything black. He won't wear it," she says. Ms. Burns also visits the store's formal-wear department. Several of her clients plan to attend the Inauguration Day balls Jan. 20, she says. "The minute it became certain [George W. Bush] was going to be president, my phone started ringing off the hook," she says.
Later, Ms. Burns checks out the Bloomingdale's fur department, where a beaver coat is marked down to $5,750 from $11,500. She also examines shoes and some casual clothes for women.
Ms. Burns says most of her clients are upper-class professionals between the ages of 25 and 80. Clients include business people, senior citizens and college students just entering the work force.
In most cases, Ms. Burns puts her clients' merchandise on her company credit card. Her clients reimburse her and pay a 20 percent service fee.
Before taking a new client, she requires a consultation to determine the individual's clothing needs. A 45-minute consultation costs $50.
She keeps a database of her clients' purchases, but she also has a good memory. "I'm a very visual person, and I can pretty much remember what they have," she says.
In addition, businesses hire Ms. Burns to conduct seminars on proper attire for the workplace. "Figuring out what is appropriate for `casual Fridays' is a big concern for a lot of employers," she says.
Ms. Burns is a Potomac native. She studied fashion at the University of Maryland at College Park, and worked in the garment district in New York.
Her company, Pamshops4you, officially opened about two years ago, but Ms. Burns has been doing personal shopping for years.
She used to shop for friends at no charge. They eventually encouraged her to turn her hobby into a career. "It's like any other business. You start out helping friends, and then you see a way to make a career out of it," she says. She hopes to hire assistants eventually.
She says she regularly receives resumes from college students who want to follow in her footsteps.
Like her clients, most of the students find out about Ms. Burns from pamshops4you.com, her personal Web site. After leaving Bloomingdale's, Ms. Burns drops by the Levi's Original Jeans store, where she tries to exchange a pair of jeans for a client who lives in the Far East.
The client, a Korean businessman, lived briefly in Baltimore a few years ago, and became enamored with American fashion.
The client pays Ms. Burns to buy and send him trendy clothes.
At the Levi's store, Ms. Burns wants to exchange a pair of jeans with a 35-inch waist and 32-inch inseam for a bigger pair.
She sends a clerk to the stock room several times to find a size and style that will suit her client, whom she describes as "very particular."
"This is why people hire me. They don't want to have to deal with making exchanges and searching for the right size. I do it for them," she says.
Ms. Burns says the overseas businessman is seeking a pair of "crinkle" jeans, which means they feature a slightly lighter shade of blue than usual denim. She determines the Tysons Corner store doesn't have the size and style she needs, and leaves her name with the store manager, who promises to call her when the next shipment arrives.
Then it's off to the Tysons Corner Center's Banana Republic outlet. Later, she plans to head to the Tysons II shopping mall, also in McLean.
"There's a lot more to do today," Ms. Burns says as she buzzes out of the Levi's store.
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