This week they sent out emails (which you had to have signed up for either at a previous warehouse sale, I think) announcing the upcoming, multi-day Family & Friends "Private Sale" (in the broadest sense of the phrase), happening at the Ritz-Carlton. The catch is that because there's still a pandemic going on, they still need to do social distancing and attendees have to make an appointment (pick one of 4 time slots any day of the sale), get the email confirmation, etc, to go. The first time slot (Thursday from 10 a.m. to noon) were fully taken up, which was to be expected. Long story short, I decided I only had time to go Sunday afternoon (12.30 - 2.30 p.m.), cos I ain't nuts enough to go Sunday morning after waking up early the day before.
So when I waddled my way to the Ritz, there wasn't much of a line outside, but checking in took a while cos had to do a MySejahtera scan, they have to scan the QR on your confirmation email, seal your bags, that whole thing.
The sale wasn't so much in one banquet room (usually the case in the before-times), but spread out over 2 floors of banquet rooms and halls at the Ritz cos they've got the space? (face it, no one's having their MICE or wedding events in this pandemic). It was a single flow direction, like how IKEA is, minus the handy shortcuts.
Everyone was crowding the second floor because it's the first place you see. I decided to try my luck and went straight to the top floor and work my way down. There wasn't a line in any of the rooms I went to check out, so I didn't have to waste time in line to go in. If you're looking for bags and what not, you go to the top.
Didn't take too many pictures cos there was a lot to take in, and I'm not sure how the organisers would feel about it. But that didn't stop the personal shoppers, etc.
Most of the brands I was looking for was on the top floor in one of the larger rooms. Surprisingly they had Longchamp this time, but it's mostly old seasonal items and great if you're looking for a larger Le Pliage bags or whatever. The F&B brands (TWG, Godiva, etc) caught my eye, but not my wallet.
The second floor was some skincare and cosmetics, other odds and ends. There was a room selling Swarovski I think, but I didn't make it there cos after lining up for what seems like forever, only for me to be in and out in less than a minute was tiring. Different rooms had different crowd management styles - one room did the "one in, one out", another did timed entry... it was exhausting, even with masks on.
I mostly went in with the cuci mata mindset, ready to walk away empty handed, etc. As I was getting ready to leave the big room, I saw my current wallet but in different colour (from 2019 F/W season), which I didn't see in the first pass but otherwise had been actively looking for for months. I couldn't pass it up, because I was told that it was also the "last piece" . So I'm that much poorer today.
By the time I went down one floor, there was a line formed outside the large room I was in. Haha.
Was told by the guy who sold me the wallet that they're replenishing stocks in a couple of days, so maybe if you want to go (first time or not), there's always then? I dunno if I can muster up the energy (and credit limit) to go again.
PS.
1. They make people choose timeslots to come; how they know if the people who were there earlier had left or not? Cos it felt like more than 300 people were in there lor...
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