My shopaholic friends in HK rave about the Pedder warehouse sale. Pedder is the premier shoe store in HK - it carries the likes of Louboutin, Manolo Blahnik, Jimmy Choo, Brian Atwood, YSL, Fendi, etc. A couple times a year, they hold a warehouse sale in a rented out space in Causeway Bay, where they sell shoes for anywhere from 60-90% off regular prices. That means you can score a pair of Louboutins for $200-300 rather than $1200. That is, if you can fight the hoardes of HK shopping fiends to even get your hands on a shoe. Which may or may not be your size. After which you have to wait in an hour-long line to get the other pair to that shoe. After which you have to wait in a two-hour long line to pay for that pair of shoes. It's a bit like the Barneys' sale in NY, except only shoes (and some bags) and instead of fighting vicious Jewish women to score a cute dress, you have to fight vicious Chinese women to score a pair of stilettos. And I say Chinese women are the scarier of the two.
After hearing from my friends how great the Pedder sale is, how awesome the shoe selection is and how amazing the discounts are, time and time again, I decided to take up my friend on her offer to take me as one of her companions to the friends & family-only pre-sale today. Doors open at 11 am, so she had her helper (HK people call their maids "helpers") wait in line starting at 10 am. We met near our offices at 11 am and headed over - by that time, her helper had already called her to tell her there was a long line but that she was near the front so we should hurry.
We arrived at the sale at 11:15. By that time, all of the awesome shoes and all of the normal sizes had been picked over. Women were walking around carrying clear garbage bags full of 10-30 pairs of haute fashion shoes. It kind of pained me to see such beautiful shoes handled so carelessly. Most of the women there came in packs and would take turns guarding their mountainous pile of shoes (no exaggeration) while their friends looked for more shoes. When my friend tried to look at a shoe that looked as if it had been discarded, a woman who "claimed" the shoe actually growled and hissed at her. I managed to find a couple shoes in my size, but only by hovering near the women who looked like they had feet my size and taking their discards. After waiting in line to pick up the other pairs to the shoes, then waiting in an excruciatingly long line to pay for the shoes, I finally exited the sale at 2:45 pm.
I felt like I had been through war. When I got back to the office, L pointed out that my eyes were completely bloodshot, had dark bags beneath them and I looked as if I'd been to hell and back. Which honestly, is kind of how I felt. I swore up and down that I'd never, ever do that again. But then I looked at my two pairs of Jimmy Choos, which I scored for about HALF the price of one pair normally, and I thought: well....maybe it was kind of worth it.
After hearing from my friends how great the Pedder sale is, how awesome the shoe selection is and how amazing the discounts are, time and time again, I decided to take up my friend on her offer to take me as one of her companions to the friends & family-only pre-sale today. Doors open at 11 am, so she had her helper (HK people call their maids "helpers") wait in line starting at 10 am. We met near our offices at 11 am and headed over - by that time, her helper had already called her to tell her there was a long line but that she was near the front so we should hurry.
We arrived at the sale at 11:15. By that time, all of the awesome shoes and all of the normal sizes had been picked over. Women were walking around carrying clear garbage bags full of 10-30 pairs of haute fashion shoes. It kind of pained me to see such beautiful shoes handled so carelessly. Most of the women there came in packs and would take turns guarding their mountainous pile of shoes (no exaggeration) while their friends looked for more shoes. When my friend tried to look at a shoe that looked as if it had been discarded, a woman who "claimed" the shoe actually growled and hissed at her. I managed to find a couple shoes in my size, but only by hovering near the women who looked like they had feet my size and taking their discards. After waiting in line to pick up the other pairs to the shoes, then waiting in an excruciatingly long line to pay for the shoes, I finally exited the sale at 2:45 pm.
I felt like I had been through war. When I got back to the office, L pointed out that my eyes were completely bloodshot, had dark bags beneath them and I looked as if I'd been to hell and back. Which honestly, is kind of how I felt. I swore up and down that I'd never, ever do that again. But then I looked at my two pairs of Jimmy Choos, which I scored for about HALF the price of one pair normally, and I thought: well....maybe it was kind of worth it.
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