I have had the privilege to embark on a journey that most women find arduous and exhausting but worthwhile at the same time. The urban version of the search for the lost ark. Los Angeles sample sales. I have had the good fortune to go to sample sales that have been chock-full of the best merchandise and come home with oodles and oodles of goodies that I am actually going to use and wear. I will now detail these samples sales for posterity's sake and also to remind myself next year and the year after, that indeed, these samples sales are worth a Saturday morning or afternoon pushing my way through the estrogen clouds in order to find that perfect sweater or delectable pair of shoes.
1. Stila Warehouse Sale. This was actually my first warehouse sale journey, and one that I made with my current roommate not too long after we moved in together. This was the only one that I actually waited in line for. We waited in line for about three hours and were very annoyed/aggravated/irritated by the time we entered the warehouse. But since we didn't know each other too well, we couldn't exactly yell and pout and bitch about it all. We stood in stony silence, staring at the pavement and the neverending line, thinking to ourselves, "HALF THESE GIRLS DON'T EVEN NEED TO BE HERE, THEY OBVIOUSLY DONT KNOW HOW TO PUT ON MAKEUP." Eventually, our self-righteous selves on the verge of ordering pizza while waiting in line at a warehouse sale made it in and we were like children at a candy store, college guys at a strip club. We were ogling EVERYTHING in sight, and taking two, three of the same things for our visceral pleasure. I made it out with pots and pots of eyeshadow, blush, makeup sets for my girlfriends, and TONS of lip glosses. I am a lip gloss FREAK so I am happy to say I have enough lip gloss to last me well into my fifties. I jest, I have enough to last me until next year. Great sale, shitty line. Let's move on.
2. Charles David Warehouse Sale - To be honest, I didn't have very high hopes for this sale. I know every woman LOVES Charles David shoes, in fact, I know several young women who have more than a dozen pairs, actually just one in particular. I'll keep her identity a secret in case she is embarrassed, which she shouldn't be. Every time I've been dragged into the Charles David store at the mall I have NEVER seen anything I liked. I thought the shoes were just too...dowdy. And ugly. And plain. And just BLECK. So when I went to this warehouse sale, I wasn't expecting much. But BOY was I surprised! This was a warehouse sale that was held outdoors, and it reminded me of a safari or a zoo or something that houses wild animals. There were tables and tables of shoes in boxes lined and all you did was go around and pluck the boxes housing the shoes you want. Now, I can attest to the fact that my eyes are always going to be bigger than my stomach (and wallet) so I was grabbing this box and that and before I knew it, I had a tower of boxes that were going to fall over at any given moment. So I sat down and tried them all on. I came out victorious, with four pairs of shoes, at $30. What a steal. I wear all of them to work and I can honestly say that they are the most COMFORTABLE shoes I own. This whole "Charles David shoes are sooo comfy" thing ain't a lie. They are truly comfortable. I can walk down Wilshire with my coworkers without fear that my feet are going to give out from the pain. I can waltz down to Baja Fresh without the fear that the journey back is going to take twice as long because of the pain that I am going to be in. Whee! I will definitely be returning to this sale next year.
3. BCBG Max Azria Warehouse Sale - I didn't have very high hopes for this sale either, partly due to the fact that whenever I went into BCBG, I never saw anything that I liked. I always thought their clothing was a little...not my style...Something was a little off about it. HOWEVER! This warehouse sale is a completely different story, it's not just BCBG but also their Max&Co lines and a whole slew of other lines that BCBG apparently owns. My roommates and I went the first night during the Friends & Family night because of our dear dear friend that works there and there was no waiting in line, just a satisfactory waltzing in, grabbing several large garbage bags, and not knowing where to start. The rows of clothing seemed to go on FOREVER. Eventually, everything started looking the same. I liked how a lot of the clothing was still in the original plastic bags that it arrives in the store in before they unwrap it and put it on the racks. The only problem I saw with this sale was that very delicate knits tended to get snagged before I had a chance to pick out a clean and new one. But I emerged victorious, around ten items (all ranging from work-friendly to going out-friendly) for a mere $185! I looked at the original prices on some of my items that I picked out and some were around $185 for one!
Now I can never buy Stila, Charles David, and BCBG Max Azria at retail EVER AGAIN. Poor me.
