Aritzia

Unless you are ready to get there SUPER early or be elbowing girls through your trip, you better have your A-​game on. They try to organize things, but stuff is still EVERYWHERE! Pieces that are years old, they still try to sell it off at a high price and $ 2 off a pair of $ 70 pants IS NOT REALLY MUCH OF A SALE!
Sometimes it feels like you are at a part yard sale because there are things being sold out of cardboard boxes and clothes are laying all over the floor.

If hell exists, I imagine it takes the form of an Aritzia Warehouse sale. This year was the first and last time I will attempt the madness that is the Aritizia Warehouse Sale. After standing in a very long line, you are greeted by security guards asking you to check in your purse. This is followed by hoards of teenage girls ripping through piles of discarded clothes (which are not organized by size, but instead by price). Most of the stuff I saw wasn’t up to the usual Aritizia quality. Apparently unless you get here in the first fifteen minutes of the sale, you aren’t going to find anything good as it will have already been picked over. It was hot and dark and stuffy. After having a quick once-​over, I left as quickly as I came in. No thank you. I would rather pay full price for the decent clothes at the regular store.

Due to scheduling conflicts, it took me until the Sunday to make it to this sale. I went in the late afternoon, so I was able to find street parking easily, and there was no line up to get in.
They check your bag near the entrance, which is a good idea cause I also don’t have to be carrying my bag while searching through piles of clothing.
I was a little disappointed at the selection. Most of the items compromised of Olympic gear, TNA hoodies, some jeans (selection wasn’t great), and other pieces of clothing that really weren’t too great. Jeans were all $ 19.99, but very limited selection-​found a pair of Nudies, Current/​Elliot, and a pair of Citizens.
The communal changing room was pretty chaotic. They basically told us to put the clothes that we didn’t want into these large cardboard boxes, so people were then actually looking through cardboard boxes to see if there was anything in there. Only a couple of small mirrors, so imagine all these girls hoarding around the mirror. Piles of piles of clothing was on the floor. I looked away for a second, and then there were girls searching through my pile of clothes!
The cashiers were very efficient and there was a nice set up in the method of payment.
Not the best warehouse sale ever, but I did manage to scour some good deals!

Although I want to make an exception for this year’s sale, i can’t. I went to their old location on West Hastings two years ago.
In the past — I lined up at 7:40 on opening day before the 8:00 start time and the line up was around the block, people had fold out chairs, and girls were giving me dirty looks… at 8am, they opened and in about 10 minutes, i was walking in!
Two years later — i went on the 2^nd day, got to the place at 8am when it opened and people were slowly filing inside and also waited about 10 minutes… yes the line was just as long but the location was far east at Alexander road.
Most of this year’s supply revolved around Olympic wear, in addition to their giant abominable snowman for your purchasing rights. everything seemed to be TNA, Talula and Wilfrid. Nothing else… selection was minimal and colours were dull. I think I saw one Ines cardigan in large. and one dress worth buying. Everything else was just not for me.
The changeroom really needs more mirrors. We are girls all in one room, and trying to get some mirror space is essential. IN a large warehouse, having two changerooms might be better than one — that way, there were variety in both spaces and you don’t have girls hoarding the piles of unwanted clothing, seeing if their size was available.
The payment system is pretty organized and I can understand how you need to check your bags when you first walk in. I feel sorry for the boyfriends who sit and stand in the corner holding the piles and piles and piles of clothing of their gf’s choosings. Then again, props of them for being such a good partner.
I heard the selection got worse as the weekend went on. Not sure if I will be coming back in the future.

This isn’t a regular retail outlet. It’s the Headquarters where they have the Warehouse Sale. I’m not sure how often this happens, but I went to the event on Easter weekend:
On that page, Joyce D says the lineups were 2 hours long on Thursday (opening night for the public)!
I went on Monday, the last day… after much of the mayhem was over… but the parking lot was full! We found street parking not too far away, though.
I went to find jeans. They were $ 19.99 — even the $ 300 ones — but unfortunately, I couldn’t find the style/​size for me. It could be just because I waited until the last day! I really wanted the pink cargo shorts (below knees) with an even cuter belt, but they were all size 8.
Lots of Olympic things too, this time… iPhone and BlackBerry cases, scarves, mitts. I saw some other cities’ Olympic things: Lake Placid, Sapporo… was that a special Aritzia thing?
They had TNA things too. I didn’t know they were related brands.
Oh, and the «fitting room» was a big sectioned-​off place where only girls were allowed in, but with no stalls. You just have to find a corner and hope you wore your pretty undies.