DRESSING rooms seem to be an afterthought in the planning and design of many department stores and boutiques. This was Philippine Daily Inquirer Lifestyle?s finding in a series of reports in early 2007.

While many clothing stores and apparel brands invest millions in their image and advertising, we have found only a few truly spend in the most basic service they could give to their customers: Clean, decent and functioning fitting rooms.

Metro Market! Market! in Taguig was one of the few department stores that made the grade in Lifestyle?s report, mainly for its fitting rooms? sheer sizes which, our reporter said, could fit a family inside with ?plenty of room to spare.? The cubicles were ?equipped with amenities,? meaning hooks, mirrors and chairs, but with one caveat: The department store ?could improve on cleanliness.?

That report inspired Metro?s owners to refurbish their already vast dressing rooms into ones that would be guaranteed to elicit ?wow reactions,? according to Julie Montaño, the store manager. By then, Metro?s first Metro Manila branch and biggest nationwide was already in operation for a little over two years. (Metro is a Cebu-grown chain.)

?We didn?t realize people appreciated [well-thought out fitting rooms],? Montaño says, ?and that [report] was a wake-up call. My boss, Edward Gaisano (VP for operations) vowed that we would make the rooms ?Wow!??

They already had the luxury of space and the structure was in place. All the rooms needed was pizzazz.

Turned out, management had a grand makeover in mind. The dressing rooms would have themes.

The makeovers were completed last November.

On the ground floor, in the men?s section, one of the two dressing rooms has a decidedly masculine feel with black-and-white accent walls; it has wall sconces and deep-red velvet benches outside the cubicles. The cubicle walls are ?painted? with an image of the New York skyline. There are also plush couches in the waiting area. From the ceiling hang chandeliers and, on the far end of the room, a floor-to-ceiling mirror (also present in some of the other rooms) that cost a whopping six figures!

Warhol theme

Across the men?s floor is the second dressing room sporting a bright Warhol theme, with one wall plastered with Warholian images of Che Guevara, Jackie O and Chairman Mao. The opposite wall is sculpted cream-colored wood with geometric patterns.

Metro?s seven dressing rooms each have five to 12 roomy cubicles, with individual floor-length mirrors, a stool or chair and hooks for the clothes. An attendant or two is assigned to each room. He or she is also responsible for the room?s cleanliness, says Montaño.

Owing to the sheer volume of women shoppers, Metro devoted three huge dressing rooms on the second level. The one by the jeans section is the biggest with a dozen cubicles wallpapered in white with a black floral design. At the center are several couches complete with throw pillows, which play host to teenage shoppers, and varisized mirror balls hanging directly above them. The doors each sport a decal of a female silhouette.

Another room is distinctly more mature and elegant in its pristine whiteness, lined with wall sconces. A white leather sofa sits on one side, sandwiched by two side tables and lamps, and a coffee table. Montaño says the furniture is all Cebu-made. The room is reminiscent of a swanky hotel lobby.

Even the kids? dressing room was spruced up. It has a theme-park feel to it, with handpainted doors and cubicle interiors, and a mural on the main wall. Shopping mommies typically leave their kids here to play while they continue shopping, says Montaño.

First-time Metro shoppers are often confused. ?They think [our dressing room] is a boutique,? she says with a laugh. ?But moms of teenage boys are particularly pleased. You know, with all their fears [about unsavory things] that happen to young boys in restrooms and fitting rooms, here they feel safe. The moms can sit on the couches while their sons try on the clothes.?

Who knew nice dressing rooms were not just for shoppers? ease and convenience?