Zannee’s Blog at BargainsLA.com

On Saturday morning I dragged my daughter to the Isabella Fiore Warehouse Sale. Though at most sales woman are well behaved, I warned her that she may see a side of women she hadn’t seen before. Very aggressive shopping… and if the right circumstances present itself it can turn into a full on fight. (The best one I ever saw was at a store closing liquidation sale in Beverly Hills).

I arrived at 8:40am to a line of over 50 women. It was a two day sale, which to me translated into a lot of stock that would be on sale. There were several bags I really loved, but I wasn’t set on any one bag. My daughter was just along for the ride. At 9:05 the line was over 100 strong and they let all of us in. Oops.

We were in the middle of the group and when we walked thru the door the throng of aggressive shoppers had already cleaned most the shelves bare. Women were accidentally slamming into other women with arms loaded with dozens of bags. It was so crowded I couldn’t even get to the shelving. So I slowly scanned the room. Nothing thrilling for me, but then I couldn’t see 90 % of the stock because of the throng of obsessed shoppers. I knew I now had to wait till the sorting and trading started taking place.

My daughter, who at this pointed hated being there, wandered over to the small leather goods area and found a wallet she liked. Cute as it was, I am not buying a 12 year old an $80 wallet when I can’t even get her to use the wallet she has. She went to put it back and that was when they brought out half a dozen pirate leather makeup cases. She grabbed one and some large woman apparently slapped her hand, took it out of my daughters hand and told her it was hers.

Now, I didn’t see the incident or a full fight would have taken place. I won’t fight over a thing… ever, but if some chick thinks she can bully my daughter and grabbed things out of her hand, those are fighting circumstances. But by the time my daughter made it back to me, it was all over. Plus she didn’t get a good look at the woman who did it. I had nothing to go on.

By now the initial aggressive push had tempered and the sorting, putting back and trading had begun. I tried to get the bag I really wanted, a large black & white tooled framed doctor’s bag.  But the woman who grabbed it first loved it as much as I did and there was only one. I didn’t get any of the handbags that I originally wanted but I did walk away with a really nice, leopard print pony hair and leather bag for $292 that originally retailed at $695. I think the best way to work this sale is either be the very first in line (arrive at 7:00am ) or show up an hour after opening.

To ease my daughter’s day I took her to the Grove to visit the American Girl store after the Isabella Fiore sale. She got an outfit for one of her dolls. I then let her eat anything she wanted to at the Farmers Market… Sushi, lemonade and fudge.  Opps!  She had a stomach ache the rest of the day.

Ohh this is totally too good to be true… but it is!

In the past I have avoided going to the Roxbury Handbag sample sales ‘cause it would be far too tempting for me. I simple adore their bags and would buy.

So what did the sharp folks at Roxbury do? They brought the sale to me, online.
Their Happy Mothers Day Sale has a discount code good for 50% savings at check out. No you didn’t read it wrong… that’s 50% or half off by using a coupon code.
How can you resist bags like this?

Just use coupon code 1012hepr when checking out.
Good only from 4/18-5/11

www.roxburybag.com

I am not going to indulge myself and spend wildly without bringing all of you in on the fun.

So have fun and Happy Mothers Day!

I am a real believer in buying something you really love and that makes you happy.
I don’t fall in love with cars, jewelry or even shoes. Sometimes I fall in love with antique furniture. But what will get me in trouble are fabulous handbags. The only thing that keeps me in check is the retail price of these lovely bags.

When I missed the Roxbury Warehouse Sample Sale back in December, I kept thinking about a couple of specific bags. One I had seen on the Roxbury website.
www.roxburybag.com

The other I had seen at Arden B’s last year at the Glendale Galleria. It was made out of leather and pony hair (my fave!). But I was still in my Kooba handbag kick and though I loved the bag, I didn’t give it a second thought and walked out.

Actually both of these bags were well out of my meager financial range until I heard about the sale. But even at the sale, I would be spending a great deal of money.

So I didn’t go to the sale. Both of these bags ranged in price from $350-$560. Even at 50% off at the warehouse sale, I didn’t go. I had overspent over the holidays and had to curb my enthusiasm for awhile.

So in January I started to cruise the web to see who had the line. I found one dealer on Ebay and started watching his auctions. Though I couldn’t be 100% sure it was authentic, I was sure enough to eventually bid on the Zebra print pony hair bag. I gave in to weakness and got it for just $89.

It showed up 10 days later and had obviously been stored for a long period of time. It was stiff. So I stuck a bunch of books in the bag, sat it on the floor of my bathroom while I took a very hot, very long shower. Afterward I treated it with a leather cleaner. It softened up nicely.

It ended up being a lot bigger than I thought, so I am now gonna use it as a brief / business/ carry all case. Great for TV shoots to carry everything from shoes and makeup to run down sheets and water bottles.

Normally I buy one really nice bag a year. This year I have bought two. My my my, I am getting spoiled.