Rustan's Fire Sale Review (May 5 - 9, 2010)

After a hard work week of pure unaduteralted torture, I finally found myself at the office, on a Friday, with absolutely nothing to do.  With still 2 and half hours to spare before the final dismissal time, I decided, instead, to file for undertime to take the opportunity to get a head start on some errands I had to attend to later in the evening.

So after receiving my boss' approval, I hopped on the MRT and went to Megamall, where most of my errands lay.  However, I had finished earlier than expected so off I went to Shangri-la Plaza for some much-needed shopping therapy.

Rustan's Fire Sale

I had heard of Rustan's Fire Sale last May 5, 2010, when it first started.  Browsing through various blogs didn't really give a lot of information regarding the sale items themselves.  All I knew was that apparently a portion of Shangri-la Plaza's grocery area suffered from a fire, of which resulted in a smokey scent clinging to a lot of items, particularly the merchandise being sold in the department store.

I was a little apprehensive of going at first, especially when the morning after the second sale day, I heard stories from numerous disgruntled buyers who, after queuing in line for a while to enter the store, left with zero purchases.  The stench was also enough to have made you do a double take.

But curiosity got the better of me, that plus the fact that my mom wanted to check it later in the evening as well, motivated me enough to undertake this quest.  So off I went in my office clothes and a pair of comfy flipflops.  I was bracing myself for a really long line, but lo and behold!  No mad thong at the entrance.  No lines of impatient buyers waiting for their chance to enter.  There were, however, ropes waiting by the side.  I guess in preparation of tomorrow's (May 8, 2010) crowds.

EDSA Shangri-La mall

I'm not exactly a fan of Shangri-la Plaza mall.  For one thing, it's a little too high-end for my taste (sorry).  Plus I get lost a lot.  And I do mean A LOT.  Who wouldn't with elevators skipping floors and whatnot!  And don't get me started about the "pay" restroom.  10 bucks for a dingy, dim CR!  Gimme a break!

But I digress.  Back to the sale.  =)

I went around the ground floor first and what immediately hit me when I entered the mall were not the low priced items, but the smell (stench if you will) of the remnants of smoke and fire.  I couldn't exactly describe it but it hit me hard that I coughed.  (P.S. I saw a lot of preggies there.  Maybe it isn't really such a good thing to be there because of the smell.  Just my 2 cents, though.)

Anyway, I tried looking for good polo shirts for hubby but couldn't find one that were appealing to me.  Moved to Lacoste where the offerings were sooooo meagre.  Nakakawalang gana talaga.  Cosmetics?  Zilch.  Nada.  They were disposed to ensure safety and quality.  I did see a few perfumes though, but didn't ask prices since I wasn't really interested in them that time.

Gucci and Tod's were closed by the time I arrived but I was later able to locate their bags in a tight, cordoned, heavily secured area on the second floor. You can enter but you cannot bring unpaid purchases in.  I guess this is to prevent theft.

The second floor was another story.  After a few minutes of browsing, I was able to buy a blue Arrow blouse for P450 (it was originally selling for P1,099.75) and a pair of brown Sugar wedges for P885 (originally selling for P2,950).  

Blue Arrow blouse

In detail

Brown Sugar wedges

Such a pair of cuties!

The blue Arrow blouse had a "damaged" tag attached to it but upon closer inspection, the only thing wrong with it was the smell.  It reeked of smoke.

The wedges has a funny story that comes with it.  An officemate and I were contemplating how Rustan's could sustain this sale til May 9 when, based from blogs we've been reading of the event, stuff were literally flying off the shelves.  She thought that it sounded fishy and guessed that personnel were keeping stock inside, only displaying a specific number of items for a day and reserving the rest for another time.

I saw the last pair of size 6 brown Sugar wedges on display and immediately grabbed it before anyone else could beat me to it.  However, to my surprise, as I was fitting the thing, I realized they were 2 left side shoes!  So I asked the saleslady if they had another pair.  She mentioned that it was the last one.  I fired back and told her that if it was true that I was holding onto the last pair, there must be some idiot who bought 2 right sides of the same shoe.  Being caught in her lie (of which I'm sure she was just instructed to do so), she went at the back and brought out the right partner!  So I guess that just proves that stocks ARE being replenished everyday.  Hehehe!

I also tried looking for items at the children's and home sections.  No luck there.  Most looked tatty and used.  Items looked like they came from ukay-ukays than from Rustan's.  This I bet are really old unsold stock as well.

On my way to Lush, I also stopped by Gap first.  There's this room at the back of the store where they were selling their fire damaged goods (btw, I noticed that each floor had a SALE and a FIRE SALE area.  Those in the FIRE SALE really reeked.  The other one, I guess piled with old stock).  Unfortunately, there were only around 5 to 8 pieces of clothing left.  And this was only around 6 p.m.!  Cashier line was really long and I spotted this one girl who had a full box of clothing!  Parang takot maubusan.  Hahaha!  Anyway, she wasn't the only one.  I even saw people with 3 to 5 Le Sportsac bags (although on sale, there were still selling at P4,+++ a bag!)  Parang candy lang kung bumili a!  =D

So off to Lush I went, and a good thing too, since I was able to buy soaps for a steal!  The Spicy Curls exfoliant soap was selling for P50 per 100 grams, the Dark Angels facial scrub for P75. 

Lush!

All in all, I'd say the sale was worth it, but you have to be very, very cautious as well.  I've noticed that not all items were casualties from the fire incident.  A lot of the items seemed like old unsold stock.  There were even a pair of shoes that had really bad scuff marks.  Seems like the shoes have been used already.  Just be wary and don't just buy just because its on sale.

Cashier lines were also long!  Apparently, the sales personnel had to manually list down all items bought.  And it didn't really help that there was only 1 cashier at each SALE and FIRE SALE area.  Bring a lot of patience.

Make sure you bring a hanky and cover your nose when you first enter.  You can actually still smell the remnants of the fire and smoke inside the mall.  It takes a while to get used to the stench.

Hope this review helps those who have plans on going there on the final sale days.  =)