Registry and Gift Forum

Where are/were your favorite places to register?

My fiance and I are going to start scanning our wedding registry this week and so I was just curious where everyone's favorite place to register is? I'm really excited about Williams-Sonoma and Target. :)

Re: Where are/were your favorite places to register?

  • mlg78mlg78 member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Answer Name Dropper
    A lot of people complain about Target but it was actually my most pleasant registering experience! The employee who helped us was knowledgeable and their guns were the easiest to use.  Bed, Bath & Beyond just overwhelmed me. I've since been in twice to edit our registry and it still does. Making changes on their website also sucks.  Kohls was okay but other than bedding and a couple serving pieces and picture frames, that's all I got there. 
  • We are very happy with WS so far! It has a reputation as expensive but its easy to find things at all sorts of price points. We have a smaller BBB registry since the WS physical store isn't convenient for all our guests. No complaints there, but we did the whole thing online to avoid pushy salespeople.
  • Target is our favorite. 
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  • In Response to Re: Where are/were your favorite places to register?:
    [QUOTE]A lot of people complain about Target but it was actually my most pleasant registering experience! The employee who helped us was knowledgeable and their guns were the easiest to use.  Bed, Bath & Beyond just overwhelmed me. I've since been in twice to edit our registry and it still does. Making changes on their website also sucks.  Kohls was okay but other than bedding and a couple serving pieces and picture frames, that's all I got there. 
    Posted by mlg78[/QUOTE]

    I accidentally read this as "they were knowledgeable about guns" and I'm like, well, that's an...interesting thing to register for. Reaching for more coffee now. 

    I enjoyed registering at Crate and Barrel the most. However, my guests' favorite place to shop was Bed, Bath, and Beyond.
  • We did target and bb&b. No issues with either of them.
  • thecatmthecatm member
    5 Love Its First Answer Name Dropper First Comment

    We registered at Macys and BB&B...so far really love the macys registry, website is easy to navigate, they have a rewards program and there's always great sales on our items. We've had way more action on our macys as opposed to BB&B...not a big fan of the BB&B website.

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  • OtterJOtterJ member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Comment
    We registered at three places:
    Target - lots of variety in store.  Guests used the registry some, but we mainly received a lot of gift cards from target, which is great!  Plus, it has good prices for the guests.

    Bed Bath and Beyond - super easy CASH returns!!!  Most of our guests purchased off of this registry.  It was almost completely gone.  Plus, a few people bought things from this store that were not on the registry.  When these items were checked out, the store added them to my registry (wanted 0, received 1), so it will make returns easier, and it shows other guests what off-registry items we've already been given - which was fantastic!  The prices were also better than I expected, and your guests could use those handy 20% off coupons that they always send out.

    Myregistry.com - this registry is wonderful, in theory.  You can register for any item in any store, or on any website.  It was easy for us to use, and was very simple for guests to use.  However, not a single thing was purchased off of this registry (we had a very small number of items to begin with...mainly just odds and ends that weren't found at the other two stores, like craftsman tools).  I think people still like the idea of going into a physical store.  We even had some people that purchased and shipped us gifts from online, but they used the websites from Target or BB&B.  I thought maybe the younger guests would use it, but I was wrong. 

    In short, my favorite was Bed Bath and Beyond!
  • My favorite was Macy's.  I also registered at BB&B, and while they were helpful, I worked the most with the registry director at Macy's.  I went in several times and ordered different things to be mailed, was able to replace a saucer I broke, and they even took back a broken picture frame someone had mailed me in the original packing (no extra padding, just sealed up the box and wrote fragile on it) with no problems whatsoever.  We went and bought a dining room table, chairs, and china cabinet from them last month and the registry director even came with us over to the furniture department so that we could get the 10% registry completion discount on the pieces (saved us around $270!).  And we've been married 14 months.

    I didn't really shop much at Macy's before this but now I'm a fairly regular customer.  
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  • We disliked our experience so much at BBB, that we actually moved everything over to Macy's and cleared out our BBB registry.  We then registered at Crate and Barrel.  Love both Macy's and Crate and Barrel.  Best experiences so far.
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  • Personally, we found Bed, Bath, and Beyond to be very overwhelming. Most of our registry is there, but it took us a number of days to complete the registry because we did it one section at a time. 

    However, they had a wide selection and a variety of prices. Plus, we have family traveling from all over, so it is easily accessible. We also have a registry at Target. That was a less overwhelming experience, but there was less to choose from. 
  • BBB definitely takes some energy... I was there so long looking at so many items, the scanner gun ran out of batteries before I had made it all the way around the store.  I left and finished up online.  The web page is easy enough to use, but it logs you out after 4 seconds, so you do have to keep logging back in.

    I'm also registered at Sur La Table.  I was actually freaking out yesterday because they just discontinued my tableware pattern with like 25% purchased!  But they have actually been GREAT, the employees I have spoken to have all been super nice, and they have called all across the country to gather up a few plates here and a few plates there and they're shipping it all to me. 

  • Has anyone registered at William Sonoma? I just saw this article (http://www.simplethriftyliving.com/best-credit-card-for-your-bridal-registry/) that basically says that if you have their credit card, you get points for every dollar your guests spend on gifts there, and that seems like a pretty sweet deal. Just wondering if anyone else has either tried this or knows if it is a good idea. Thanks!
  • hoffsehoffse member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Answer Name Dropper
    Yes WS is great and does have that deal.  They give you 3% back on gifts people buy you.  Macy's has the same program, but they give you 5% back on things people buy you and 10% back on things you buy yourself.  So it's a better return.  

    My Macy's rewards gift card came in the mail last week and had $300 on it from that program.  I highly recommend.
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  • That's awesome! I think we'll go with Macy's :)
  • We registered at Target, and had so much fun! They also gave us a coupon/gift card good for $20 towards a future purchase, which was an unexpected bonus!
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  • I've registered at Macys and Crate and Barrel. Both are so easy to use, I just wish there were a few more monorgram towel options. haha! That's my only complaint. :)
  • BBB, Target, and Amazon have been pretty good to deal with.  I tried Kohl's, but it was a pain and I didn't find much.  Also registered at giftregistry360.com, which theoretically should be great.  You can "link & sync" registries from their partner retailers so everything's in one place, plus add from anywhere.  But Target (and Kohl's, before I gave up on them) wouldn't link & sync, so I had to have GR360's customer service get involved and do it manually.  They were rude and wouldn't acknowledge that it was a problem with their system.  Also, some days the items on the partner registries show up...some days they don't.  If I were starting over, I'd skip GR360 and use Amazon for the convenience of being able to add anything from anywhere.  I'd also still do BBB & Target.  I've done almost all the registering online--the exception being a griddle at Target, which I saw in the store and scanned with my phone to add.  Pretty easy!
  • We registered at BBB, WS and Macys. I've found that BBB typically has the best prices, but WS's prices are either the same or lower sometimes. Macy's has the highest prices and the lowest inventory I feel. There are loads of fun appliances and tools that you can get at WS. I received their goldtouch cookie sheets which are AMAZING!

    I'm so happy I registered at Williams-Sonoma and BBB. If I did it again, I wouldn't register at Macy's. I heard iffy things about Target's registry so I avoided them even though I LOVE Target.
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  • Do any stores give you a free gift when you go in to register? My sister got married a few years ago and got champagne flutes from crate and barrel and a bag from Macy's. I haven't gotten any free gifts since I started registering.
  • oxdelaneyoxdelaney member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    edited June 2013

    Maerand said:
    Do any stores give you a free gift when you go in to register? My sister got married a few years ago and got champagne flutes from crate and barrel and a bag from Macy's. I haven't gotten any free gifts since I started registering.
    I haven't received a free gift at the time of registering but I know there are registering events where you can win prizes (Macy's, BBB have these events) but there are registry incentives and completion benefits. 

    For example, at BBB, if you register for $400 worth of Anolon products, you receive a 1 qt. Anolon saucepan for free. Or if your guests purchase $300 worth of Emerilware for you off of your BBB registry, you receive a square and round cake pan.

    They give you all this info and more when you register at these stores. I found the registry benefits for BBB listed here- http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/RegIncentive.asp
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  • I had the best experience at BB&B. I found their prices to be better and our consultant was a lot of fun. She made the experience a lot less overwhelming, and had a lot of knowledge about pretty much everything in the store. Also, returns/exchanges were extremely easy, and then we were able to go in for a completion event and got 20% off our total purchase, which was great because we didn't have to save up a million coupons to finish our registry.

    I had a horrible experience with Macy's. The consultants completely ignored me for the first 20 minutes I was in the china section (and there were no other customers in the department), and then when they finally did acknowledge me, they were super pushy and tried to get me to move my stuff from BB&B over to their store, even after I pointed out it was more expensive. I ended up moving almost all of my items from Macy's over to BB&B. The only reason I kept anything on the Macy's one was because I knew a lot of my family had better access to a Macy's store. And returns were a nightmare at the location closest to me. I had to go downtown to the nicer location to get items returned, and that was the only good experience I had a Macy's. Those consultants were great and I wish I had gone there in the first place.

    I think it all goes to show that it really does depend on the actual store you go to as far as what your experience will be. If you don't want to be escorted by a consultant, just be firm and tell them. The first time we were at BB&B we were escorted, but the second time did not want to be and they did not push us into it. 
  • I am registered at BBB, WS, and Macys.  Most of the gifts I have received so far are from BBB because of the coupons they mail out periodically.  I've gotten the least off my WS registry but I like the WS incentives.  I got a free apron through a registry incentive with WS.

    My best advice is after you have registered at any store, look carefully at each item online and look at the ratings.  If that coffee pot you registered for has a 2 star rating and people have been complaining that it breaks easily, register for something else.  Everything on my registry has 4 or 5 stars from users.
  • cofkelcofkel member
    5 Love Its Name Dropper First Comment First Anniversary
    I registered at BBB, Macys and WS. BBB was by far the most popular registry and WS the least popular. That made me sad because the WS was my favorite one. I also was mad at BBB because the second time I was in there the women told us we should just cancel our registry at macys because everyone hates it, um 1. I like it, 2. They have some items BBB does not have (like our China which is an heirloom and we are completing the set). When I told her this she said "ugh China? No one gets China anymore, I wouldn't even bother". Thanks lady.
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