Ya, I admit it. Was one of those suckers queuing up outside Uniqlo this evening. That was my 2rd time at the store. The first time, I saw that people were actually queuing just to get in, and instinctively walked away. Decided to have dinner at Mac's first. Came back an hour later. The queue had gotten longer; it snaked around the storefront to the corridor next to it, out the door to the lifts, then out to the stairwell. Nearly walked away again, but then the queue started moving, and I joined it when it ended at the door leading to the lifts.It was ridiculous. I snapped two photos of the queues, and would post them if I could, but they're stuck in my handphone, and I don't know how to transfer them to the computer.
Anyway. Pandemonium inside. There weren't a lot of people. Well not really. Compared to food fare crowds at Expo, I'd say this was nothing, they controlled the human volume pretty well. But whoever were there or had been there certainly knew how to work up a mess. Clothes were strewn everywhere. Labels were blocked. Interminable lines stood in front of the fitting rooms and cashiers. I was so lost I had to ask one of the staff where the ladies t-shirt section was. But when I'd found it, I saw that the battle was lost. All the T-shirts in my size had been snapped up. I spent probably half an hour sifting through the heaps of clothes, but only M, L and XL pieces remained. Those pro shoppers had strategies. They'd grab a bunch of clothes in their basket, take their time to try on everything, then throw out stuff they don't want.
I was ready to give up and leave with the black tunic I'd picked up right at the beginning, until I found out it wasn't a discounted item. Which was probably the whole reason I managed to pick it up in the first place. ARGH. Absolutely refused to go to a grand opening sale and leave with one non-sale thing. So plunged into the mayhem again, and ended up an hour later buying a black linen shirt. Ya, Uniqlo's famous for those. But at least it's $10 cheaper than usual.
Overheard during my 1+ hour in Uniqlo:
Middle-aged fashionista to husband, barely 5 minutes after entering store. "走了啦，我很乱."
Annoyed male shopper A to annoyed male shopper B. "Do you know I walked around the store 10 times?" "Ya, I also walked around the store many times." "Then how come I never see you?" Ah, the perils of shopping in a packed store where there's no handphone signal.
Singaporean employee to Jap store supervisor (I assume). "Do you mean clean it [the clothes] up by folding them?" The Jap employees there must've been aghast at the state of things.
Female shopper A to female shopper B while sifting through "Love for UT" T-shirt pile. "Do you see Give Peace the chance?"
2 comments:
Hi gals, Dawn here. I went to Tampines 1 on Good Friday (Day 2). It was the same situation as Xiangq described. Super crowded. I should have anticipated. Public holiday.. My main aim there was to browse the flagship Uniqlo store but I was put off by the long Q that stretched all the way into the stuffy stairwell. I didn't get in line. Disappointed. I only managed to scan the shop's display from the outside. Maybe it's just my sour grapes.. Not really my kind of shopping. However, my journey to the East is not in vain. I managed to get a floral dress at Cache-Cache. Yeah~ Overall shopping experience in Tampines 1 is not too fantastic. Only draws are Uniqlo and Cache-Cache. Manupuku is also something special over at Tampines 1. Like Shokudo's concept. Japanese-Marche style. As for the remaining shops, they can be found in various other shopping malls around Sg. Maybe, just maybe, I'll make another journey to the East for Uniqlo. Or wait for its Orchard outlet.. :)
Hey Dawn. Don't think you missed much. Did I tell you on Sat? But anyway, most of the good stuff were gone by the 1st day. Unless you want to go for the regular polos and jeans, which weren't so great (nor cheap). But yup, I wanna go see Manpuku! When the crowds die down la.
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