There’s a Hermes store one block away from our hotel, very near the French café we wanted to eat in but couldn’t read nor understand their menu.
I went in and immediately spotted a Filipino sales staff. I spoke to his co-worker. He didn’t even glance at me. Kababayan ako, wala man lang ngiti or hi.
This Hermes boutique do not carry a lot of merhandise especially handbags. They advised me to visit a bigger store in Saint Honore. That’s a little farther away, dun yan papuntang Opera. One time nalakad ko hanggang duon, dalawang araw naman akong nirayuma.
Edmund and I took a cab to the Hermes store located in 24 Rue du Faubourg, Saint Honore.
Our taxi fare was 5.9 but the minimum fare was 6.60 Euro. Malapit lang pala yung lugar. Malapit pag naka taxi pero malayo kung lalakarin.
The taxi has a panoramic roof.
I asked the male Hermes agent standing at the entrance where I could find handbags. Doon daw sa loob.
I went inside and saw a woman looking at two Birkin bags, one orange, one looked like a camouflage color.
She looked so torn between the two. The way I read her body movements and her buntong hininga, was she liked the smaller orange bag but found the price too stiff. Guess ko lang yan.
I waited till she was done looking before I asked the sales lady if I could take a look at the bags. She said those were only for demonstration. And for me to look at them, I have to fall in line. That said, I looked for the queue and fell in line. I was 11th in line and 9 were mainland Chinese. Half were men.
We stood beside this display cabinet.
Most of the customers inside the boutique were Asians, mostly from mainland China.
The lady in front of me was Japanese born but living in Paris. I heard her speaking to the sales staff in French. I asked her what she’s buying. She said she received a gift certificate and would use it to buy a bag. I asked if she’s going to buy a Birkin, she said no. She doesn’t like daw a Birkin kasi so many have it already. She worked at the Cartier shop across the street, she even showed me her Cartier bag. She said she finds it crazy to have to wait in line just to look and buy something expensive. It’s her one hour lunch break and it’s almost up. That’s her third time to wait in line.
I waited for 20 minutes before I was able to speak to an agent. She’s French. I didn’t look at the two Birkin for demo. I just asked her for some information. She said they have bag delivery every day but she claims they don’t know what kinds of bag are included in the deliveries.
They don’t accept reservations, no telephone inquiries either, one has to personally come and fall in line everyday. She said you could come every single day for 3 months and still no guarantees. Or you may just show up, try your luck, and who knows? That’s a lot of ek-ek.
