After some maneuvering in crossing a few streets, I ended up in front of the Mikimoto Boutique, to my knowledge at the time, the 7 story building was THE Mikimoto store, home of the pearled wonders. It was beautiful, impressive, glistening white and silver, so luxurious, I was in another world. I was greeted by 2 young and refined saleswomen.

Mikimoto Boutique International

As I soon found out, this wasn’t Mikimoto’s headquarters as I had thought. The jewelry was cheaper in price (affordable stuff at $400 to $1500 a pop) and I was too shy to ask where the rest of the collection was since what they had here was only a minute amount of what I’ve seen on their official website. Instead, the other floors contained pens, plates, purses, fans, all of the utmost quality and care in presentation. Saleswomen on the other floors wore gloves to clean and adjust objects to make them look just right. Nonetheless, I was impressed by the quality of service and care of such a fine jewelry store.

It’s my mother’s dream to own Mikimoto pearls. And she has yet to fail on taste that’s for sure.

Mikimoto Headquarters

While walking on the main Ginza avenue, I saw Mikimoto’s Headquarters and sure enough, it’s breathtaking window display of cherry sized pearls with a $20,000 price tag made it too intimidating for me to step inside. I could see behind the tinted glass windows that sales women and men were peering out like lionesses guarding their pray. Way too scary.

I think the next time I visit Mikimoto, it’ll be with my mother, and several credit cards.

Cartier, Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Chanel

I think I got Ginza and neighboring district Omotesando confused as I was expecting glittering crystal-like buildings in unique architectural designs…instead in Ginza I was met with run of the mill glass fronts with some mildly (but not entirely exciting) interesting exteriors. Mind you, the Chanel store still made for a pretty visual treat with it’s graphic black stripes, or LV’s checkered effect making it look like a 3D puzzle, but the stores were square, they were all glass…not the architectural wonders I had imagined from reading Deluxe. Cartier’s building stood out the most with it’s golden cage and trademark vibrant red framing the doorway, even if I did found the structure to be tacky in the end.

Hermès 10-story building of square glass blocks almost made for an imposing (but not quite as chic) structure. I was too wowed by its display cases outside and peering through the door only for a few seconds to see wealthy women inside fawning over Birkin bags and silk scarves.

Chanel – Premiere service

I was brave enough to step into Chanel, a 6 story building of which the general public had access to 4 very large floors. Not even 2 minutes inside, I see a Japanese worker (in uniform of course) passing swiftly to buff and clean the marble floor with a swiffer – erasing all foot print marks we’ve left behind. Of the dozen or so staffers, we were all greeted with “Irasshaimase!” with a slight bow. The store felt like a museum, with Chanel’s Summer 2008 Americana collection sprawled on several mannequins. Floor after floor was filled with all things Chanel. Upon walking up the 2nd floor were followed by 2 staff people, upon arriving 2 more staffers stopped and bowed deeply pausing for more than 5 seconds before they went on their way. I felt like a non-deserving Queen as I was only a college student with a meager salary. I felt their eyes on me, sizing me up despite their politeness, I was as uncomfortable as I was fascinated.

I figured in such a high end store we weren’t allowed to take pictures, so I took a picture of the only place I was allowed to take a picture of: the elevator.

With interlocking double C’s.

Seibu – High end grocery shopping

Now this may seem a little fanatic going into a high end grocery store in a high end department store like Seibu in Ikebukuro. But Japanese people take the high quality very seriously. Previously in Nagano, my host told me that high end grocery stores do not allow you to approach fruits and vegetables at a certain distance as they’re trying to keep the food at a certain room temperature. If you stand too close, your body heat will affect the surrounding temperatures thus accelerating the process of spoiling the food. No pictures with flashes are allowed as the flash from the camera will also affect the food temperature. Think of it as being in a museum of “look but don’t touch” policy.

Well, entering Seibu was pretty much like that. There were temperature charts updated every hour recording what temperature the food was kept “5C…4C…4C…5C..” In Japan, there is no such thing as rummaging through the mounds of oranges and strawberries, trying to pick the best of the bunch. No. Here, it is pre-picked so that all foods are exactly the same shape, same size, same color. It’s like picking among plastic food, where everything is identical except everything is real. It’s a real time saver, but at the same time, you sort of wonder where all the “imperfect” foods go.

That melon better be good!

And a high end grocery store wouldn’t be high end if you didn’t put a hefty price tag on it. Perfectly round, big green/red apples were worth $7-$10 a pop. A small watermelon, $52.50. A box of 12 big round cherries, $200. Honey melon, $150. Sorry, I didn’t see any square watermelons. The prices were staggering if not perplexing. Of course they’re all perfectly wrapped in their plastic containers or foam nets.  There are even chefs at individual food stalls all quietly preparing and wrapping the delicacies. There was maybe 2-3 shoppers in the entire store.

I’d say only shop at Seibu’s grocery store if you’re willing to fork out a pricy gift! Or else, save your cash, go to those food souvenir shops at Tokyo or Ueno stations, they’re good and they’re cheap!

Image credit: melon picture by tobze

Bethesda Area

This is another district in D.C. where old money rules and where you’ll find freestanding luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Tiffany & Co, and Cartier lining up the streets. Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale’s reign over as the department store moguls, while the J.Crew and Banana Republic store windows display a large range of classic preppy American lifestyles. I realize that Montreal lacks free standing stores like these, I’m guessing there’s not much of a market for it.

Max Mara

There aren’t any Max Mara stores in Montreal…are there? I haven’t noticed. Either way it was my first time checking out this brand in its marble settings. The style and collections weren’t quite of my taste, it was directed for an older demographer (30-45 maybe), sportswear consisted of linen shirts, business suits, earth toned colors, the cuts weren’t as tailored as I had hoped. Despite this, I expressed my opinion to Susan, the sales woman, and she was nice enough to tell me to check out Co-op Barney’s New York next door, and wanted to refer us to another store in Dupont Circle (she forgot the name though), for something more young and urban. It’s unusual to hear sales people refer you to the competition, so I appreciated that she wanted to help me. Now that’s service. I’m really starting to like the service in these luxury stores.

Co-Op Barney’s New York

At Susan’s recommendation, I indeed made a stop here. I had never heard of this branch of Barney’s, but after taking a look around, it was clear that even the almighty Barney’s has succumbed to the accessible luxury market and established a more affordable store for the young and trendy. Marc Jacobs (he’s everywhere I swear!), Helmut Lang, J Brand jeans, the lot. I did end up buying a strapless jersey dress with pockets by Velvet (made in the USA!). Only to find out later on that I could’ve gotten the same dress at Cusp for 10 bucks cheaper as it was “on sale”. However Cusp didn’t have the color I wanted, which was black, so I’m not too distressed for missing out on a $10 discount.

Tyson’s Corner and Tyson II

This is D.C.’s mega mall that’s split into 2 seperate buildings. Tyson’s Corner is your generic mall where the massive flock of consumers stroll, browse and crowd the walkways. You’ll find the usual fast fashion lot of H&M, Mango, Zara, etc. I wasn’t really interested in this mall since I could find most of these brands back at home, albeit much more expensive.

Tyson II or Tyson’s Galleria has all the expensive luxury brands you can think of – Chanel, Dior, Ferragamo. Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bloomie’s also made up as the major department stores. Surprisingly though, or perhaps I was expecting too much, these luxury stores don’t carry clothes, they’re mostly accessory stores which hold the items that people would be willing to splurge on – mainly bags, wallets, sunglasses, shoes and jewelry. If you were going to look for clothes you’re better off at the department stores. You can already tell that Tyson II has a smaller, more specific crowd. I’ve seen tall models walking around (was there an event going on?) and an overall different atmosphere. Clothes however weren’t of my taste, by demographic the buyers are well aware that the people who have the dineros are the baby boomer generations, so there wasn’t anything fit for a 20-something like myself at my size. I’m not much of an accessory person either, and I’d have to think twice before splurging on $500 shoes.

Overall there’s plenty of shopping to do in D.C., my auntie even suggested that I should visit Pentagon City (about one metro stop from, where else, the Pentagon!), however I didn’t have time to go all way there. There’s also the touristy Union Station for some outlet shopping. But my best bet if you’re ever in D.C. is to visit Georgetown, it’s just a lovely place to see and hang out. I was told that D.C. isn’t really known for any local designers (a shame), however the small boutiques bring in different international brands so there’s always something new to discover.