bra te da--An Abilene, Texas store review.

I've been traveling across the southern part of the United States and was able to stop into a bra boutique in Abilene, Texas during my visit to the town. The store is called bra te da.

I hadn't realized just how large the city was but, after some research, I learned that it has more than 120,000 people in it.  Surprisingly, the county in which it sits has just under 130,000 so Abilene is the lion's share of the population; however, this store serves the whole county and also has customers that have moved away from the area.  The reason that this bit of information is important is that I've found that boutique stores don't do well if they serve a population smaller than 50,000.

My visit to the store was totally legit.  Having gained a bit of weight in the past few months, I needed new garments.  The woman at the register asked if she could help me and I was happy to take her up on her offer.  She lead me back to the fitting room and asked me to doff my shirt.  She proceeded to measure me with my bra on (not unexpected since most stores won't measure you braless, a more accurate method), measuring me over the band of my current bra and over the fullest part of my breasts and sized me at a 38E/F-ish.  She pulled some Elomi styles and I tried them on--too small in the cup.  Elomi does tend to differ from what most calculators will put me at so I knew this was going to be a trial and error endeavor.  We bumped up to a 38FF.

After getting the bras picked out and paid for, I chatted with the owner for a bit.  We traded chuckles about customers who've only ever been sized at Victoria's Secret and are amazed when they get fitted into something that really, truly fits because they're really a 30C, trying to fit into a 32 band with little success.  We also talked about the customers who refuse (REFUSE!) to believe that they wear a cup size larger than a DDD and they end up walking out of the store.  Very sad but I, personally, take heart in the fact that just introducing the idea into their head will start them on a path towards a bra that fits.

All in all, it was a great shopping experience and I would recommend bra te da to those who live in or near Abilene or anyone traveling through the town.