They indeed should hve given those time to the vips friday night. What a waste of commoner’s time on Saturday. And the entire event felt like a slap on our commoner’s faces when these vip’s walk in and out like they dont care. We were like sweating and being rained upon outside.
Hermes Austin
- Thread starter MSimis
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Same here, I just want to see the new store and find some scarves/earrings I don't see online. No need to rush, I can wait out. But this opening is rather disappointing.
for me, a Q would’ve been nice but I just wanted a ML or evelyne tpm and to check out shoes and scarves also. It would’ve been much easier to get homeware and rtw! Now I don’t know if I ever want to purchase from there despite living 15 min away.
the head of security relayed Tuesday would be the better time to come in but other rumors say Monday will have stock…
Friday night was a private event showing the store and dinner. They basically got their appt then. The list Itself was a folded page held by security at the door… save everyone the frustration and make Saturday the vip day! It really demonstrated how they do not value our patronage
I mean I think they did make Saturday the vip day, but they wanted to make sure they could serve as many people as possible if the VIPs were late or quick or didn’t show up. Since Covid, most stores are operating this way every day; regulars have appointments and walk ins form a line by the door where they are slowly helped as SAs become available. Other than telling people earlier information that they should have been able to see on their own (ie this line hasn’t moved in two hours, the store closes in two hours and there are 100 people in front of me, Im not going to get in today) I’m not sure what else H could have done. Frankly, I‘d expect all next week, and maybe even the following week, to have the same line/wait/appointment preference.
There was a group of ladies from Dallas and another lady with a large followers on IG from Houston got in and stayed in there until the store was about to close. It was embarrassing. Even the head of security kept coming out and said they wouldn’t leave. They saw others getting offered bags they wanted, and they said I wanted those too. The head of security came back multiple times checking on them and gave us updates on time. He said these girls don’t care about the line. They just sit there until they get something they wanted.
Ladies- if you see this post, could you shine some lights on the process of how you got your bags yesterday? There are people who got in, and got out right away with what they wanted. You guys got in, stayed for hours, left at 5:20pm. I think one lady who came in as the same group with you walked out at least 2 hours before you did with a Birkin 30 Etain Gold hardware. Although I have to say this lady was very lucky that she got in with you guys. She was in line behind me, somehow made friends with you guys and “skipped” everyone else and became one of the front line people.
The VIPs got mixed in with the people who waited in line. Then we had others who were there to hold spots for people. Ratio wasn’t 1:1, someone was holding 1 spot for 4 people. We were close to the front but never got in because of these people who got in and refused to leave, along with the mixed in VIPs who walked back in and out frequently to shop multiple times.
Give it a few weeks for the hype to die down. Not taking away from any of your experiences. Short of kicking out the VIPs, what would you all suggest that the store could have done better?
I honestly think it would have been better if they did not announce that the store was opening for the general public yesterday. They should have reserved Saturday for VIPs and then opened for the general public on Monday. They just should have been honest.
There's plenty that the store could have done better.
- VIPs already had the opportunity to shop yesterday. They could have limited VIP access today. It was advertised as a grand opening for the general public and maybe 20 people who waited in line from 6 a.m. or earlier were able to get into the store. If they weren't ready or willing to actually open to the general public, then push the general public opening to another day. At a minimum, transparency on this point would have been helpful.
- They should have had more than six SAs on duty, which might have helped get more people in the store. It was a big store but there was barely anyone in there at a given time.
- They should have been letting people in more consistently. For example, two in and two out. Instead, there would be large groups who left and then others would trickle out shortly thereafter but they wouldn't let anyone in. Then they would let two people in after an hour or longer.
- There was no enforcement of the line. As someone mentioned earlier, people were cutting and others were saving spots for four or five people. When I got to the store at 6 a.m., I was 15th in line. By the time the store opened, I was 40th in line. I have never seen something like that happen before. They could have handed out numbers in the line early AM like they do for console drops or sneaker drops and alleviated this problem. This also would have allowed people to leave and go rest in their car or do something else and come back later. Alternatively, a lottery system would have been more equitable than what happened.
- As noted earlier, those in the line got rained on and by the end of the day, had sunburns from the sun. It would have been nice if the store prepared for this and set up an awning or umbrellas or anything to make the line more tolerable, particularly where they simply weren't letting people in.
Well- I do believe people have covered this pretty well in here. Lots of things would have helped. And I can tell you this as an Austin born native, and Texan, that with this kind of model that may work in other cities I do not expect it to work well here, at least with native people (like those I spoke with on the street watching all the hullabaloo).
We do not take kindly to lack of transparency or manners. Austin (whether you think it does or not) operates very strongly on friendship connection and "I go to this person or teacher or place" because someone I know does. And if someone you know DOESN'T, for whatever reason, you likely won't either....no matter what brand name they may heft.
And to me (both as a customer and a business owner myself), FUTURE customers also need to be included in a company's "customer service" ethics. Why would you not? It's sheer stupidity not to. I guess maybe they really do expect to make a store successful by pinning most of their cash income hopes on the event tourists?
When the Hermesmatic came on 2017/18 (can't recall which year now), it was a true "open to the public" and friendly event. THAT helped make it successful (and I did ask it it had been and they said one of the most successful Hermesmatics). What they did over the weekend was the opposite, and perhaps they don't understand the people here like they thought they did. Or resting still on their laurels with their name, which will mean absolutely nothing here in Austin if politeness doesn't work itself in to the picture somewhere?? Or they don't care. Not sure which yet. ???
I'll surely try going in again, as I have been buying H for 8 years now, but if it's that fiddly to go in, I'm sure to stick to what I've been doing instead of going in. It's certainly not something I'm going to stress myself over to become "acceptable" or "noticeable" as a (mere scarf) customer to them. High school was a long time ago. It nauseated me then and now and I found my way out of that popularity party too.
Some of the VIPs dont even looke like VIPs. 
Ok im zipping it. Unpopular opinion.
Ok im zipping it. Unpopular opinion.
all i gotta say is that there was a lady in a pink dress that was allowed to come back in two times after her first appt. opening day 