Hi! I also wanted to share my experience from the first day of grand opening (7/28). I arrived around 11ish and didn't go into the store till around 1:15, so the wait times of being ~2 hours is pretty accurate. Made a couple of friends in line and we were all hoping to leave with bags.
Walked in and met the store director at the BH store who said she was helping out for the opening of this new store. She asked us to walk around and explore and to reach out if we were looking for anything in particular. Initially, I was pretty surprised the store was so small compared to the BH location. When I first read press stories about Hermes taking over the Sears location at Topanga, I thought it was going to be at least 2 stories!
Told her I was looking for a Kelly belt (black ghw) and asked if there were any bags available. She said she would go back and take a look and came back with two belts (black phw and gold with ghw). Shortly afterwards she was being whisked away and came back with a SA that would be able to help me that day.
The new SA took down my info, we exchanged #'s, and I gave him a wishlist of items and asked if they had any mini Evelyns available. Almost every person in front of me was being offered a mini Evelyn in different colors (one in black and another in a red tone) while I was waiting for the right Kelly belt to show up. As I roamed around the store, the ladies I met during our time in line said that they were also being getting bags! One said she got offered a gray Birkin (don't know which size) and the other said they got offered a mini Evelyn (not sure the color). They said that they kept asking even though their SAs said that none were available, but it sounds like their persistence paid off.
My SA came back and said that there weren't any mini evelyns available that he could offer me and then apologized for needing to leave our appointment and introduced me to another person who would be able to assist me. I soon found out that the 3rd person I met in a span of 30 mins is the West Coast VP of Hermes. He saw that I was looking at the black Chypre sandals and asked for my size. He came back with the beige mastic color and a shearling version, but none in black. I politely declined and asked if he had any mini Evelyns available. He shared that there weren't any available since most of them were sold to the first couple of people who arrived in the store that morning (like the 6am wait in line shoppers), but asked if I was only looking at crossbody bags in particular. I said that I would be open to a mini Lindy, mini Bolide, Kelly 25, etc. He told me to wait a few mins and see what's available in the back. Moments later, he took us to one of the dressing rooms with an orange box. He revealed a black Geta in Chevre with phw. It was gorgeous, but it wasn't a bag that was on my mind at all so we politely declined and decided to wait for the bags I really wanted.
After hearing no twice, I wanted to try my luck again with first person I met on my visit (the store director from BH) and asked if she had any mini Evelyns available in a neutral color. She went back and came empty-handed. It was the same story we heard that there were none she could offer us, but she suggested that I stay in touch with my SA and that I shouldn't worry about not getting a mini Evelyn in the near future.
All in all, I walked away with one Kelly belt, but no shoes or bags. Thanks for taking the time to read this entire saga! I'll probably return when things die down, but wanted to know from this group -- do you know if they sell beauty items in this store or do we need to contact our SA to order the items for us?