The Small, Single H Boutique Experience Thread

[louise_elouise]

I have a newfound appreciation for those ladies living in / near a city with a single Hermes boutique, particularly a small one. Selection tends to be more limited and you have less flexibility and choice in selecting an SA. And I can only imagine what the competition is like for quota bags.
Based on my limited experience, I feel like the experience is better / more pleasant in larger cities where you have more choice and can really have an H experience that works for you. And I actually think maintaining the relationship could be easier as well.

 

[lilmermaid264]

Interesting.. in a larger city I'd imagine there would be a ton of competition...

 

[Babypooh777]

Imagine living in a big city with only ONE store, i.e. Sydney. I can only cry

 

[Ethengdurst]

Imagine living in a big city with only ONE store, i.e. Sydney. I can only cry

Plus a tourist spot as well, i.e. San Francisco!

 

[cloee]

Plus a tourist spot as well, i.e. San Francisco!

Or Toronto, which is the only city in the province. For entire Canada, only 4 Hermès stores. The struggle is real

 

[Vln]

Or Toronto, which is the only city in the province. For entire Canada, only 4 Hermès stores. The struggle is real

Or Montreal, which is Toronto’s poor cousin.

 

[christine728]

Or Toronto, which is the only city in the province. For entire Canada, only 4 Hermès stores. The struggle is real

Montreal shopper here and im agreeing . Unfortunately it’s so sad .
Struggle is real lol

 

[Handbag1234]

By choice I shop at a smaller store. They have less inventory, but they do look after their regular customers and its a much more personalised shopping experience. I let the tourists and the big spenders fight it out at the larger stores in my city. Nice to have the option to choose where to shop. ! I agree with the sentiments of this thread, if there was only one small store in my city, I wouldn't get a look in.

 

[litostar]

Or Montreal, which is Toronto’s poor cousin.

Don’t mind me in throwing Calgary in there as well. Distant cousins lol the inventory nowadays is slim pickings for sur

 

[Kaka_bobo]

Don’t mind me in throwing Calgary in there as well. Distant cousins lol the inventory nowadays is slim pickings for sur

Might as well include Vancouver too.....inventory Is really sad and few.....things that people can buy walking in takes us forever to get (unless you're VVIP of course)

 

[christine728]

What a sad time for all Canadian Hermes lovers ...
my husband rolled his eyes when I showed him this post for laughs

 

[AmalieLotte92]

Hi everyone, I'm new here.

So for our entire extended metropolitan area, we have 1 store....located in downtown Washington DC. I'm new to the world of Hermes - and all of it's eye-catching products - and so this is the ONLY store I've ever walked in to.

Is anyone familiar with the DC store? Do we fall into the "small boutique" category? We definitely have many high-income communities around here....so I'm trying to gauge what I'm up against.

 

[louise_elouise]

oh wow, i didnt expect such sympathy to my post

But seriously, I just explored a small boutique with limited selection. The problem is that H stores will open typically affluent areas, so you will have a number of people after a very limited amount of goods and SAs will prioritise their time accordingly. Compared to NYC or London, where theres more choice and SAs.

Oddly, i think the larger city SAs are more eager to bring in new customers and provide quote bags for those who show a genuine history in the brand vs. the sense I get at smaller boutiques is that SAs will really prioritise on their top X% of customers.

I'd be so intimidated to walk into one of these single boutiques, but i was never intimidated walking into it in one of the major cities.

 

[momoc]

I think the biggest difference is how hard it is to switch to a different store if you only have access to one.

If you meet a bad SA, who is very likely an indicator of a bad SM (I believe that SAs' attitudes and styles at a particular store are influenced by the the store's manager, just like any company culture is influenced by their management), you have nowhere else to turn. In an area with multiple boutiques, you just move to a different one. In a place with only one boutique, you are stuck. This is currently exacerbated by COVID which restricts traveling.

For the SAs/store, knowing that there is competition & your customer can go elsewhere helps them not become - for the lack of better words - "full of themselves". Some boutiques definitely can have this attitude because they are the only one in their area, and basically are not at all lacking business and eager customers. You get the feeling that they just don't care too much about you unless you happen to meet a good SA or spend $$$ so you stand out. It's really sad but unfortunately true of some places. I got a couple friends who are experiencing / experienced this and basically got turned off from Hermes because of it...

For better or for worse an SA/store can totally make it or break it for you in the Hermes shopping experience (with some exceptions in certain parts of the world, where the relationship is not as essential).

 

[frenchcitygirl]

This is a very interesting post! Living in London I feel like the competition is very steep for quota bags despite there being 5 stores. There's just so much wealth in London, which also attracts tourists from all over.

That said I feel like it was "easier" in 2020 due to COVID i.e. less tourists and even the wealthy pulling back on spending.

I'd love to get another bag this year but sometimes wonder whether it would be better to try when I travel to other European cities (there are many stories of customers getting lucky in Paris, the south of France, Brussels, Spain...).