Zannee’s Blog at BargainsLA.com

I have stated many times that I do not recommend Santee Alley in downtown Los Angeles as a bargain shopping destination.

First, last time I checked the real estate is higher priced per square foot that in Beverly Hills. So how can there be any real bargains when the stores are paying top dollar for the location.

Secondly, cheap stuff cheap, is exactly that…. Cheap, crap-ola, junk, garbage. A real bargain is never cheap. A real bargain has value and is always worth more than what you paid for it.

In last weeks Daily News, they announced one of the biggest busts of knock off, counterfeit product ever.

“More than 100 officers raided alleged counterfeiters, seizing $8 million worth of knockoff movies, purses and perfume, authorities announced today.

Billed as the largest anti-counterfeit bust in city history, Thursday’s “Operation Knockout” sent 26 people to jail and yielded 50,000 faked goods — half of them counterfeit CDs and DVDs. Cops targeted their sweep on Santee Alley, the famed shopping district downtown known for its bargain prices for look-a-like designer brands.”

I think what real bargain hunters want is good quality goods at a better price. Cheap knockoffs will always be around. Anyone can buy cheap stuff cheap…. Walmart, Target, 99 Cent only stores are all easily accessible. I’d rather hold out, pay a little more at a sample sale or outlet and get the real goods for less.

Okay I admit it, I have a daughter who loves fashion but impossible to buy for. Too persnickety. She’ll take items out of my closet but won’t let me buy stuff for her. So my BFF, Auntie Liz took her shopping without me. Full retail bliss shopping a store I abhor…. Limited Too!

Overpriced with amazingly rude and stupid sales people, I stopped going in to Limited Too years ago. My daughter never got over it. I do buy her amazing things from sample and warehouse sales that are higher in quality and at much less than what Limited Too charges. She just wanted to be let loose to shop without me. So I let her loose to shop with my BFF at a store I abhor and left.

Okay I get it. It’s more fun with some one else than mom.

Keeping a stiff upper lip, I wonder off into Bloomingdales to cruise around. There, before me was my new fav handbag line by Kooba. How fun examining their new lovely Fall bags… when yee gads! Not one of them had the colorful interior suede lining that I so adored about this line. It was a cheaper bland canvas lining instead.

Oh the disappointment! The lowering of quality on such a fabulous line of handbags…UGH! However, the prices didn’t seem lower. I had to wonder if I was the only one to be disappointed.

From there I went into Victoria Secret to try find a fabulous sexy bra. No luck. Then I tried the sale at Ann Taylor. Nothing.

When I finally met back up with my glorious shopping BFF and daughter, my shoulders were slumped from the many disappointments I had just experienced. My daughter happily paraded her fabulous buys in front of me… none of them were a bargain. Oh there goes the budget! I don’t think I’ll let her loose again for awhile.

What I needed was some espresso to lift me out of the doldrums. At $3 it wasn’t a bargain either…. But it did make me feel better.

Every month I get an e-mail from some under educated, self righteous, discount shopper who is under the impression that price is what makes something a bargain. This person complains a store I have recommended is not a bargain because of the pricing.

Wrong!  A bargain has to do with value, quality and what the real worth of an item is. It is not a cheap item for cheap.

A new 2007 Lexus ES 350 at $20,000 is a steal, unheard of and should make any buyer cautious. That’s cause you know Lexus construction and quality put it up in the $30,000 plus range. So you can’t compare it to a Hyundai. But if you could get a Lexus ES350 for $27,000 when the MSRP was $33,400, you’d know you had a good deal.

Anyone can buy cheap. There are 99 Cent Only Stores, Walmart’s and Targets everywhere. You don’t have to do your homework, know the market place, understand construction or content to shop at these places. These kinds of stores have a range of goods from okay quality to super cheap. They have a place in our culture and yes I do shop them (except Walmart).

You can’t compare the goods theses stores sell to the rest of the retail world. I wouldn’t expect Chanel quality and design inside a discount store. I wouldn’t expect to find designer showroom furniture inside a Macy’s.

If you see an item “all over town” and then see a similar item at an outlet for a designer furniture showroom… it is not the same item. Real designer showroom furniture is not all over town. It is not mass produced. The copies are massed produced and all over town.

If you think the Vera Wang dress that you can now find at Kohls is the same quality Vera Wang dress you’d get at an upscale boutique… then you are not thinking. It is a lower quality dress with less attention to detail, lower quality fabric and construction. It may still be a cute, well designed dress but, it is not the same in quality.

If you are looking at high-end designer furniture and comparing it to furniture found at Pottery Barn, you are looking at two completely different items. The quality is different, design and construction are different.

You pay for quality.

The old adage, “You do get what you pay for” is true. I don’t consider price until I know about the product I am looking at. When I research a store and review it, I always tell you how or why the product is there and where it originally came from.

If you haven’t shopped high-end showrooms, boutiques or stores, you should; even if the product is out of your range. Ask the sales help questions. Learn why it is priced the way it is priced…the quality, design and construction.

Otherwise you’ll end up comparing apples to bananas and being an under educated shopper. Knowing the market place will help you get the best quality and save you money.