Prologue:”Hi, I’m Raine and I’m a Shopaholic.” Raine introduced herself at the SS* convention held at the Grand Hyatt.
“Hi, Raine.” The other members greeted and continued with their activities.
Chapter 1: The Calling“Le-Long, Le-Long, FJB sale ! FJB sale ! HURRY HURRY, DON’T MISS OUT! GET YOUR FRIENDS TOGETHER AND SAVE MORE AH!!” The sales men called and the shopaholics flocked in masses down to the Grand Hyatt for the annual SS convention held by FJ Benjamin.
Translation:
Raine was among the shopaholics. Along with 2 other colleagues of hers, they joined the queue to enter the ballroom during their lunch hour.
Upon entering, Raine was neither deterred by the masses, nor was she deterred by the mess. Being a well-trained SS member, especially with limited time on her hands, Raine went straight to conquer her top priority – LA SENZA LINGERIE!
Chapter 2: First Stop“COME! COME AND SEE! Seduce your partners with these sexy lingeries! Or sleep in beautiful bliss with our comfy pyjamas! 1 piece for $25, but don’t stop at 1, BUY 3 FOR $45!”
Raine dived into the pile, shouting “Gimmie 3!”
When she emerged, she found she had 4. No, 5 pieces! No, 4…but the offer is 3 for $45! Before she could decide, her colleague called.
Chapter 3: Plan of attack!“Have you seen the queue to pay?! It’s super long. We need a plan of attack. Let’s take turns to queue! I’ll go queue first, 10 minutes later, you come over, OK?” Her colleague discussed.
“Great plan!” Raine ended the call and returned her attention to her lingeries.
After a grueling elimination process among the lingeries, she decided time was precious and stuffed the final selected 4 pieces into her TBP** bag before proceeding to take her turn at the payment queue.
“I’ll decide which 3 pieces I want when I’m in the queue.” She strategized and headed over to find her colleague.
She was not swayed by the other sales men who were vying for her attention, “Miss, bras are only $18 each, or if you purchase 2, it’s only $30, but since you’re so pretty, if you buy 3, I’ll give it to you at $36 only! That means it’s only $12 each leh! VERY GOOD BUY!”
“I know, I know. I’ll come back later if I have time.” If I really want it.
Chapter 4: The queue!The queue was indeed long! While she was deciding which 3 lingeries to pick, her other colleague came over to relief her of her duties. TING*** Raine quickly recommended the lingeries to her.
“Go and see, I’ve got 4 pieces so if you find anything else you want, we can combine and get cheaper prices.”
It was a good move and her colleague returned with 2 more lingeries in hand and Shopaholic Raine didn’t need to eliminate any one of her buy!
Raine exchanged shift with her colleague and proceeded to overcome the next challenge!
Chapter 5: Only at the Hyatt!Her eyes twinkled as she approached the sales bins.
“You, ma’am!” A salesman called.
“Me?”
“Yes, you, ma’am. Come and check out our lovely Guess bags! It’s selling for 1 for $45, 3 for $120, or better yet, 6 for $180!!! Tell me where in Singapore can you find such good bargains?”
“Only at the ballroom of the Grand Hyatt?”
“Bingo! Only $30 a bag if you purchase 6 bags. Buy a few for yourself, for your mother, for your sister, for your aunty lah! It’s very good buy leh!”
Raine thought to herself, “If I could I would have bought a truckload – it was daylight
robbery savings!”
She did her mental calculations. Usually, the prices of guess bags are $180, or at minimum $100 during department store sales. At $30 a bag, that’s savings of $70 per bag (as compared to standard sales). TING!
“Give me 6!!!!”
Chapter 6: Better than Pasar Malam!She returned back to the queue to relief her colleagues and to recollect herself. She had 8 handbags in her hands. She only wanted 6, but she only liked 5. What should she do?
Not long after, her colleague came over to take over and she hurriedly returned the 2 least favourite handbags. The payment queue was getting shorter by the minute and it was now a race against time.
She chucked the 2 handbags and rushed over to the LA SENZA section again because her sister wanted bras!
The sales men hit the right notes, “…and La Senza bras going for 1 for $18 or 3 for $36. Panties at 5 for $10!!! It’s insane, isn’t it! You can’t even find 5 panties for $10 bargains at pasar malams, but you can find it here at the Grand Hyatt!
“I’ll take 3 bras!!”
Chapter 7: Just in time!Raine rejoined her colleagues just in time as they headed into the payment section (separate room where the queue continued on).
She stood in line to reorganize her buy. Her other colleague, seeing the many handbags Raine had in her hand was tempted and hopped out of the queue quickly to check out the handbags. Her colleague returned with one handbag and Raine had another TING moment.
5 bags for Raine + 1 bag for her colleague = 6 bags at $180!
So Raine settled her additional bag problem and made payment.
Chapter 7: To go or not to go!It was a very fruitful shopping trip, even though Raine didn’t even make it to the other sections such as clothes and shoes.
As she talked with her colleagues, she learnt more about the other brands on sale:
- RAOUL - $50 or less for men’s shirts
- GAP - 1 tshirt for $10, 3 for a lot cheaper
- GUESS - 3 pairs of shoes for $99 and more for cheaper!!!
- BANANA REPUBLIC - $25 for a dress
There were also Guess watches, wallets, Raoul accessories, etc....all on crazy sale but she didn't have time to look…so the NEXT big question is, will she return in the next couple of days?
To be continued…* SS – Shopping Shopaholics
** TBP – To Be Purchased
*** TING – Lightbulb moment
Note: All dialogues are fictitious, but sale & prices are FOR REAL!
