Trina's page of Blogginess: My First glassybaby Seconds Sale!

Saturday, January 25, 2014

My First glassybaby Seconds Sale!

One of the big perks of just having moved to the Seattle area: I got to attend my first Glassybaby Seconds Sale!

What is the seconds sale?

Glassybaby holds these seconds sales twice a year at their store and hot shop in Madrona. They have all of their glassybaby with slight imperfections available for sale at a discounted price. The glassybaby seconds are sold for $28 (versus $44) and the drinkers are $35 (versus $55).

I had never had a chance to go to this before, as I never lived in the area. My friend, Paula, who is responsible for having first introduced me to glassybaby about 5 years ago, has been to a couple. She said that today's sale was the best that she'd been to yet.

A little background: the sale started at 8:00am, but people started to line up at 10:00pm last night, and camped out. I hear that most people come around 5:00-6:00am and wait in line for a few hours before the doors open. Also the space inside isn't very large, and can only accommodate a certain amount of people at a time, so once the doors open, the line still takes a while.

I didn't feel the need to be a die-hard fan and go that early. A little birdie told me that they had almost double the amount of seconds this time than last time, so I took a calculated risk by going much later in the day, hoping to avoid most of the crowds.

Paula and I arrived around 11:00. I think we timed it just right. There was a short line, maybe 10 people deep, when we arrived. We waited in line just long enough to take a selfie, and we were let in!

It was pretty crowded inside, but there were PLENTY of glassybaby. There were tables full of glassybaby and drinkers against all of the walls. The staff was constantly bringing out more product to fill in the empty gaps. I think we had a huge selection to choose from.

We also noted that the quality of the seconds were very high. The imperfections of many that I looked at were very minor, and hardly noticeable. Some of the imperfections might even be considered "character".

I admit: I told myself that I'd go for the experience, but that I wouldn't buy any. Yeah, we all knew that wasn't going to happen! Then I thought, "Okay, I'll buy two: one glassybaby, and one drinker". Yep, still not happening....

I ended up with 4 glassybaby and a gorgeous orange drinker.

The glassybaby and drinkers do not have the labels with their names on them, as they do in the regular stores. For good or for bad, I'm so familiar with most of their colors, that I can tell what they are without their stickers on them.

With that in mind, here's what I think I bought:

1 Hidden Moss
1 Tangerine
1 Ripe Olive
1 Hercules
1 Fresh Squeezed Drinker

I already have one each Hidden Moss and Tangerine, but they are two of my favorite colors together. They are only the second and third duplicates I have in my collection.

I've been coveting an Almost Olive since my first glassybaby event in December, 2011. I figured it was time.

I've also been thinking about getting the Fresh Squeezed drinker since my event in July. The one I got is really gorgeous.

It was a really fun and fruitful event for us. Paula and I were both very happy with the selection that we had to choose from, and we're so glad that we timed it how we did. We arrived with barely any line, but still a very large selection. The crowd also died down a little while we were there, so it wasn't too hard to get around. We were in and out, with plenty of time to shop, within 45 minutes. I may have ended up with more than I was planning (who didn't see that one coming?), but I'm really pleased with the purchases I made.

BTW: 10% of the sales from today's Seconds Sale is going to Camp Korey. When I spoke to Lee Rhodes, glassybaby founder, as we were leaving around 11:45am, she said they had already raised more than $10,000 for Camp Korey! Kudos, glassybaby!!!

Paula, as we arrived in line at the glassbaby Seconds Sale around 11:00am. Note: we brought the glassybaby shipping boxes that I had used to move my glassybaby collection up to Seattle. Turns out the offered the boxes inside the store as well, but it was good to come prepared.