Its been a couple of years since I'd done a serious Target collection run. My last run was the Neiman Marcus collection released during Christmas and since I lived in a smaller city (San Luis Obispo) at the time, all of the items were still on the shelf by the time I arrived in the afternoon.
Not so much now!
I actually wasn't going to go to Target but when I had gone online and saw that the collection was available, I panicked! I really wanted the super cute jumper for Lily (Lily in Lilly... love it!) and everything was sold out online. So it was early enough (7:30am) where I dressed L, jumped in the car and went out!
Two random things:
1. My hubby must have thought I was nuts because i'm never that bright eyed and ready to go at 7:30am on a Sunday... and
2. I'd like to thank my precious Lily for waking up at 5:30am today because if it weren't for that wake-up call, I wouldn't have scored these goodies for her!
We got there in 10 minutes and as I was driving, I thought to myself that no one here in their right mind would be at Target this early for this stuff. Boy was I wrong!
When we walked in, there were probably 40 women with carts piled high in the Women's section. I panicked again and thought maybe this was the only end cap and I wouldn't get to my that precious jumpsuit. As I walked by these women, there were brightly colored bowls, umbrellas, towels... Clearly they hit up the housewares area before tackling women's.
After seeing the giant group, I made a beeline for what I thought was the toddler's area. I grabbed a jumpsuit in an XS but quickly realized I was in the girls section. So, I threw that down and quickly walked to the toddlers area. That endcap was FULLY STOCKED and not a soul around! I was able to grab the piece I wanted and a few more that I didn't even consider!
Who was a happy camper? This lady! L was pretty excited too... when we walked in, she was laughing and screaming! She could probably feel momma's endorphins kicking in!
Feeling high as a kite (i'm not ashamed to say that shopping gives me a rush lol), I decided to meander and check out the other areas to see what was left.
Housewares was pretty much empty except for a few pieces like candleholders, some string lights, a super cute platter which I should've picked up...
Girl's was mostly untouched when I got there but was starting to thin out when I had come back around.
Beauty still had its endcap intact!
Women's had a decent amount of product but mostly in L-XL.
I didn't get a chance to see the SHOE section either.
I talked to quite a few ladies that said they had arrived at 6am. I spoke with more that arrived at 8am to find a line that snaked around to the back of the building. Online wasn't such a great experience after reading Twitter. With all the ruccus, the site had crashed and then after only a few minutes, everything online was gone!
I overheard a few tidbits for shopping during collection times and I thought i'd share them with you. Keep in mind, these are for shopping in stores only. Online is a whole other beast that I cannot speak to:
1. Do your HOMEWORK. I never thought school would condition me for shopping but it most certainly has! Make sure you check out the collection's lookbook before you go in or shop online. I don't prefer to blind shop and its good to know pricing of the pieces you want before you go. Also, make sure you know what time Target opens and maybe even study the layout of the store if you really want to be prepared.
2. Get in line...EARLY. This really can make or break whether or not you get the item you can't live without.
3. Be STRATEGIC. If you know your way around the store, be sure to take the quickest and most direct path to the area you want to get to first.
4. Grab a buddy and SHOP MULTIPLE STORES. Grab some friends or family (or your hubby if he's up for it) and split up! Choose a store and then follow steps 1 & 2.
5. Hang out by the DRESSING ROOM. As I was quickly heading to the toddler area, I noticed a large group by the dressing room. I thought they all had stuff to try on! As it turns out, half of them were there to try and snag what others wanted. One woman I talked to said she was there pretty much the whole time and gathered quite a bit of stuff!
6. Wander the STORE. As I was checking out other areas, there were pieces of LP here and there that were abandoned along the way. Coveted pieces! I didn't want to leave them behind but definitely wasn't down to have the hubby give me the eye when I pulled out a size 7-8 girl's dress when Lily is only 11 months old.
7. Don't forget to watch the CHECK OUT areas! As I was checking out, I talked to the cashier who had been there since 8am. Her station was PILED HIGH with housewares stuff... towels, plates, a super cute blanket that I really should've snagged...and other stuff she said was under her station. Apparently two different women had rang up for $1000 and $770 and my guess was they didn't want the stinkeye from their husbands either, so they ditched some stuff. The registers are a great area to look for last minute ditched stuff!
Did you get out to Target for Lilly? What did you purchase?
