I’m heading to Paris and Barcelona in Early November and hoping to be able to get a bag or two. I only have k, c and evelyne on my list. I go to Paris first and will try there. I’m also wanting small leather goods and shoes while there as well. Hoping for a successful trip! I’m so glad to read Barcelona May be a little easier to score.
Shopping in Barcelona, Madrid and Lisbon.
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I’m heading to Madrid, Barcelona and Lisbon in a month. Any recent experience at these stores? Thanks!
I was in Barcelona earlier in the year. FYI there is a separate thread for Barcelona so please check there as well. I went to both stores (there is a freestanding Hermes boutique and a smaller store inside El Corte Ingles). At both stores I was served by trainee SAs. All were very pleasant.
I only bought a couple of scarves and some twillys at each location. I did ask about BKC - they said C very difficult to get. Said no B or K but didn't have the same "forget it" vibe as C. The El Corte Ingles SA told me I could get a Lindy if I came back the next day. When I went stock of Evelyne seemed good. I tried to get CDC and Kelly Dog at both, nothing in my size. Shoe selection okay but I don't like to stray from my shoes SA in another boutique so I did not purchase.
Both SAs stressed importance of building history in Spain. Neither could see my France history.
If you buy something and need VAT refund info I described the DIVA process at BCN in the VAT refund thread.
Good luck!
I only bought a couple of scarves and some twillys at each location. I did ask about BKC - they said C very difficult to get. Said no B or K but didn't have the same "forget it" vibe as C. The El Corte Ingles SA told me I could get a Lindy if I came back the next day. When I went stock of Evelyne seemed good. I tried to get CDC and Kelly Dog at both, nothing in my size. Shoe selection okay but I don't like to stray from my shoes SA in another boutique so I did not purchase.
Both SAs stressed importance of building history in Spain. Neither could see my France history.
If you buy something and need VAT refund info I described the DIVA process at BCN in the VAT refund thread.
Good luck!
I was in Lisbon a few weeks ago. Lisbon is a very small store with limited selection. They didn’t have anything on my list. Just ended up buying a Petit h bag charm made for Portugal.
Enjoy your trip and good luck!
Thanks for your response! I am looking for a Lindy 26 or 30. Did you ask for other bags you wanted or just browsed what’s available on display? It would be my first Hermès bag so I don’t know if it’s okay to ask when I am not a local. Thanks!
I was looking for some shoes and jewelry and asked for a bag in barenia....it was a long shot. Always ask!!!!
May I know which Petit h bag charm for Portugal did you see / get? I saw some in the Petit h thread previously and really really like them. I will go to Lisbon in August and hope they will still be available when I go! TIA.
They had them all ... tile square, rooster, sailboat and I think there was one other but don’t recall. I chose the rooster as the size worked best for my bags.
Thank you for your reply [emoji4] I hope I will be able to get the rooster too [emoji16]
I was in the Barcelona store last week and had great friendly service by 2 female SAs there.
I was in the Madrid store yesterday and it was an entirely different story. The store was quite busy with Asian clients buying lots of items (which is entirely understandable as prices are much better in Europe than in Asia). We had waited about 15 minutes after getting an SAs attention, who told us to wait as all other SAs were dealing with other clients. My gripe is that 2 other "new" people came into the store and were served before us. I will disclose here that we were very dressed down so perhaps this was why we were ignored. Finally , DH ran out of patience and explained to the SA that we had been waiting 20 minutes by this time and other walk-ins had been served before us. Her reply was "too bad for you". I realize that there may be a language barrier here.....but on the surface this seems a pretty offensive comment. DH requested to see the store manager and we did, who apologized and helped us. Overall, a distasteful experience & I would not recommend this store.
I also noticed while we were waiting that an SA was showing some handbags to a client & was not wearing gloves when she pulled out a Kelly & a cinematic (?) bag by the handles to show the client. I don't have any H bags but I was very surprised as my SA in my home store has said that H bags are always to be handled with gloves when showing these.
I was in the Madrid store yesterday and it was an entirely different story. The store was quite busy with Asian clients buying lots of items (which is entirely understandable as prices are much better in Europe than in Asia). We had waited about 15 minutes after getting an SAs attention, who told us to wait as all other SAs were dealing with other clients. My gripe is that 2 other "new" people came into the store and were served before us. I will disclose here that we were very dressed down so perhaps this was why we were ignored. Finally , DH ran out of patience and explained to the SA that we had been waiting 20 minutes by this time and other walk-ins had been served before us. Her reply was "too bad for you". I realize that there may be a language barrier here.....but on the surface this seems a pretty offensive comment. DH requested to see the store manager and we did, who apologized and helped us. Overall, a distasteful experience & I would not recommend this store.
I also noticed while we were waiting that an SA was showing some handbags to a client & was not wearing gloves when she pulled out a Kelly & a cinematic (?) bag by the handles to show the client. I don't have any H bags but I was very surprised as my SA in my home store has said that H bags are always to be handled with gloves when showing these.
I thought the gloves things is pretty much practices in Asian countries (or middle east?) Not my time in Barcelona nor in US
In as Canada well, the SAs always wear gloves to show bags &, jewelry. I thought it was standard practice everywhere - but as I said I don't buy bags (just scarfs, belt kits & horn or Tuoareg) so have no first hand experience.
