Shopgirl is set in 1985 and follows 19-year-old Zippy as she navigates her job at a prestigious department store. While the premise and setting promised a nostalgic, coming-of-age read, the execution didn’t quite deliver for me.

Zippy’s character reads very young—perhaps too young. The dialogue between her and the other characters often felt immature, almost like eavesdropping on a group of teenagers trying a little too hard to sound edgy. While I appreciated the colorful cast of characters within the department store, they didn’t feel fully developed, and their interactions lacked depth.

Despite being a relatively short book, it took me longer than expected to finish. The pacing dragged, and I found myself disengaged more often than not. I did enjoy the 1980s nostalgia—the fashion, music, and workplace dynamics offered some fun throwbacks—but overall, the story didn’t hold up as a strong coming-of-age narrative. It leaned more YA than I expected and ultimately felt flat.

I really enjoyed this coming of age story! The characters were fun and interesting and the author really brought to life the era that the book is set in (1980s). I would definitely recommend this book to friends!

I adored Jessica Anya Blau's novel MARY JANE and was so excited to get my hands on this one. Unfortunately, it didn't quite live up to my expectatons. The setting and time-period feels well-captured but I had a hard time connecting with the writing and the characters in this one. I'm still looking forward to picking up whatever this author writes in the future!

🛍️ Boy, does Jessica Anya Blau know how to write a coming-of-age as a period piece novel! I adored Mary Jane and really loved this new book set in a 1980’s department store. Thank you to @marinerbooks for the #gifted sneak peek. This is out now!

🛍️ Shopgirls is centered around Zippy— a 19-year-old girl who is working at a department store in 1980’s San Francisco. She’s learning about life on her own after an unconventional upbringing by her single mother.

🛍️ Her naïveté was so endearing and I loved being on her journey to adulthood. She’s so lucky to have some really great side characters helping her along the way including her roommate and all her fellow Shopgirls.

🛍️ Overall, this was a super sweet listen and I really enjoyed it!

I had seen some online buzz for this book and know that people adored Jessica Anya Blau's previous novel, so I was excited to receive an early copy.

I enjoyed this book and liked Zippy as a narrator - I feel for her as a 19 year old trying to figure out herself and her place in the world. I liked the parts of her connecting with her father and getting to know him, and figuring out how that information fits in to her identity.

I love San Francisco and loved reading about some spots I love, especially Blondie's pizza -- I remember as a kid my sister would tell me about Blondie's.

I will definitely check out more by Jessica Anya Blau in the future!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!

This was a fun read. It took me a few chapters to see that it was going to go somewhere I was interested in, but it got there. I enjoyed getting to know Zippy and watching her gain confidence and grow. I loved how quirky she was and could 100% see myself joining in the paper doll escapades. I was frustrated on her behalf at her parental figures. I even got pulled in to the world of I. Magnin and could imagine my teenage/young adult self wandering the store, searching for treasures. This one won me over!

It was fine. I would have liked a little more world building and fewer paper dolls. I liked the side characters and Zippy wasn’t terrible, just naive.

Since I grew up in the 80s, I was excited to read Shopgirls, set in San Francisco during that decade. The department store setting was super interesting to me, and I loved reading about Zippy and her coworkers and their days at I.Magnin. The 80s was such a fun time period and I really think it was reflected accurately. I'm definitely going to check out more books by Jessica Anya Blau because I really enjoyed her writing style and character development.

I really enjoyed reading Jessica Anya Blau's Shopgirls. The narrator and protagonist is a delightfully energetic young woman, whose determination and hard work makes it very easy to root for her. The novel does a great job of capturing a nostalgic moment in time when department stores reign supreme, and an enthusiastic shopgirl can be rewarded by her job.

So much fun - I couldn’t help but fall in love with Zippy and the amazing montage of characters littered throughout this novel.

Zippy is 19 and has come from a rather chaotic upbringing - but she has landed on her feet working at THE department store in 1980s San Francisco. However, it isn’t all roses - she worries about her mother, she doesn’t know who her father is, and she has no idea what it is like to date. Luckily, she has her roommate Raquel and her (mostly) pleasant coworkers to help her navigate near adulthood.

After living in San Francisco, albeit much later than Zippy, this was a fun, nostalgic read. At times my heart broke for Zippy but at others I found myself laughing out loud at her and Raquel’s antics. A great summer read - full of spontaneity, humor and friendship with a lovable protagonist.

4,5

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a digital ARC of this title!

Blau truly writes the most sweet, charming characters. In this story, we meet Zippy, a 19-year-old working in a high end department store in San Francisco in the 1980s as she navigates familial challenges, self-discovery and figuring out her romantic life. I’ll be honest, there isn’t a whole lot going on here plot-wise. Or I guess technically there is quite a bit that happens, but the plot wasn’t the part I found compelling. Rather, I just loved the main character and found her charming and relatable as she discovered herself and truths about the world as a naïve young woman. This book was sweet, but not saccharine, and I really enjoyed the time I spent with this main character, along with the vibrant cast of side characters.

What a great novel about the navigating the crossroads of our lives! Are we a chooser? Do we choose what our livelihoods look like or play out? When do we continue to let others influence us? Zippy needs to figure out how she's going to live as an adult. She needs to choose. Luckily, she has great friends, coworkers which make a supportive found family. I really love the creativity in this novel!

I saw drawn to the timeperiod and anticipated thoroughly enjoying after having read Mary Jane, yet this one was not for me.

Nineteen-year-old Zippy can hardly believe it: she's the newest and youngest salesgirl at I. Magnin, "San Francisco's Finest Department Store." Every week, she rotates her three spruced-up Salvation Army outfits and Vaseline-shined pumps; still, she's thrilled to walk those pumps through the employee entrance five days a week as she saves to buy something new. For a girl who grew up in a one-bedroom apartment above a liquor store with her mother and her mother's madcap boyfriend, Howard; a girl who wanted to go to college but had no help in figuring out how; I. Magnin represents a real chance for a better and more elegant life. Or, at the very least, a more interesting one.

Zippy may not be in school, but she's about to get an education that will stick with her for decades. Her fellow salesgirls (lifetime professionals) run the gamut from mean and indifferent to caring and helpful. The cosmetics ladies on the first floor share both samples and advice ("only date a man with a Rolex"); and her new roommate, Raquel, an ambitious lawyer, tells Zippy she can lose ten pounds easy if she joins Raquel in eating only every other day. Just when Zippy thinks she's getting a handle on how to be an adult woman in 1985, two surprises threaten both her sense of self and her coveted position at I. Magnin.

From the jump, this book felt like it was written for a YA crowd. As an adult who loves YA, the writing was so childish and the main character so annoying, I struggled at points. It did pick up a bit at the end, and I liked the overall story but I couldn’t stand Zippy.

Thanks Mariner & Net Galley for a copy of this book.

After falling head over heels for Mary Jane, I couldn’t wait to dive into Jessica Anya Blau’s latest, Shopgirls. Set in the glitzy, pastel-hued world of a 1980s San Francisco department store, Shopgirls promised everything I love in fiction: a strong sense of place, a slightly off-kilter coming-of-age story, and an ensemble of quirky, flawed characters.

And while it delivered on atmosphere (seriously, the setting is a time capsule of retail glamour), I found myself craving more of the emotional depth and narrative tightness that made Mary Jane such a standout. Where Mary Jane built slowly toward emotional payoff, Shopgirls felt more episodic, like a glittering display window that was fun to browse but harder to linger in. (See what I did there? 😉)

That said, I did have a blast Googling thing while reading, like I. Magnin’s real history, the value of the clothing items mentioned, etc. Blau is brilliant at evoking time and place, and her attention to detail made the experience immersive in that regard.

Zippy is a compelling starting point for a coming-of-age narrative, but her development sometimes feels underbaked. There are glimmers of big themes like sexual identity, body image, and familial estrangement, but rarely sinks its teeth in. I kept waiting for a deeper shift, but it didn't happen.

In the end, Shopgirls didn’t quite live up to my (admittedly high) expectations, but I think it's still worth the read. If you’re a fan of Blau’s voice, or if you love stories set in spaces where department store makeup counters and personal reinvention collide, you’ll find something to enjoy here.

This was cute, if a little bit boring. I really enjoyed Blau's other book, Mary Jane, which made this one an interesting choice and I was excited. I think some of the 80s references and humor was lost on me, but the story was amusing and I loved the female friends and the main character. Overall this was a cute, if somewhat forgettable, read.

Shopgirls delivers a nostalgic and often bittersweet look at growing up and finding your place in the world. Set in the glittering world of I. Magnin—the most exclusive department store in 1980s San Francisco—Jessica Anya Blau follows nineteen-year-old Zippy as she navigates the complicated world of adulthood, ambition, and identity. With only a handful of secondhand outfits and big dreams, Zippy tries to carve out a more glamorous life while learning harsh lessons about beauty standards, class, friendship, and love.

Blau excels at capturing the vibrant energy and superficial glamour of the era, with vivid details that make the store and its colorful cast of characters come alive. The novel balances humor and heartache as Zippy encounters both the generosity and cruelty of her coworkers and mentors. The depiction of found family and the messy, complicated process of self-discovery feels authentic and relatable.

While the story’s pacing sometimes meanders and some plot developments feel a bit predictable, Shopgirls offers a charming, slice-of-life exploration of a young woman trying to find her footing in a world obsessed with appearances. A solid, enjoyable read for fans of character-driven, coming-of-age fiction with a retro vibe.

It's 1985, Zippy is nineteen and living in San Francisco. She's gotten her dream job, as a shopgirl in I. Magnin's dress department and found a room in an apartment with a woman who will quickly become her best friend. Her life is pretty sweet, even if money is tight. Then her stepfather is injured and while her mother never asks her explicitly, she feels she should move back home and take the job arranged for her in the lumber department of a hardware store. Zippy would far rather be starting her own life and being a frivolous young person in a big city, surrounded by fashion, but her feelings of obligation are very real.

Mainly, this is a love story about a girl and a job. I like to read about how people who love their work do their jobs, and this was a fantasy version of that. Zippy, the new girl, is the best salesgirl on the floor, happily helping out the women who have worked there for years. She hurries around, always able to pick the perfect dress for each customer. There's intrigue on the shop floor, but Zippy has won the respect of her boss. Zippy, herself, is insecure and kind, naive and a little silly, which is to say that the author has made sure her teenage protagonist is very much a teenager. Blau's depiction of eighties diet culture is both terrifying and authentic, from the fad diet Zippy and her roommate follow to how a perfectly normally shaped girl is convinced she's enormous. Some of the period notes feel wedged in, with a lot of mentions of brand names and television shows, but Blau has captured the feel of that time beautifully.

This is a well-written and fun novel about a time and place, and a character who embodies what is was to be young and silly back then. Where this novel falls short is in the lack of substance. There's no chance that Zippy's luck will run out, and since each time she faces a challenge, the conflict resolves without effort from her, the lack of believable stakes make this book unsatisfying.

Shop Girls is like if Clueless got trapped in a department store with The Breakfast Club. Chaotic, heartfelt, and full of questionable outfit choices. You'll laugh, cringe, and maybe reconsider every retail job you ever had (which I did).

This was just delightful. I loved Zippy's wide-eyed view of the world and firsthand accounts of her life in and out of the department store. And the Berber coffee guy!