Note: picture and text heavy post!
Having family members in the garment (note: not fashion!) industry have made me privy to various sample sales over the years. My first one was about a decade ago, and with each outing, I've gained a bit more knowledge on how to maximize the opportunity. Hopefully this post will help anyone who's new to the experience! The pictures to follow are based on this past weekend's BCBG Max Azria sale, but the experiences are pretty representative of typical/similar sales.
1. The announcement
I usually get an email from my cousin which I then pass onto my gal pals, but you can also find sample sale information
online as well. This probably goes without saying, but eat a hearty breakfast. I thought that I'd be out the door in an hour or two. We left almost 4 hours later.
The announcement says the sale starts at 9am. Jerry dropped me off at 8:57 and drove off to find parking. This is what the line looked like.
I actually managed to get in during the first wave. After the building hits capacity they have to hold the line until folks from the first wave leave. (When we left at 12:40, they weren't letting people in, even though the line was only about 10 deep.) Honestly, unless you're looking for something VERY specific (for example, 4 matching BM dresses in appropriate sizes) then you probably don't need to camp out. I went to a James Perse sale a few hours after opening and there was still plenty of merchandise left.
What some of these warehouses look like inside when they're not hosting sample sales.
2. No try-ons/knowing your size
Ladies, this is very common. You're a 2 in one brand, a 6 in another. You're a 7 shoe size here, but an 8 in another. It helps to know what your general sizing is for that brand if the sale doesn't let you try on the clothing. I went to a Laundry by Shelli Segal sale that allowed try-ons but the sale was outdoors in the parking lot, no rooms or partitions! I wasn't appropriately dressed so I just guesstimated. At the Barneys sale there was a partitioned communal dressing area, similar to Filene's Basement. Over time, I've learned that the best outfit for going to sales are tights, a thin tank top, flats, and a cross-body purse. At the BCBG sale they had a lot of security guards that were pretty anal about try-ons, but the ladies decided to beg for forgiveness rather than ask for permission, hehe. Some girls have no shame and they just unabashedly just try on stuff. I sneakily tried on one skirt for size, and then I matched it to other skirts.
3. The merchandise
My caveat to anyone who goes to these sales is that the merchandise is rather hit or miss. I have gone to sales where I walked away with absolutely nothing because of 1. prices still too high, 2. items too damaged. On the opposite end of the spectrum, I've scored some fantastic deals, including a $700 sweater for $20. Jerry once scored a $1500 suit for $300 at a Barney's Warehouse sale. Prices will vary from sale to sale. Generally, you should pay for what you think the garment is worth to you. Below was the price list. It was kind of confusing because they had brands within brands. Also, I did not see any shoes, but there were no prices listed for purses.
Sales are a great time for me to stock up on good quality plain short and long sleeved tees that are good for layering or wearing over a sports top. They are usually priced $1-$5 which is perfect, because paying anything more than $10 for a plain tee, made of the softest jersey or not, is too pricey in my book. The tees last me until the next sale. These were all $5 each, except for the purple one on the left, which was $10.
Hits:
This sale was pretty large. There was a lot of merchandise but not a lot of aisle room. The purse section was CRAZY. I liked that the merchandise ran the gamut from size 0 to as high as 12. In addition some parts of the warehouse was reallllly dark, so later on when I was sorting my items I was like...this was so not the color that I thought it was! What I liked about this BCBG sale was that they gave everyone plastic bags to hold their stuff. Some sales won't give you anything so you'll have to haul it yourself or be lucky enough to have a really patient significant other to haul it for you.
Misses:
Going clock-wise, here are some of the damaged goods. If you REALLY like an item, you can assess what kind of stain it is and risk it. You'll pretty much never get grease stains out (sewing machines are oiled, hence the occasional grease stains), but you can probably risk it with dirt, make up stains or chalk marks. (Many samples have chalk marks all over them.) The above coat was cute, but I wasn't sure if I could clean such a creamy colored coat. I looked ALL OVER for some cozy sweaters...but unfortunately the majority of them were ripped :(. I was also hoping to score some dresses...but again, many of the zippers in my dress size were broken! Boo. So the colored tape you see above basically raises a red flag that something is wrong with the garment, whether it be a tear, a broken zipper, or a stain. Being that this sale was a hodgepodge of samples, irregulars, and unsold or returned merchandise, not all damaged clothing will have tape. So just keep a careful eye! Finally, this is just random, but I had no idea that Max Azria owned the Miley Cyrus brand. I have seen To The Max branding, but another new one to me was Tex by Max Azria. They also had a very minuscule men's selection. Jerry found a men's dress shirt for $10.
4. Assessment
At sample sales, you don't want to spend too much time examining your selections in the aisles. I like to just grab stuff off the hangers, stuff my bag, and move on. For this sale, it took me 2.5 hours to haul about 3 bags of stuff. Jerry staked out a space for me to sort. I probably pulled over 100 garments. Some items I pulled the same size 3 times without realizing it, and other items I pulled different sizes just in case. Below is the madness that was the sorting area.
I edited the 100+ items down to 18 which I eventually brought home with me. Totaled $155, not too shabby, considering what the original prices of some of these items were!
$178 for that skirt retail, can you say rip-off??
These skirts were a steal at $10 a pop. They fit perfectly, the length is work appropriate, and were in solid condition- the zippers worked, no tears or rips. As you can see, one of them came from Dillards, which isn't a very popular chain in CA- there's only a few storefronts. The pants below were $15 and $10. They need like half a foot chopped off...errr hemmed. Boo for being short.
I had no idea why this shirt was priced in euros.
I guess Macys had a hard time selling this shirt...how many times did they need to put it on clearance??
Whew, what a post! Sample sale shopping does seem like it takes a lot of effort, but it's worth it if you are like me, and you don't have time to go shopping all the time. Sometimes, it's nice to have everything in one place rather than walking from store to store. If you're not particularly picky and you like finding treasures among trash, try it out. Happy (sample sale) shopping!
