Shopping Craze
So today I had a pretty interesting, exciting and memorable experience. My friend, Jocelyn, works for Gymboree here in San Francisco. And twice a year, they do a massive sample sale for gymboree and Janie and Jack (since they are the same company). Employees get to go and invite one friend. She described it to me as being pretty crazy and you go and only get 15 minutes and pick through lots of clothes that were samples. Most of them have the word "sample" stamped on them, or some are ripped. The sample size for Gymboree kids is a 4 and for baby it's 12-18 months. Occasionally you can find random other sizes. She invited me and was able to get someone else that she works with "friends" spot. So my other friend, Rebecca, and I went.
Our time slot was 12:00 noon. After dropping off our kids to our friends, we were running a bit late. Luckily she was driving because I'm not sure if we would have made it in time if I had been :)(right Rebecca?) I purposely wore some good shoes since I knew I had limited time to shop in there and I didn't want any distractions. And it was a good thing I did because we parked in a parking garage 3-4 blocks away and serioulsy had to run to get there. My poor out of shape body was not ready for that. I think I was having mini contractions by the time we got there.(Not really but, something didn't feel right) We made it in time and we were the first in line. Jocelyn came down and "coached" us on how to do it; what to look for and what to avoid and the best spots in the room and so on. We were pumped and ready to go like mad women in to find good deals. Watch out!
It was CRAZY!! Jocelyn warned us that we needed to bring our own bag to hold stuff and take it home it. So we ran in with our bags and saw massive piles of clothes on the floor that you just walk on and sit down and start digging. It, I'm sure is a pretty enteraining sight for anyone watching. We were looking for pretty much anything that didn't have the permament marker or tears. Anything with a stamped on "sample" our friend said was easy to get out. Our friend that works there was able to come in with us and help us load our bags. That was the fastest 15 minutes of my life. I felt like I hardly had any time at all. Oh the possibilities only if I had more time. But I found some great, great stuff. I spent 40 dollars for about 30-40 items for all my little girls. Anything that had anything stamped or written on it was a buck. If nothing is on it or wrong with it it is 2 dollars. It's a little frustrating because there was so much to look through, you seriously wish you could have an hour or more in there.
The best find for me though was this precious little blessing dress from Janie and Jack. It was one of the first things I found. It even came in a nice plastic zipper cover with a nice white hanger. I was so amazed I found it. It does have the word sample stamped on the back of it and I'm hoping that the dry cleaners can get it out. It is 100% silk so I'm not sure how to go about getting the stain out except for sending it to the dry cleaner. I called one today and she said she does a lot of sample sale stuff and 95% of the time it comes out it just depends on the type of ink the company uses. But even if it doesn't come out I'm out $1.00. Yep, it was a dollar. Can you believe that? The price tag that is still on it says $150.00. I'm pretty excited about it.
Jocelyn told us she also had another time slot later that day for one person, so we decided it would be silly to not use it. I watched Rebecca's kids and she went back and bought some more stuff. This time they let them have 1/2 hour which was awesome.
It was so fun. When Jocelyn first told me about it and described it, the first thing I thought of was the Friends episode when they go to look for wedding dresses with Monica. It wasn't quite that crazy, we didn't need our whistles. It still was crazy enough for me and way fun to be a part of a mad shopping spree.
Thanks so much to my sweet friend, Jocelyn who invited me. I had a blast and I got some fabulous stuff, for a great deal. And who doesn't love killer deals?
Our time slot was 12:00 noon. After dropping off our kids to our friends, we were running a bit late. Luckily she was driving because I'm not sure if we would have made it in time if I had been :)(right Rebecca?) I purposely wore some good shoes since I knew I had limited time to shop in there and I didn't want any distractions. And it was a good thing I did because we parked in a parking garage 3-4 blocks away and serioulsy had to run to get there. My poor out of shape body was not ready for that. I think I was having mini contractions by the time we got there.(Not really but, something didn't feel right) We made it in time and we were the first in line. Jocelyn came down and "coached" us on how to do it; what to look for and what to avoid and the best spots in the room and so on. We were pumped and ready to go like mad women in to find good deals. Watch out!
It was CRAZY!! Jocelyn warned us that we needed to bring our own bag to hold stuff and take it home it. So we ran in with our bags and saw massive piles of clothes on the floor that you just walk on and sit down and start digging. It, I'm sure is a pretty enteraining sight for anyone watching. We were looking for pretty much anything that didn't have the permament marker or tears. Anything with a stamped on "sample" our friend said was easy to get out. Our friend that works there was able to come in with us and help us load our bags. That was the fastest 15 minutes of my life. I felt like I hardly had any time at all. Oh the possibilities only if I had more time. But I found some great, great stuff. I spent 40 dollars for about 30-40 items for all my little girls. Anything that had anything stamped or written on it was a buck. If nothing is on it or wrong with it it is 2 dollars. It's a little frustrating because there was so much to look through, you seriously wish you could have an hour or more in there.
The best find for me though was this precious little blessing dress from Janie and Jack. It was one of the first things I found. It even came in a nice plastic zipper cover with a nice white hanger. I was so amazed I found it. It does have the word sample stamped on the back of it and I'm hoping that the dry cleaners can get it out. It is 100% silk so I'm not sure how to go about getting the stain out except for sending it to the dry cleaner. I called one today and she said she does a lot of sample sale stuff and 95% of the time it comes out it just depends on the type of ink the company uses. But even if it doesn't come out I'm out $1.00. Yep, it was a dollar. Can you believe that? The price tag that is still on it says $150.00. I'm pretty excited about it.
Jocelyn told us she also had another time slot later that day for one person, so we decided it would be silly to not use it. I watched Rebecca's kids and she went back and bought some more stuff. This time they let them have 1/2 hour which was awesome.
It was so fun. When Jocelyn first told me about it and described it, the first thing I thought of was the Friends episode when they go to look for wedding dresses with Monica. It wasn't quite that crazy, we didn't need our whistles. It still was crazy enough for me and way fun to be a part of a mad shopping spree.
Thanks so much to my sweet friend, Jocelyn who invited me. I had a blast and I got some fabulous stuff, for a great deal. And who doesn't love killer deals?
Comments
You know that's what I would do.