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September 04, 2006
So much for $300/mo in discretionary spending
The Barney's Warehouse Sale wrapped-up today. I have to say: it was the craziest sale I've ever been to. The menswear is sold from a cellar-level clothing warehouse in Chelsea. (In LA, the sale is in an airport hangar.) It was a half-hour line to get in, then another 40 minutes to check-out. Although you might agree with the 10 Reasons to Avoid the Barney's Warehouse Sale, it's hard to resist the urge. There were perhaps 100 suits in my size, plus thousands of shirts, sport coats, and trousers. Shoes were almost fully sold-out. Many of the styles were were avant-garde experiments that went over like a lead balloon, but there was also a wide range of relatively conservative attire like pink shirts and black suits by designers like Burberry and Varvatos. All in all, it took 2.5 hours, but I saved $1800. So much for trying to live on a $300/month discretionary spending budget. (I was succeeding since July!)
I didn't go up to the womenswear section, but the Village Voice says I should have:
"Ladies, please keep your undergarments on, thank you," reads a wall sign, alluding to the lack of fitting rooms and the propensity of certain modesty-free types to strip down in front of the crowded mirrors. (What could be more fun than trying on a Balenciaga surf suit over your panties and bra while a roomful of strangers looks on?)
Meanwhile, a forum writer puts in his two cents:
I walk downstairs to the sale, which looks pretty much what I imagine prison is like. The whole place takes place underground in a huge, unadorned, and rather dilapidated warehouse. I'm talking chipped paint on the walls and ceiling, exposed pipes, the works. Sections of the sale are separated by large chain link fences, you are required to check all your bags before being allowed to enter, and there is a large security guard present just about every 5-10 feet. In case of a yuppie riot I guess?Shopping at this sale is seriously surreal. People are picking through giant cardboard boxes of $100-$300 t-shirts and sweaters. Random brands of "premium" denim are messily piled up about 3 feet high on foldout tables. Giant metal racks of suits and coats were the only things organized enough to be browsible.
If you ever want to see a lack of dignity displayed by the upper-middle class, this is probably the event to check out. Want to sit down while trying on shoes? Better learn to balance because there are no seats. Guys in suits were stripping down to undershirts in the middle of the warehouse because the place has no changing rooms.
To my surprise, most of the people here were early 20-30s. There were a lot of popped polos, untucked dress shirts, and giant aviator sunglasses in play. And lots and lots of pink. ... The hot accessority seems to be the Asian girlfriend, as about 1/3 of the white guys in the room had one in tow. The place buzzed with some sort of jackass uniformity which I will attribute to the finance industry. The underlying hum told me "junior analyst".
Junior consultants, too. Why do the Wall Street guys get all the credit for everything in this town?
The Wall St Journal suggests the women on the prowl go in the evening:
Notes Barneys' Mr. Doonan: "The warehouse sale is a great place to meet a husband. That's where all the guys go when they're starting out on Wall Street." The secret for the single shopper is to go at night, says Mr. Doonan. "They've all got jobs. Go in the evening. It's nuts with guys."
I guess Barney's knows its target market.
Posted by adrianjo at September 4, 2006 10:44 PM