Soldes Day 1 / Big Discounts, as Promised

I started out just before 10 AM to hit the OL "braderie" tent bargain sale up near Stade Gerland, where the OL play their games. Even before 10 AM maybe 50 people were lined up outside hoping to get their hands on the bargains inside. Oddly enough, I had stumbled upon this bargain sale during the summer sales, not realizing that this was OL's version of the soldes, or bargains sales, during which they mark down merchandise from previous years: outdated (but wearable) T-shirts, sweatshirts and pants, notebooks and binders, towels, and the like. I picked up notebooks (0,50 EUR) and binders (0,50 EUR), and also a DVD (3,00 EUR) of their 2004-2005 season, so that I can see what they were like two seasons ago (during which they also won the French League 1 Championship). The photos here are of the tent and the long lines of customers (only two people at the register!)

After that, I went back to Part Dieu shopping center, where stores plastered their windows with Soldes -- up to 50% off! Even Gap, even the large department store Galeries Lafayette, was in on the act, with tons of merchandise marked down. Given the mild weather that we've been having so far, sales of winter clothing have been dismal (apparently), leading to severe markdowns even from the first days of the sales.

In some ways, I would expect the winter soldes bargain sale season to be even bigger than the summer one, given the fact it comes right after Christmas, when retailers load up their inventory for the gift-giving season. They have to unload the stocks before the new season, and if everyone is selling 30-50% on the first day of sales, they have no choice but to follow.

What good luck for customers!

I held off on any large-scale purchases, but around dinnertime I went to the shoe store in my district, where shoes were on sale for about 50% off their suggested retail (whether that was the original price they had retailed for, I can't be sure). But there were some beautiful shoes, city shoes, for 25 EUR ($32.50). I picked up a pair of black dress shoes to use for recruiting season (to go with my suits). There were a couple of other casual street shoes but I held off until I see what I can find at other stores downtown.

Everyone seems genuinely happy to be carrying bags of stuff back from their shopping trips. Printemps bags scream "Soldes, Soldes, Soldes!)