Maybe, it depends on the SA too.
When I bought my GST from BG, it was contained in a flimsy box.
My jumbo beige caviar came in a flimsy box too, from NM.
But my maxi chevron came in a hard box with a lid and I got this from Bloomies.
I purchased all of them this month.
The GST doesn't come in the hard boxes w/lids. The only bags I have that came in that type box were my Jumbo & Maxi. My GST & most of my larger tote type bags came in a thinner box.
My GST came in a flimsy box but my jumbos came in a hard box. To be honest, I don't have much use for boxes and they take up too much space. But I would still like to always get a nice hard box just bc I paid $$$ for the bag Leather bound sounds dreamy!