Sunday, November 29, 2009

The story of the American Apparel sale and the greatest store in the world

Hiii, happy late Thanksgiving. On Thursday I didn't even realize it was Thanksgiving until Mom called me in the evening and told me.

Yesterday I went with Kara from 3rd floor and her boyfriend Indra to a huge American Apparel rummage sale. It was a much bigger deal than I thought. To get there we took the subway to King and walked through the theater district and a place with a bunch of restaurants with people standing outside saying "bonjour, miss." We knew we were at the right place when we saw the massive lineup:

It was really, really long. Longer than it appears in the photo. Like Target on Black Friday. Holy crap, we said, that is a very long line of people. But we got in line anyway. We stood around for awhile and eventually I ran up to the front to scout it out. It was in the basement of this building, and apparently inside there was also some woodworking thing going on. I asked some girls who had just come out with shopping bags how it was. They said they had been there since 9am and it was crazy inside, people pushing and grabbing stuff and buying things and then re-selling them. But the prices were amazing. I went back and reported to Indra and Kara. We waited for awhile longer and noticed some people getting discouraged and leaving. Kara and I devised a brilliant plan. We decided to run up to the front, and then walk back along the line slowly, talking loudly about how apparently there's NOTHING good left and everything cool had been taken. The people will surely drop like flies, we thought. So we went up to the front. It was kind of a cool building and we decided to check out the inside a bit before carrying out our plan. There was no one at the door and we just walked in. We checked out the woodworking thing and admired some lovely drawer handles. There was a sign for the sale pointing at the basement stairs. We peered down, thinking there must be some kind of security or something, it wouldn't be that easy to get in. Some girls came out with shopping bags. I knew there was some kind of ticket system going on so I asked if you needed a ticket or something to get in. They said no, as long as you're in the building you're good-- they were taking tickets at the door. Whaaaaaat? We went down to the basement and we were in. Kara texted Indra and he came and joined us. We considered going back and waiting in line cause we felt kind of guilty, but we didn't. The cheap hipster clothes were calling to us. It was crazy and most of the good stuff was gone, but I ended up getting two jackets, gold and silver ($18 each), red tights ($2), yellow tights($2), and the comfiest gray sweatpants ever ($10). Including tax, it came out to $56.50. The regular price of ONE of the jackets is $62. Woot! In fact, I added everything up, and if I had bought that stuff at normal price it would come out to $194 plus tax. I didn't take any pictures in the basement, but I found this one on a Toronto Tumblr blog. It looked like this, except EXPLODED, with a million people.


After that we walked to Kensington Market for MORE SHOPPING. We went to Blue Banana Market, which is the coolest store EVER. It is amazing. They have stuff from lots of different sellers, from local designers to Paul Frank. It's giant inside, plus there's an upstairs. It's like the best of Etsy plus non-pretentious Urban Outfitters, combined with a candy store and multiplied by a million. It is everything that I love, in one store. Some things are expensive, others are super affordable, and there is SO MUCH STUFF. If any of you ever visit me, we are for sure going there. Because it is amazing. I will definitely be doing some Christmas shopping there.

6 comments:

Claire said...

I ARE SO JEALOUS

what a steal!!
way to be assertive and waltz right on in

alv said...

you'll have to take ian to the blue banana place. He'll be super excited! There's nothing Ian loves more than shopping. Nothing!

Unknown said...

you're the best bargain finder!

blue banana looks awesome. will definitely check it out on our next trip. plus it's near a knitting shop on Nassau St. bonus!

Claire said...

holy fother mucking shat! YOU SUAVE SAVER YOU. Yeah, I know, I felt pretty retarded typing that.
anyways, i'm pretty much super jealous that you get to go shopping all the time and awesome amazing cheap stores. All our shopping [that is obviously lame shit compared to yours] is across scary college avenue that is unbikable so you have to drive. :C
EVERYONE IS DOING MORE SHOPPING THANK ME! even stupid evan got to go to the stupid mall of america that's freaking ten miles wide or something and has amusement parks and aquariums and shit. WHY WOULD YOU RIDE A ROLLERCOASTER WHEN THERE'S A DELIAS?
people can be so dense, erin.
miss you!

Mary said...

!
We don't have Black Friday here... which kind of makes me happy because I work retail, but when I see things like this.... jealoooous!

marinna said...

duuude. cool stuff.