Bad Behavior at the Isabella Fiore Sale

Zannee's Blog

Monday, May 05, 2008

Filed Under: Bargain Buys, Shopping Adventures, Inside Scoop, Complaints & Ripoffs, OM Gosh!

By Suzanne O'Connor

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.

Reader Discussion

I agree! It was crazy. I was in line by 7am and was very close to the front of the line. You weren’t the only one who felt like everyone had already picked out all the bags you wanted. As close as i was, I still felt like next time I will be the first in line. Everyone was a little too agressive this time around. Its ok, we’ll get them next time!!!
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Posted By on May 07, 2008

These aggressive shoppers can ruin a perfect shopping experience, even when it’s a deal. 2 weeks ago when I was at the Charles David warehouse sale, there were tons of aggressive women, but one in particular one stuck out. She is 40-50 yrs of age, thick-built and short light haired. She was snapping her fingers and yelling at the workers bringing out shoes, so she would get every new pair that comes out and nobody around her stood a chance. I am sure if you were standing near the size 6s, you know who I am talking about. She annoyed the employees so much that they wouldn’t give her any more shoes (she already had 20 pairs in her bag!) I walked away with nothing because looking at her behavior and rudeness made my stomach turn and not want to be one of those CRAZY Ladies.

Also couple weeks ago at in the Theory showroom DT, this pair middle aged Persian ladies went in right at opening and took about 1/3 of the clothes on the rack into their huge pile so nobody else will get to look at anything. The staff told me that they do this everytime and staff is tempted to tell them to put things back because they usually only end up buying a couple pieces, if any, out of everything they pull off the rack. I can’t wait for the staff to put them in place one of these days.

“Ladies” there is no need to be ugly over a deal, mind your manners.

Posted By Anonymous on May 08, 2008

As we had been to other warehouse sales the day of the Fiore sale, we went there about 45 mins before they closed. It was a ghost place, lots of those $292 bags on the shelves you mention.

Nothing in this world is worth that kind of aggression. The Middle Eastern women do that kind of thing worldwide, I`ve seen them do it in London`s Harrods sale.

The only way to avoid it is go later & miss the early deals. Or set your alarm for 5am, wear knee/elbow pads & a fierce expression.

Surreal really. There are people dying in earthquakes, typhoons,wars & you have women over here ready to kill for a handbag! Says a lot about America.

Posted By janis on May 15, 2008

The funny thing was, up to the point that that woman picked on my daughter, the behavior, though aggressive was mostly well balanced. Women were hoarding bags they had grabbed which had a sense of unnecessary greediness to it. There had been no verbal sparring or rudeness… just a bit of greed.

There was some good behavior too. Several taller women were actually helping those of us who are shorter grab items on the upper shelves etc. It wasn’t all bad.
It was that one woman, who by the way, was of white /anglo decent, who was so badly behaved. I suppose it only takes one, hyper focused, self obsessed individual to be obnoxious to quell the fun.
BTW…. Someone should have said something to those women at the Theory Sale. A few choice words would have embarrassed them and perhaps a few words to management at the sale too.

At the LF Warehouse Sale there is so much product and sales help that everyone is happy. Conversation are struck up, new friendships are formed. It’s really nice to watch. Though everyone is out to grab a deal, there isn’t that sense of dire, dog eat dog urgency.
S.

Posted By Suzanne on May 19, 2008