Yesterday I did one of those uniquely Hoosier things that should be experienced at least once in ones lifetime – I braved the Vera Bradley Outlet Sale.
Over the years I would occasionally hear about this shopping frenzy in Fort Wayne where thousands of women would descend and literally shop ‘till they dropped. When I saw a small news item that this was the week of the sale I thought I’d take a drive to see if the event lived up to the hype.
To back up, in case you are unaware of this phenomenon, “Vera Bradley is the name of a luggage design company founded by Barbara Bradley Baekgaard and Patricia Miller in 1982. It is an American design company best known for its patterned bags. The Fort Wayne, Indiana company produces a variety of products, including quilted cotton luggage, handbags and accessories.” (Thank you Wikipedia).
The first thing I needed for this little jaunt was a ticket so I fired up the computer and found that not only did I need a $5 ticket to go on a weekday, I also needed to select the specific time slot I would attend and ‘register’ as a customer if I planned on buying anything. This is some serious shopping! So, after a number of clicks I had one ticket for the 2:30 – 5pm time slot – the morning was sold out – and a sheet with my ‘customer information.’
Friday morning arrived and it was time to hit the road! On I-69 I noticed several vehicles crowded with laughing women and was pretty sure we were all heading to the same place. Then I spotted a billboard advertising the sale – as I said, this is the big time!
After an intermission to find a couple geocaches, I headed over to the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum for the big event. I arrived about 2:45 thinking I could miss the line to get in but, oh no, the line was still all the way down the side of the building, around the corner and even doubling back on itself!
Roughly 97% of the crowd was female and there were lots of groups. It was a very good-natured crowd and eventually we were at the door and, upon surrendering my ticket, I was given a large pink garbage bag and let in to the hall. Wow, talk about sensory overload!
I wasn’t sure what to expect but it was rows upon rows of tables stacked with all types of merchandise from water bottles to suitcases to comforters. After some initial disorientation I could tell there was a method to the madness, home goods were over there and wallet-type things over there and suitcase things in this area. As I didn’t actually have a shopping list, I decided the wander up and down each aisle approach made the most sense to see everything while I was in among several thousand other people doing the same thing.
Quickly it was apparent that the pink bag was for ‘loot’ as people were tossing in items willy-nilly. There were also signs on almost very wall (and many PA announcements) about ‘sorting’ and how the fire marshall doesn’t want people sitting on the floor. It seems that the preferred method of shopping is to grab everything that strikes your fancy then find an area to review and discard the unwanted items. By the time I left there were at least a half-dozen laundry rolling bins overflowing with these cast offs!
A PA announcement also let me in on the fact that the star-shaped balloons indicated tables where there were special markdowns and I saw one woman with 7 or 8 of one type of shoulder bag going for $20! While this was the exception, I’d say most of the prices were 50-60% off of retail.
It also struck me that Vera Bradley makes many more items than I had thought – aprons, coaster sets and flip flops were just a few of the unexpected things I stumbled upon.
As I wandered, I did drop a few things into my big pink bag and also dropped some things into the cast off bin though people watching alone was totally worth the price of admission. My big splurge was a large tote that I kept admiring as people carried them around the shopping floor. I decided to take the plunge but, when I got to that table they were gone! As I was standing there reconciling myself to leaving without it, a young women and her friend were standing nearby debating the merits of that very tote versus one of another pattern. Fortunately for everyone, she went with the other pattern and I got the tote I wanted!
When I heard the announcement that there was only 45 minutes left in my session I headed toward check out to beat the crowd. A big sign over the door reminded shoppers that the per-person limit for the sale is $3,500 (I later learned that this is the point of registering as a shopper) – it certainly was not a problem for me!
Check out is in a completely separate exhibit hall allowing them to clear the sales floor in preparation for the next group of shoppers! The system is flawless, they have lots of registers and people directing people so the wait was actually pretty short. Items come out of the pink bag, get rung up, and put in to a white bag. Once the shopper crosses the line between pink and white there’s no going back!
In all, from getting in line to getting back to my car it was a little over two hours – long enough but not too long.
Surprisingly, it actually was rather fun – I think going with no expectations and no shopping list was good because there was absolutely no pressure to buy anything – I could just experience the event.
For those interested, the dates for 2015 are April 8-12.