Belated Grand Opening Re-Cap

So I haven't written much since I've been sick. It was a doozie and I was pretty out of it for a week, but I'm well-rested, taking my meds and on the mend. Big shout out to my awesome hubby for taking care of Benna so I can get my much needed rest and for not making fun of my feebleness when I'm ill. Though who wouldn't be feeble with a fever of 102F??

Anyway, enough of that sob story....so this is what happened last Friday, May 13th...

I woke up feeling like a truck ran over me, but I had to attend Anthropologie's historic (in my books) Grand Opening on South Granville! Besides, I had made arrangements to meet with the Regional Director for my write up as guest post on Effortless Anthropologie. I could not miss this opportunity. I asked my parents to come early (8am) to babysit so I can make the 10am door opening.

Well, I missed it by 10 mins. I was running on low battery, I guess. When I arrived, the store was already open and a lot of women were inside, milling about and shopping. It was a busy scene, but apparently not as busy as Calgary's recent Grand Opening two months prior. Where Vancouver had 65-70 excited shoppers waiting outside it's doors, Calgary had double! Crazy! But apparently, Vancouver had a weeper. One source said they heard a girl cry when the doors finally opened, and another stated the girl was on the phone and exclaimed, "I'm so happy I could cry!". Either way, the Grand Opening brought out some positive emotions for a lot of women in the Lower Mainland, including myself!

Inside, I made my way to the sales staff who were already busy ringing up customers. I was very lucky to have the opportunity to meet two very cool ladies in the Anthro world: Regional Directors Jennifer Paletta and Nancy Wahl. Partners in managing the western division of Anthro. Jennifer, out of San Francisco, and Nancy, from Seattle (who I am pretty sure I've met before because she and I vaguely found each other familiar). Very evident that I do a lot of shopping at the University Village Anthro, where she calls home. We had a great conversation and these ladies really made me feel welcome on this very busy and very important day. I was truly touched by their hospitality. They even introduced me to Wendy Wurtzburger, Co-President of Anthropologie! I was not expecting the President to be there! And she was pretty cool too.

So after a cool interview with the fab ladies, I ran into Adam, Regional Manager from University Village, Seattle. We had met before at the store last time I visited the U-Village, and he was lovely to chat with. He convinced me to keep this Boyfriend Cardi in Fuschia pink and I'm very glad that I did! So when I came by to say hello, he remembered me and I was quite touched.

I also met a couple of "besties" in the humongous line at the register who were ahead of me. Heidi, who was supposed to be at work, and Melissa (a fellow Anthro junkie, moniker given by Heidi), who happened to be off from work that day, who both had mixed feelings about Anthro opening up in Vancouver. Very similar to what I posted before on the issue, they too used to revel in the uniqueness of Anthro products. But now that the store is available to the masses of the lower mainland, we can expect to see it's shelves ravished by locals and seen around town, again and again, I'm sure.

So what will they do, I asked? Shop at smaller boutique stores, wear indie-labels, that kind of thing. They will still shop at Anthro, but not like before.

Perhaps that will hold true and some will buy less frequently. But overall, I still think Anthro will be my main go-to for my wardrobe.

Anthro's products are quite unique, and turnover of old items to new, is quite frequent (new shipments every week, markdowns every week), plus they don't seem to carry a lot of inventory for one particular product (items sell out, with no backorders all the time). So if you pick that right unique piece, you could be that unique person who "scored". Which is the feeling we all love, isn't it?

And sure, we will probably be able to recognize an Anthro item on Jane Doe from down the street, but I still think the products are better than the alternatives out there in the same price range. So yes, I'll be disappointed to see the Aritzia fan-base trading in their hoodies for belted cardigans, but at least we'll see less of those dang TNA sweats on the street! Amen to that.