I'm a born and bred bargain shopper, so paying retail for
anything can hurt! That said, once you move out of Banana Rebublic/Nine West (not knocking them - my sister-in-law has a lovely moss green leather BR purse and I have some vinyl 9W that I actually wore out, I carried them so much) territory into higher end bags, I think HH actually gives good value for the money.
Remember I waited two years for my Mercer triple-c in Iznik yellow to go on sale. The frequent sale thing is new this summer - they had an apparel sale in April (so I actually got HH clothes before any bags), then the madness really got rolling with the Big Bang sale, which went right into the Last Chance sale, then the brick-and-mortar sample sale with only the briefest pause before the Labor Day sale. Prior to all this, I only ever saw an annual winter sale. Could I have forgone other shopping for a while and saved for the full-price Mercer? Of course, but paying over $400 for any single item is anethema to a vintage maven!
Still, HH is priced better than bags of comparable quality (
Coach comes to mind), but manages to maintain high design/uniqueness/quality standards. I got the Pastis with just the regular "thank you for purchasing" discount code they send out with all of their shipments (ROCK2007), and I would have been happy to pay full price - I wanted to carry it this season, rather than waiting for their spring bags to come out for the prior season to be discounted. No, they are not as established as Botkier et. al., but we are probably paying a small premium for bags that aren't on every highstreet or on most people's radar and will set you apart (without screaming, of course!). They haven't got the volume sales yet.
Of course, most of their styles have an "instant classic" feel - easier without logos all over them to date them to year x's it bag - so waiting to purchase a style until it is reduced won't take away any of your pleasure in it. To wrap up this ramble, are they worth retail? Yes, if you can stomach paying retail. But smart shoppers know when to wait - after all, if they weren't worth it, would we all feel we'd gotten such a bargain? By definition, it means we paid less than something is worth! Plus, I always find that when I score a bargain, I love it all the more. It makes me feel stylish and savvy, and that is a very attractive combination!