SHOP ‘TIL THEY DROP : Buying experts at O.C. stores help customers find what they need--while staying within a budget--at no charge.

Lenora Giovino makes her living by shopping.

She’s a personal shopper at Nordstrom in MainPlace/Santa Ana. It’s a job others might envy until they actually see Giovino in action and discover that shopping can be hard work.

Personal shoppers not only shop, they’re their customers’ consumer advocate, image consultant, color analyst, financial adviser, professional hand-holder and therapist all rolled into one.

Before Nordstrom opens its doors at 10 a.m., Giovino has already been at work for at least an hour and a half. Every morning she walks through each department of the store making mental notes of everything that’s new or on sale. In her office, a tiny back corner of Nordstrom with a cluttered desk and racks of clothes, she stores clothes and other items for her upcoming appointments.

Almost as soon as the store opens, Giovino is facing her first customer, a petite woman named Jean who has never worked with a personal shopper before. Jean has called on Giovino to help her find an evening dress as a gift for her daughter-in-law.

“I’m the worst shopper in the world,” she tells Giovino. “I’m going to drive you crazy.”

Midway through her appointment, it looks as if Jean’s prediction might prove correct.

Giovino has the hard task of choosing a dress for someone she’s never seen.

“I’m in the dark,” she says. Knowing only that the daughter-in-law is a size 2 petite and likes her evening wear short and black, Giovino has pulled five dresses and hung them up inside a dressing room. Trouble arises when Jean likes them all.

“This is really cute,” she says about each dress. “How would you even pick?”

When it becomes obvious that Jean can’t choose, Giovino steps in and helps her eliminate--ruling out one dress that looks too big, one that can’t be worn with a bra, one that’s too plain. Jean decides to send the two remaining dresses to her daughter-in-law; one can be returned later. Then it’s downstairs to find matching earrings, shoes and nylons.

“It’s much easier to have someone else pull all this stuff,” Jean says.

Nearly two hours later, Giovino is finally ringing up the sale--$440 for everything, well within Jean’s budget, even with two dresses instead of one.

People have all kinds of reasons for seeking out the services of a personal shopper.

“Shopping frightens some people. It overwhelms them,” says Dana Rosenberg, spokeswoman for Neiman Marcus in Fashion Island Newport Beach.

Men, some of whom often loathe shopping, have found that personal shoppers can ease the pain of venturing into stores. The Bullock’s Men’s Store in South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa, has two personal shoppers who do everything from picking out ties to helping with entire wardrobes.

“Men love personal shoppers. It’s so convenient and easy for them,” says Karen Birch, counselor of special services for Bullock’s. “They’re in and out of the store so fast.”

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Over the phone, the personal shoppers draw up a brief profile on the customer’s sizes, lifestyle and budget, so when a man comes into the store he simply enters a dressing room and tries on the clothes.

A personal shopper knows what’s in stock better than the customer, she says. They also know what silhouettes look best on different body types and how to pull together complete outfits.

“They can collect everything from shoes to bag,” Rosenberg says. “They have a keen eye.”

To Giovino, the main reason people seek her services is convenience.

“They don’t have time to shop,” she says.

Still, many people avoid using a personal shopper because they fear the service will cost them more money, Giovino says. “So many people are afraid of us.”

Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus do not charge customers for using a personal shopper, whether they buy a single item or an entire wardrobe.

“It’s kind of a secret,” says Maureen Haacker, a Santa Ana resident who visits Giovino regularly. “I’m not the type of person who can visualize things real well and put them together. Lenora pulls clothes that make me feel good about myself. She gets to know your personality and what kind of clothes you like.”

Giovino is careful to stay within a shopper’s budget. Jean, for instance, said she didn’t want to spend more than $300 for a dress. Four of the five Giovino pulled fell well below that limit; one was on sale for $65; one dress exceeded the limit by $75.

Although she works on commission, Giovino says she doesn’t talk customers into buying something they don’t want and often she saves them money by talking them out of fashion blunders.

“I’m real honest. If I don’t like something, I’ll tell them,” she says.

While wandering through racks of sportswear with Giovino, for instance, Haacker spots a warm-up jacket. Giovino rejects it.

“I think it will make you look short,” she says.

A few customers seek Giovino once a week for her fashion advice. Others make only a one-time visit. One group of five mothers have turned lunch and shopping with Giovino into a regular weekly outing.

“It’s their day to be pampered,” Giovino says.

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Barbara Stilson of Laguna Hills has a standing appointment on Wednesday afternoons. Each week she brings a small pile of clothes from the week before that, for whatever reason, didn’t work out, then leaves with an even bigger pile of new merchandise.

“Do you like these earrings?” asks Stilson, upon arriving for her afternoon appointment. “You picked them out.” While the two trade jokes and talk about their families, Stilson tries on navy Liz Claiborne shorts, a white top with lace trim and a sweater that Giovino thinks will complement her wardrobe. She will not touch the floral print dress, vests and blouse that Giovino set aside for her because she doesn’t like the rust tones.

“I am a person who hates to shop, but I love nice things,” Stilson says. Stilson has also asked Giovino to find three gifts for $10 for her friends. Giovino shows her what she’s found--jars of gourmet salsa, body lotions and a mug and plate set that Stilson loves.

“I would have never found those,” she says.

Watching the two poring over the merchandise in the dressing room is like seeing two old friends shopping together.

“Maureen is more serious, but Barbara is very bubbly. You have to change your personality to match the customer,” Giovino says.

Knowing the customer is key to her job, she says. Personal shoppers keep files on their regular clients so they always know their sizes, their best colors, their taste and their budget “so we’re not pulling things that make them uncomfortable,” Giovino says. Photographs of the client and their past purchases also help Giovino when picking out merchandise to show them.

Giovino first began cultivating her loyal clientele by working at Nordstrom as a sales representative in the petites department. She was so successful that five years ago she was tapped to be a personal shopper. She is now the manager of the Personal Touch department, where three other personal shoppers work.

She takes great pains to keep her customers satisfied. She has had items shipped from Nordstroms out of state. On rare occasions, when she can’t find the merchandise through Nordstrom, she’ll contact the vendor and order the item from competing stores--even though it means no commission for her. She once tracked down a skirt for Stilson at a Nordstrom in Oregon.

“She even helps me pick out underwear,” Stilson says.