H&M Opens Flood Gates Downtown

Since a good friend of mine has been physically and mentally preparing herself for the big opening of the H&M flagship store downtown, I thought I’d pass by to give her a moral boost. Obviously, I wasn’t in for the hot cheap deals, mainly because the store was packed like a hot club on a Saturday night.

A DJ booth was set up near the escalators on the entrance floor. A sea of shoppers bubbled left and right, not an inch was spared of retail space. Surprisingly, the clothes are still holding togethers as H&M sales associates continually return clothes other shoppers didn’t want and refolding any misplaced tshirt. It was a cacophony of endless chatter and music.

I scanned the first floor for my friend. This collection is the most fashion forward and most suitable for office wear. I made my way onto the second floor where you can tell the more trendy (and disposable) fashions were grouped together. 20-30 girls lined up to try on their goods, some trying to return some items to sales clerks as they passed by with armloads of clothes to restock.

I see my friend pass by and poke her. She appeared more calm than I had anticipated (H&M has a knack of picking very special people to work their sales floor), and had a brief chat with her.

“It’s been insane since early this morning. I think there were like 500 people waiting outside to get in,” she said. When asked about how the staff was handling the onslaught of customers she replied that they were “on edge” as it appears many customers are ill-mannered, leaving food, drinks, trash all over the store (who does that?? Ill-mannered indeed!), trying everyone’s patience. Usually H&M staffers are bold with their opinions and don’t put up with client shinanigans. Still, from my observations, staffers had it together. We’re momentarily interrupted when a female customer holds up a blue long sleeved tee asking if there are any more in size 6. “If you don’t see anything back there where you got it, we’re sold out,” my friend answered politely. Sold out? On opening day? H&M must love that.

Respecting The Swedes

You would think a retail clerk doesn’t know much about that specific style of sweater and color, or the section it came from and would probably want to shoo away pesky customers on a busy day like this…but you’re wrong. After hearing about the kind of training H&M staffers receive, these little helpers are bonafide fashion gurus. I can safely say that my friend knows more about fashion style and trends than I do. Of course, I can’t say much on exactly how H&M functions within their business, but after hearing hours of what my friend has done over her training, I can safely say that working at H&M is nothing like working in regular fashion retail. And it is because of this fantastic business method that they’ve convinced me that they have set the bar in retail organization and service (among other things).

Other retailers should quake in their booties

St-Catherine looked more crowded than usual, and the beautiful day encouraged loads of shoppers to take to the street to shop. H&M bags are everywhere. I took a glance at Guess, located across the street from H&M and I could see in one of the sales associates’ eyes that she was longing to be on the other side, wanting a piece of that Swedish dream. The store was comparatively empty next to their neighbors. I mean, nobody would line up to shop at Guess.

In essence, H&M is magic. They cooked up the perfect storm, and it has Montreal fans raging. Recession? H&M. Plenty of money? H&M. It’s a win-win situation.

Image credit: The Gazette

50% Off Sales in Downtown Montreal

It’s close to New Year’s and there are major discounts everywhere you look in downtown Montreal. I made a round today, though I came up empty handed, I would still advise anyone who has the day off tomorrow to go and shop til you drop for dirt cheap.

The Tristan flagship store on Ste-Catherine has its entire floor on sale of 40% to 70% off! Sweaters and blazers galore on sale, and I honestly didn’t quite know where to start or what to buy! If you ladies are looking for some business outfits, this is a good place to start.

DKNY in Les Cours Mont-Royal is one store I rarely step into, but for men who are looking for a nice warm wool winter coat, the lovely salesman told us that everything in the store was 50% off. Now that’s a major deal. What was once a “too out of my price range” coat of $660 is now at $330. If you still think of that being too pricey, think of it this way, it’s the equivalent of what I paid for a ski coat at Sport Expert (mine was a cheaper one), and those usually can go over $800! This also means the ladies can enjoy the 50% discount in her end of the DKNY store. If you want even cheaper prices, head on over to DKNY.com where there’s an additional 30% off on already marked down prices.

Next door was Andy The-Anh’s pristine Fall 2007 collection of beautifully cut coats, skirts, blazers and pants. Their sales were going for 40% off, which is muchly needed as one of his white coats was priced at $980. I was eyeing a beautiful silky cream top that was sinched down the center and had a zipper back, priced at $200, but alas I resisted. I vowed to return again and buy something from this store when I have the proper means.

A final stop at the new Guess store on Peel, and they were also having a 40% off sale. I didn’t find anything I liked particularly because gold stitching and glimmering embellished dresses weren’t really of my fancy. I saw a waist length white fur coat going for $298, made of real rabbit fur. I dropped it. I patted my own white fur vest I was wearing, and it was faux fur for $27 and felt equally as soft.

The sales will most likely end tomorrow Dec 31rst, or at the latest until Jan 1rst. So get out there while you can!

Guessing Game

You know if you read guess over a dozen times it sounds really german.

Is it just me or is Guess? trying to say something to their customers? There seems to be quite an aggressive marketing campaign going on downtown. I would say more like an overkill. In not even a 1km radius, Guess has been popping up all over the place. It seems that not even a prime location downtown in Complexe Les Ailes, nor an accessory store in the Eaton Center, located two steps away, are enough. There seems to be a flagship store in the works on the corner of Peel and Ste-Catherine where a TD bank used to reside, another 5 steps. It’s hard to miss, its construction walls are practically giant billboards.

As if they couldn’t advertise themselves even more, they have struck at deal with The Bay in celebrating their 25th anniversary, just in the time for the holidays. When you arrive at McGill Metro level of The Bay, what was once a prime little spot for the M.A.C. makeup counter has now been scrapped and replaced by, you “guess”ed it, Men’s Guess wear. Where has the M.A.C counter gone? I’d like to know myself. On the main floor, they picked prime traffic location to put mannequins dressed in the brand’s signature urban chic style right at the escalator intersections. It is the first thing you see when you end up going on the 2nd floor in Women’s section.

Adding more fuel to the fire, with the new Browns shoe store in The Bay, you can honestly figure out (yay for synonyms) which shoe collection is facing you first. I have to admit that their Carrie shoe is hot, but I must resist temptations.

But honestly, in one metro stop I’m already nauseated with the onslaught of Guess’ efforts. When a brand tries too hard to promote itself, you’re wondering if they really care about you or your money.