Today was a busy shopping day. Both Hermes and The Row opened up their discount dens to press and VIPs ahead of their public sales. Prices at both sales can make a rich girl poor but those shopping for Hermes or The Row don’t suffer from sticker shock easily.

This year, the Hermes sale is better than the past several sales but brand veterans were still were not very impressed. Most everything is priced at 50% off retail. Shoppers will find a nice assortment of scarves — Do you need more? — enamel bracelets — Do you wear the ones you own?

The sale has no leather bags, wallets or small leather times. We also didn’t find any leather bracelets or belts. Ties are plentiful as are shoes and boots. The best items, if there are any left, are the Cape Cod watches, gloves and hats. The sale also includes a bit of china and clothing.

One thing that was abundant were the limits. For obvious reasons, each shopper could only purchase three scarves, five bracelets and 10 ties. We hear that some sales people will hold scarves so that you can take another pass at the checkout line but we didn’t have the need to try.

As we arrived, we noticed that the brand’s popular chunky knit sweaters where quickly evaporating. By the time we left there were very few remaining. Bags were plentiful but going fast. The assortment included totes, backpacks, shoulder bags and satchels. There is also an entire table of gorgeous exotic bags. As you can assume, people were buying a lot of bags but there didn’t seem to be any hoarding.

Other popular items include leather dresses, like this long sleeve mini style and the more classic sheath dress. There are leather leggings and leather coats too. There didn’t seem to be as many blouses or coats as the past sale but the racks were filled with lots of dresses, pants and blazers. This school-boy jacket is one of our favorite items from the collection and we found it in both black and cream.

Almost everything at the sale is from this season’s collection. Even if items are older, the styling of The Row is so classic that you would never know. Sizes run from 0 to 12 but there is only about half a rack of 0s. As we always say, The Row is the closest you will come to a civilized sample sale. Dare we even say, we enjoy shopping the sale more than Barneys???

Hermes
Thursday, October 23 through Saturday, October 25
9am-6pm daily
Soiffer Haskin, 317 W. 33rd St btwn 8th & 9th Ave

The Row
Thursday, October 23 through Sunday, October 25
Thurs 12pm-7pm, Fri 9am-7pm, 9am-6pm
Metropolitan Pavilion
123 West 18th Street, 4th Floor