Back at our hotel and ready to share! (Warning to all: You might need a coffee before you tuck into this behemoth of a recap! This will be LONG…I am verbose, and I figure more detail is better than less, as I want to be as helpful as possible!)
DAY 1: Alas, No Luck
Our flight to Paris landed almost an hour late, so we were rushing to try and get to FSH as quickly as possible from CDG but still didn’t make it there until about 10:15 AM, at which point, the line at the main entrance was already 30+ deep, and I was standing in front of the Givenchy storefront next door! Miraculously, we were still able to snag an appointment…but a very late one – at 5:40 PM. Our appointment time kept changing like crazy, but we ended up still having our appointment at around our assigned time. We received a text saying “Your SA is almost ready. You will soon receive the place of your appointment” about 15 minutes before our actual appointment. And then, right before our appointment, we got a text with the name of our SA and where to find her. As soon as I saw which SA we had been assigned, my heart sank a little bit, as I recognized the name from some previous posts here. And let’s just say that the SA was…pretty much as she has been described. As soon as I saw the name, I knew it was going to be a no.
She was very…direct, and we didn’t even really get the chance to try and make friendly small talk at the start of the appointment. She came over, said hi, and immediately asked what we wanted. We told her our preferences, and she did not take down any notes before she left to go check in the back. In my nervousness, I forgot to mention my hardware preference, and after she left, my husband and I realized she didn’t even bother to ask me about hardware preferences! (Another bad sign…) After about 10 minutes, she came back empty handed and told us that unfortunately there was nothing left for the day. I then asked to see if I could take a look at some display Birkins, as I had never tried one on before. We chatted a little bit as we did that, where she warmed up a lot more, asking us more questions on preferences and how long we were visiting for. She did mention she would be off the next day and recommended trying to get an earlier appointment time. At the end of our appointment, she walked us upstairs to the Christmas display and left us to enjoy the decorations.
Overall, while we were unsuccessful in scoring a bag, we considered ourselves very lucky to have even been able to snag an appointment! So we counted it a day well spent, as we were able to familiarize ourselves with the whole FSH process.
DAY 2: Hooray!
Today, we woke up a little later than originally intended but made it to FSH at around 9:10 AM. My husband and I decided to line up at the main door entrance. There were probably around 20 to 25 people in front of us. (Around 10AM or so, the line at the side entrance was also very long – all the way to the corner of the street.) By the time the store opened, I think there were probably 30 or so people in front of us, thanks to groups who let their friends join in and jump the queue. At 10:30 AM, a large group from the main entrance was admitted, and then I think a batch of people from the side entrance was admitted. We were part of maybe the second or third wave of people from the main entrance line. By the time we made it inside, there was already a pretty long line for appointments. (We noticed some sneaky line-gaming when we were inside: there were two women who had been waiting directly in front of us in line before the store opened who also had a friend waiting at the side entrance. I guess their friend got inside and in line for an appointment earlier than they did…so they left their place in line and went to join their friend, who was probably 10 people in front of us! In turn, they were able to snag earlier appointments.)
My husband and I got an appointment for 1:10 PM. We left FSH by around 10:50 AM and walked around the area/got some food to eat. Based on yesterday, we decided to wait for the first text from FSH saying our appointment was almost ready before heading over to the store because we didn’t want to be waiting around in the store. Buuuuut, at 12:58 PM, we suddenly got the text saying our SA was available and where to meet her! We never got the warning text! (We were super confused because at this point, the webpage that shows your appointment time was still saying 1:30 PM!) We rushed over to the store and made it there just before 1:10 PM. When we gave the hostess our information, we were informed that we were too late and had missed our original appointment but that they would assign us to a different SA. We were so bummed but also so relieved that we were still going to have an appointment. We checked the webpage again, and now it said our appointment time would be around 1:45 PM. However, at around 1:25 PM, we got another text saying our (newly assigned) SA was available, so we went upstairs to the leather department to meet him.
We introduced ourselves, shook hands, and were led to a table where we sat down and made small talk for a few minutes. When he came to meet us, our SA already had a piece of paper in his hand (unlike our SA from the night before, who walked over to us without a paper, pen, or phone). It was a white paper template sheet, and he asked for a passport and took down some information on the form, including birthday and passport number. (While we were chatting, we noticed he casually marked an X in a box labeled “Det” on his form. Not sure what that meant, but just something random we both noticed.) He asked us our preferences, and I told him what I was hoping to buy my first Birkin: B30 in Togo or Epsom, dark colours, PHW, etc. I did say I tried on the 35 last night and confirmed it was too big for me. I’ve also seen some posts with the new Cuivre colour here on tPF and mentioned that I might also consider that if no dark/neutrals were to be found. After he finished noting the preferences on the paper, he asked me if there was anything else that I was looking for, and I said, no. He asked if I would consider a Kelly, and I said I really had my heart set on a Birkin. Interestingly, it seemed like he was trying to talk me into a Kelly for a little bit, but I was already sure of what I wanted. After that, our SA left, asked if we wanted anything to drink, and we sipped on coffee while we waited.
(While we were waiting, the SA who was helping the man seated at the table next to us returned with two large boxes, and we overheard him saying that there were no Birkins available. He opened up the two boxes right at the table: a Garden Party and a Toolbox.)
Finally, after about 15 or 20 minutes of waiting, we spotted our SA returning with one big box and two smaller boxes in hand! He placed them on the table in front of us but told us that we would have to wait for a private room to become available. At this point, my husband and I were internally going, “!!!!!!”, but we remained composed externally and didn’t try to ask what was inside the boxes. We chatted with the SA for probably another 10 minutes or so, and still, no rooms were available. We ended up moving to a far corner of the upstairs (in women’s apparel), where we finally got to see what was inside the boxes! He said that he had a feeling I would like what he had for us and that it was a B30. He opened up the box, and out came a beautiful B30 in Etain Togo Leather with PHW! It was gorgeous! He told us that there was another B30 in the back in Cuivre and GHW, but he thought that might be a little “too much” and that he thought the Etain would be better, especially for a first Birkin. (He also said he would only be able to show us one bag at a time and that if we wanted to see the other one, he would have to take the Etain back.) It was an easy decision: we were taking the Etain with PHW! (The two smaller boxes were Fourbis, which I declined.)
I wanted some Twillies to go with my bag, so we went downstairs to pick some out and tried them on in the men’s section downstairs by the ties. My husband then picked out a tie he liked, so he bought that while we were there, too. After all of that, we paid, thanked our SA profusely, and walked out of FSH in shock!
TIPS/MISC INFO/ETC:
- I am a complete newbie to Hermes. This is literally my first H purchase…ever! I have no history with H, and my husband and I did not buy anything before we were offered a Birkin.
- For my appointment today, I wore: black Uniqlo jeans, a black Zara top, black OTK Zara boots, and a fox fur coat. I carried my black Longchamp neo tote.
- For those who have Netflix, take advantage of the new “downloads” feature to give you something to do while you are waiting in line (that doesn’t use up any data)! We watched “Stranger Things”, and it made the time go by so quickly.
Have a fabulous trip.
I will go to Paris in a week from now and am really focused on buying a travel bag - HAC 40 black Togo or Epsom. I know all of you ladies are going gaga about K or B (which I totally understand and share the same passion and love for H
