Cheryl Shops

A tale of two shoppers
MK and I both hit the Girlshop sample sale preview (for members only) today; MK was there at noon when the sale opened, and I went after work, at 6:30-ish. Here are our reflections on the sale, MK first:

wallet...hurting...ow, ow, owww...

I just dropped over $300 at the girlshop sale. Ow...
On the bright side, throwin' down a wad of 20's bought me some sweet
goodies! I got there before they opened for VIP day. They had two
boxes of funky silk-lined cashmere Priorities sweaters for $65 each,
so I picked one up in garnet. Of course I raided the jewelry counter
and plucked the prize pieces out right away: Two awesome Double
Happiness bracelets made with Swarovski crystals and gorgeous gold
clasps, and one asymmetrically-delicious semiprecious necklace by
Maya Brenner. Also scored two gorgeous black tops for going out, one
looks sort of gothic Lolita-ish. They'd better fit.

There were two racks of Guyshop menswear, but nothing
impressive...just a bunch of rock tees and unimpressive button-down
shirts. Cute little Totshop section, and a good number of
handbags (T-bags, Felix Rey, Julie Brown). However the nicer purses
were only marked down to like $150, not exactly a steal. Lots of
scarves, hats, and nice leather driving gloves. The women's tops are
so cute this year. There were some boots for sale, but I didn't take
a good look.

Now, my impression. Petty things first, the e-mail from Girlshop noted that they've moved to a different, "more spacious" location. I beg to differ. I could barely move, and I didn't even think the sale was that crowded. The layout was just not conducive to movement. Anyway, I was a bit disappointed in that they only had one small table of jewelry (usually the best part of a Girlshop SS). If you like the clothes, however, they had way more than usual, although the labels represented were definitely of the more indie variety. I saw some great embroidered tunics, silk dresses and skirts, tweed, knit tops, and tees. There are a lot of handknit hats and scarves, as well as leather gloves. As MK mentioned, there are a lot of bags, but very few for less than $100 (the exception to this being a lot of cute Loop tote bags and sequined purses). There are some shoes from Costanca Basto, two racks of guys' stuff, and some cute kids' stuff. As for jewelry, I got a gorgeous necklace from Double Happiness and some earrings and a bunch of bangles with little critters on them from Oscar and Nancy. Somehow that came out to $107. Anyway, it's worth checking out for the quirky accessories and clothing, but I wouldn't recommend looking for anything specific from the website.