Story #1 – Canal Street
Once upon a time Miss Carolyn was shopping the Canal Street scene in NEW YORK CITY with her friend, Miss Amy. As any NYC tourist knows, Canal Street is home to knock-off/fake bags. Miss Amy was dy.ing for a red purse, and sure enough, she found THE PERFECT RED PURSE! (Meaning it was to.die.4 CUTE!)
BUT remember, she was with Miss Carolyn who is the queen of bargain shopping. She likes to bargain, and she’s good at it; consequently, she tutored her friend about how to get a good price on the great purse.
- Take time to shop other vendors to see what they are charging for similar merchandise.
- Decide how much you REALLY want that purse.
- Once you know the average “going” price, add in the “desirability quotient” to determine the HIGHEST price you will pay.
- Be prepared to walk away from the red purse if the vendor WILL NOT meet YOUR pre-determined price limit.
- Return to the original vendor and offer a much lower price than what you are WILLING to pay.
- Barter until you pay what you want OR walk away!
Got that? Well, Miss Carolyn AND Miss Amy followed those steps, and Miss Amy purchased her GORGEOUS dream bag for $35. (Whether or not that was a bargain, I don’t know because I’ve NEVER shopped Canal Street, AND I am terrible at bartering. I have S.U.C.K.E.R. written all over me. BUT I LOVE the purse and would have paid more for it, I’m sure!)
Now, Miss Carolyn loved the purse, too, and found a slightly smaller version in dark plum. Hmmm! But she didn’t want to be a CopyCat, and so she suffered purse envy in silence.
Upon their return to Utah, Miss Carolyn’s Mama admired the red purse, and then turned to her daughter and asked, “Why didn’t YOU buy one?” Miss C. confessed that she wanted to but thought it would be tacky to own one so similar to her friend’s.
Miss Amy couldn’t believe it as she is NOT the type that has to own one-of-a-kind creations. NO WAY! And so, the faithful friend searched for someone who was visiting New York City – a “drafted” personal shopper of sorts, and asked HIM to hit Canal Street in search of the famous purple purse.
The kind purse-runner found the handbag, purchased it for $30, and surrendered it to Miss Amy to give to Miss Carolyn! And EVERYONE – the friends, the purses, and the runner lived HAPPILY EVER AFTER.
Except Renae, and THAT’S story #2!
Story #2 – The Department Store
Once upon a time there was an older woman who thought that she had outgrown youthful vices like coveting, envy, jealousy. That kind of thing.
But then she met up with THE purse.
Happy for the owner of said bag, she exclaimed, praised, and admired the dark plum creation. The woman was even more delighted over the amazing accessory when she heard the legend behind the purple pocketbook – the purchase place, the bargaining, AND the gift. She not only wanted a purse; she wanted the experience.
And so the woman headed for … Kohl’s. Yes, Kohl’s. She searched the shelves, priced a red Vera Lang, a purple Relic, and a silver Chaps – NOT the BIG brands, but not knock-offs. All were ON SALE for 40% off the original prices. She was thrilled, but MAYBE she could drive down the price even more!
Finally, the woman spotted the Elle Delano Satchel in golden olive – there was only one. How badly did she want it? The original price was $65; much too expensive. The discounted price, however, was $39.00. Not bad. BUT she had … A COUPON!
Confidently, she marched to the checkout line and plopped her purchase onto the counter, and the sales associate started to ring up the $39 price, but she whipped out the 15% off coupon before the transaction was completed. Now she deducted 55% to equal $29.25.
While the department store excursion was a “knock-off” experience when compared to shopping on Canal Street, and the purchase wasn’t as jazzy as the New York City find, the golden olive satchel with ruched details and tumbled faux leather did tame the green-eyed monster and laid the purse envy to rest.
… and they ALL lived happily ever after – again!
The End
May 29, 2010 at 6:10 AM
WOW!! I’m famous!!!! 🙂 Love it love it love it! You absolutely crack me up. I love the pic of the “older woman”. How fun to read this!! It’s a great purse huh? So great. But mine is so heavy that it cuts of the circulation from my shoulder to my hand. And the purse you got is GRRReat! You’re seriously the best.
May 29, 2010 at 8:41 AM
Amy! I searched your FB pix and C.’s but couldn’t find a photo of THE RED PURSE! I loved the photo NOVEL of your trip to Europe though! Awesomeness! 😀
May 29, 2010 at 8:15 AM
LOVED both stories! -And it made me want to go purse shopping, too! 🙂
May 29, 2010 at 8:42 AM
OH NO! Purse Envy is contagious! And it’s spreading. SO sorry you caught it, Beck! 😥
May 29, 2010 at 9:10 AM
My search for the perfect purse got me in the glorious mess I am in now. I told my husband that, when I found the perfect purse, I wanted to find the perfect house. I found the purse and, hopefully, the house. We do love living here.
June 1, 2010 at 4:55 PM
I had NO idea that purchasing purses could lead to such extremes. But the little blue house looks adorable, and I cannot wait to meet it!
Thanks for sharing your “satchel story!” 🙂
June 1, 2010 at 11:34 AM
What a great write up of a truly great story! My favorite part is that they ALL lived happily ever after!
June 1, 2010 at 4:52 PM
With such lovely, eye-catching purses, how could these women NOT live happily ever after? Who could have know that Purses can bring such Pleasure into People’s lives?
Glad I told YOUR story to your satisfaction! And I love the photo of you I stole from FaceBook! 😀
June 4, 2010 at 1:41 PM
loved your stories AND the purses too! I know a blog completely devoted to purses, maybe even RED purses, not sure. I’ll bet that blogger would like this purse story a lot.
June 4, 2010 at 1:52 PM
Alice! So happy to find that you are commenting again! I LOVE it when you stop by! Please pass on a link to this post to the purse blogger, and I’d love to read hers, too. It’s funny how a purse can affect your life! 😀
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