Sample Sale in NYC {was it worth it?}

A big "thanks!" to Jeff who took the fantastic image above, and took many other {great} images as well as the pricing list, at his blog (click here for post). "Thanks!" to A (in this post) who let us know that there is {great} coverage of this event over at Racked (click here, here, and here). Lastly, a big "thank you!" to all those of you who reported back your experiences attending the Sample Sale. :)

So... the Sample Sale in NYC. I went. (It was a last minute decision.) Was it worth it? Not really. If you live in the city and have some time available, I think it is definitely worth a visit. However, I suggest not attending the event if you are traveling some distance or are waiting in a line for more than 30 minutes (in freezing cold weather) to enter. As many of you have mentioned in this post, there were no mirrors, no dressing rooms, and you were not allowed to try on any clothes on the floor. (I found out the last part the hard way. I took off my sweater and attempted to try a blouse on, when out of nowhere a man rushes to yell at me that there is no trying on in the store.) The space was smaller than I imagined too. It really was just a big room.

There were a few wedding dresses for $400 that were gorgeous, but of course, there was only one size in each style. Most of the tops for women (shirts, sweaters, jackets, coats) were size 6 and 8. There were very few size 4 items. There were not a lot of shoes, just two small boxes tucked away in the accessories section. The few shoes available were mainly size 9 for women. There were not a lot of leather handbags or winter coats. Although there were a lot of totes and scarves, but you really had to dig through those boxes to find some jems. ;) The {few pieces of} jewelry that were available, like some super long chain acorn necklace thing and a cuff or two, were not exactly appealing.

Although shoppers went mad stuffing items in large Ikea bags provided by ClothingLine, they bought very few pieces. While I was waiting in line to check out, I noticed that everyone waiting had a handful of items to purchase. By the time I left, there was a line around the building. I hope the wait in the cold was worth it for them. :)

Ultimately, I thought I got better deals online and shopping in stores for the same items (and in my size) during the past few seasons than from the Sample Sale. But this just may be my experience.

What are your thoughts of the sample sale? Do you think you will attend if you are in the area?

P.S. I did look for the Zebra tee (refer to here) and could not find it. If anyone saw or actually got it, please let us know! ;)