Hello Again Everyone,

I hope everyone is having fun out there at the summer markets, buying great new product and trying out some fun new things.  I know when I go out to the Markets with the GHC team I wish so badly I had a resale number so I could pick up some of the great finds!

Anyways, I wanted to talk today about something new and foreign to me, well until this past week, Sample Sales!   I admit, until this past week I had never been to a sample sale and my only knowledge of samples sales consisted of scenes from Sex and the City episodes where the seemingly overpaid writer Carrie would purchase fabulous Manolos at half price!

Anyways, back to the story at hand.  So this great experience, like most great things, starts with being in the know.  And that means being on an E-mail list! Being the newbie that I am, I was not on said list, but our completely in-the-know President Leslie Nathan-Street sure was.   Last week I decided it'd be in my best interest to do some "research" with her and check out one of these sample sales.

After dredging through the madness that is Times Square NYC at high noon, we made our way into a building that I would NEVER had thought was holding all these wonderful treasures inside.  The building looked like a regular office building and the only way you'd know there were retail goddesses like Caroline Herrera hiding inside was by the white 8 ½ by 11 computer paper printed flyer taped to the inside of the window.

Once inside, and after the purse check, it was a no hold bar full of stylish women, personal shoppers on blackberries, and husbands holding piles of designers I'm sure they didn't even know.  After perusing through the aisles of designer labels, which included the ever elusive Manolo Blahnik shoes, I thought, had I died and gone to retail heaven? 

But then I sat back and took a good look at what was going on...the beauty and the awe of all these designer fashions had lost its luster amidst the ragged carpet and the rolled out carts and fold out tables with computer paper taped signs screaming "85% Off!".  It hit me, these Manalos all of a sudden lots their ummph!  I didn't want to buy them in this environment, I wanted to buy them in Barneys on 5^th Avenue and have the experience of buying this ridiculously expensive, decadent, indulgent, and down right fantastic shoe!  And this sample sale just wasn't the place to do it. 

All of my time here at the Channel has now come to life.  It really is the experience that makes the customer buy.  And I will some day own my very own pair of Manolos, and even though that means forking out the cash to buy to have that Manolo experience, I'll do it. By the way we both walked away from the Sample Sale empty handed, but definitely with a few great ideas!

Happy Blogging,

Jessica