The épi is definitely still available today and will be for the near future at least. The fact that some areas, or even countries do not have a high inventory of x item at x time does not mean that it is discontinued. For example, the Pochette métis has always been hard to come by in the US, but it is always readily available in Japan. Another example is the Dauphine, which until some weeks ago, was impossible to come by in some countries, but was readily available in Asia in very large amounts.
Going back to the Alma, of course that the in-store stock and produced colors are very few compared to 2014, to name a “recent” year with many options available, but your SA should definitely be able to source one from you with full deposit since this is required now even to get a Neverfull MM.
As for why your SA told you this, maybe she/he was misled by the store/local management or maybe she/he made it up.