Shopping in Seoul?

[cmln]

I’ve never tasted chocolate covered potato chips! That is so interesting. I’m starting to think Cartier and other luxury design houses in Asia treat their customers way better than in the U.S. I was looking at blessvch’s instagram account, and my jaw dropped. The most I received was treats and occasional flowers, but she has the full shebang as far as customer treatment with limo rides and photo shoots.

Seriously?! There is a waitlist for some Cartier items in the U.S., and they want a full deposit? Never heard of this except for some VCA items.

I also thought they were chocolate covered potato chips but it's actually crumbled potato chips with chocolate and shaped into chip pieces! So funny because I passed by the chocolate shop countless times since it was near my hotel but never made the connection. I looked the shop up when I got home and saw that their packaging is a brown box, so I think the ones from my SA were in a special Cartier box since it was red and had a gold tag.

I had my name on a waitlist for a watch for months in the U.S. and never heard anything so I went to back to the store to check in and they said they no longer do waitlists; if I wanted it I'd have to put a deposit down and wait indefinitely for them to potentially receive it. I didn't even bother asking what the deposit was because I simply just wanted to try it on..

 

[cmln]

I was looking for the JUC pave in my size - none were in US. They brought in from Canada for me in exchange for a cool 40% deposit (that was nearly $20,000 USD). It was refundable if I didn't want it, but I was a bit irritated by the concept. For a longer wait, it's basically an interest free loan. I know it doesn't cost them very much in transport ultimately - I would not have been offended by an ask of say 10%, but 40% seemed outrageous.

And yes, while I like my SA, Cartier's service in the US is not what it was - from the flagship to the e-boutique it isn't as special an experience as it used to be. I would love to see what it's like in Asia sometime. And I am going to find those chocolate potato chips!

You must find those chips! They are from "Piaf" in Seoul.. I've never tried anything like it.

I highly recommend going to Seoul or Tokyo to check out the boutiques! They are so extremely nice there - honestly I think not only in the boutiques but majority of people in Korea/Japan in general. I'm thinking Japan would be better for foreigners though; I only encountered one SA in Seoul and she didn't speak a single word of English (not sure if other SAs speak English there).

I had to go back to the boutique 4 times.
1) Initial visit to scope out the inventory. Ended up wanting a watch for both my partner and me; he was certain about the watch he wanted and turns out they only had the display model so the SA insisted on ordering him a brand new one but said we'd have to come back for it. Meanwhile I tried on 2 watches that I was deciding between so I told her I'd make a decision when we come back for his watch. She also knew that I was interested in a 3rd option but she mentioned it was the most popular watch and size in Korea so she didn't have it.
2) A few days later, we came back to pick up partner's watch and to get one of the two watches I had tried on. To our surprise, she ordered his brand new watch AND that 3rd option for me that she said was hard to find, she said she knew I wanted to try it so she had it transferred in just in case. I couldn't believe it. We made the purchase and told her we had to rush off for dinner and if we could come back later that night to pick up the items.
3) Came back later that night.. also then told her we were interested in a ring. She looked into it and said there's only 1 left in the whole country and she could try to order it but it's not guaranteed.
4) A few days later, we received a text that the ring came in. She ended up coming in quickly on her day off to meet with us and gave us the chocolate potato chips!

I will say that each visit was quite lengthy. Lots of chatting, it took a long time to process the transactions and especially for the gift wrapping. There was special New Years packaging and she wrapped up everything so beautifully; even labeled gift tags with each others' names for us (without our knowledge!) Before wrapping the packages, she also arranged the items on a tray and told us to take photos.. she said many customers like to do that and even placed a floral arrangement behind the tray for the photos lol. I've only purchased from e-boutique so I have no idea what U.S. boutique service is like but I have visited many times to browse and usually just encounter quite decent or even rude SAs. I've never had such a special experience in any store! Hope I get the opportunity to shop with her again in the future.

 

[cmln]

Very interesting a lovely service!

How does Seoul pricing compare to US or Japan?

The value of the won has been dropping a lot... so it's to our advantage if you're from US.

Here are a couple items items I was looking at. Prices are converted to USD and are before tax refund. I believe refund in Korea is about 7% and Japan is about 10%.

As of 12/14/24, it was $1 USD = 1435 KRW

Today it's actually much lower - $1 USD = 1474 KRW so it's even lower than what I have listed!

Korea is the best for shopping right now.

Item	USD	KRW	USD as of 12/1/24 (1399 KRW)	USD as of 12/9/24 (1428 KRW)	USD as of 12/14/24 (1435 KRW)	JPY	USD as of 12/9/24 (151 JPY)
Baignoire bangle	$12,900	18,500,000	$13,223.73	$12,955.18	$12,891.99	2,032,800	$13,462.25
Baignoire leather	$7,250	10,400,000	$7,433.88	$7,282.91	$7,247.39	1,174,800	$7,780.13

 

[twinstar633]

The value of the won has been dropping a lot... so it's to our advantage if you're from US.

Here are a couple items items I was looking at. Prices are converted to USD and are before tax refund. I believe refund in Korea is about 7% and Japan is about 10%.

As of 12/14/24, it was $1 USD = 1435 KRW

Today it's actually much lower - $1 USD = 1474 KRW so it's even lower than what I have listed!

Korea is the best for shopping right now.

Item	USD	KRW	USD as of 12/1/24 (1399 KRW)	USD as of 12/9/24 (1428 KRW)	USD as of 12/14/24 (1435 KRW)	JPY	USD as of 12/9/24 (151 JPY)
Baignoire bangle	$12,900	18,500,000	$13,223.73	$12,955.18	$12,891.99	2,032,800	$13,462.25
Baignoire leather	$7,250	10,400,000	$7,433.88	$7,282.91	$7,247.39	1,174,800	$7,780.13

This is super helpful. Thank you so much. One thing I was surprised with - Incheon airport charges in USD. That means it is more expensive vs Seoul downtown stores, despite the full tax free refund.

 

[cmln]

This is super helpful. Thank you so much. One thing I was surprised with - Incheon airport charges in USD. That means it is more expensive vs Seoul downtown stores, despite the full tax free refund.

I was surprised by Incheon charging in USD too... didn't check out many stores but we bought Gentle Monsters both in ICN and in a standalone store in Seoul.. ICN was only a few cents more!

 

[lovecartier]

You must find those chips! They are from "Piaf" in Seoul.. I've never tried anything like it.

I highly recommend going to Seoul or Tokyo to check out the boutiques! They are so extremely nice there - honestly I think not only in the boutiques but majority of people in Korea/Japan in general. I'm thinking Japan would be better for foreigners though; I only encountered one SA in Seoul and she didn't speak a single word of English (not sure if other SAs speak English there).

I had to go back to the boutique 4 times.
1) Initial visit to scope out the inventory. Ended up wanting a watch for both my partner and me; he was certain about the watch he wanted and turns out they only had the display model so the SA insisted on ordering him a brand new one but said we'd have to come back for it. Meanwhile I tried on 2 watches that I was deciding between so I told her I'd make a decision when we come back for his watch. She also knew that I was interested in a 3rd option but she mentioned it was the most popular watch and size in Korea so she didn't have it.
2) A few days later, we came back to pick up partner's watch and to get one of the two watches I had tried on. To our surprise, she ordered his brand new watch AND that 3rd option for me that she said was hard to find, she said she knew I wanted to try it so she had it transferred in just in case. I couldn't believe it. We made the purchase and told her we had to rush off for dinner and if we could come back later that night to pick up the items.
3) Came back later that night.. also then told her we were interested in a ring. She looked into it and said there's only 1 left in the whole country and she could try to order it but it's not guaranteed.
4) A few days later, we received a text that the ring came in. She ended up coming in quickly on her day off to meet with us and gave us the chocolate potato chips!

I will say that each visit was quite lengthy. Lots of chatting, it took a long time to process the transactions and especially for the gift wrapping. There was special New Years packaging and she wrapped up everything so beautifully; even labeled gift tags with each others' names for us (without our knowledge!) Before wrapping the packages, she also arranged the items on a tray and told us to take photos.. she said many customers like to do that and even placed a floral arrangement behind the tray for the photos lol. I've only purchased from e-boutique so I have no idea what U.S. boutique service is like but I have visited many times to browse and usually just encounter quite decent or even rude SAs. I've never had such a special experience in any store! Hope I get the opportunity to shop with her again in the future.


View attachment 6115367

I'm really glad you had such a marvelous time (and left with so many jewels!). Haven't been able to find the Piaf chips in the US from searching so far ... but I'll keep going.