Regardless of how sweetly we ask, Anthropologie's salespeople stay religiously mum about why their store smells so damned good. The delicate scent swirls around shoppers immediately after they pass through the heavy wooden doors, and it wafts out of the tissue-paper wrapping of each purchase. It's a soft combination of lavender, patchouli and something else we can't determine, but the bouquet is only one of the reasons we love the store so much. Sure, the offerings are pathetically overpriced at times, and a few women on the staff are a bit smug -- they know who they are -- but the sale section is often solid, the beds practically invite us under the covers, and three-figure skirts can be justified for really special occasions. Particularly because they smell so good.
