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UNIQLO Madness

“Oh gosh, why does it have to be this way?” I thought as I clumsily made my way among the throng of red and white while avoiding the bumping and shoving crowd. No longer mindful of where I was going, I accidentally let go of one my bags and let out a curse as my mind spun with the deafening noise of baskets hitting the ground and people kicking and shouting. I covered my ears and my body fell away collapsing, wishing I were anywhere but here.

To be continued ▼

Oh that was just a dramatic opening! The last part didn’t really happen but I did accidentally dropped my shopping bag quite a number of times during the Grand Opening Day (SALE BY THE WAY) of UNIQLO, Japan’s number one clothing line (and second in the world or is it third… Third I think since Gap and Zara’s top 2), in the Philippines!

I am not a marketer for UNIQLO or anything (I almost worked for them! Too bad… uh nevermind… don’t want to talk about it XD) but I am a fan of their clothing line so that’s why I’m going to talk about why I decided to undergo the 4-hour ordeal/adventure with my mother. Take note I have NEVER done anything like this for clothes. EVER. And I don’t know if I’d want to do it again It’s not exactly my first time to shop at UNIQLO (thank you Aunt for showing me this in Shanghai!) but because of the sale, and the thrill of finally getting it here in the Philippines, well my mom and I couldn’t resist. Heck we didn’t even do this when Forever 21 opened for the first time here!

I also wanted to talk about my experience so that you dear shoppers would know what to expect maybe for the next few days or weeks. I just hope it dies down (PLEASE??). And if it already did die down, this would be one heck of a cool experience that only some went through! It’ll make an interesting story too.

Mom and I arrived at SM Mall of Asia around 12 noon. We planned to get there earlier but we had to do a lot of errands beforehand. Before going inside the mall, we inquired the friendly guard where the shop was located. He just kinda grinned at us, Oh just walk straight in the mall, you can’t miss it, he said. So all right-o we must have gone to the right place since it was so near! Once inside, I immediately saw a LOT OF PEOPLE IN LINE. In my head I chuckled (how do you chuckle in your head? Beats me), this couldn’t be a line to UNIQLO would it? So to investigate, I had mom stay somewhere in the line since there was space, and I kinda almost reached the other end of the 2nd floor (take note, SM Mall of Asia is GINORMOUS BIG HUGEASS OMG 2ND HUGEST MALL HERE) and to my horror, IT WAS THE FRIGGING LINE TO GET INSIDE THE UNIQLO STORE. If I were a meme, I would be these

WTF seriously. I was even going to tell my mom to postpone our plans but I realized, we came FAR AWAY for this and I didn’t want to back out now. Mom surprisingly didn’t mind waiting and anyway she was distracted by the sale of the other stores too so I was the one who did most of the lining up while she shopped for a bit. Got ourselves 2 wedges YEHEY! Actually it was a big mistake since we had 2 huge bags with us WHILE we were shopping inside the store (thus my dramatic intro). So here are the photos.

Check em out! See UNIQLO way over on the other side? And our spot in the line was HALFWAY to the end. Oh yes, there were plenty of people BEHIND US.

Another horrific realization was this

We accidentally cut in line. Apparently you had to line up in front of the lady with the “End of Line” Placard. Well we didn’t know anything about it and nobody berated us or got mad when we went in the line so… it wasn’t our fault

Yey for entertainment at Kiehl’s!

So yeah there, it took about an HOUR (imagine if we actually LINED UP AT THE END OF THE LINE) before we finally reached the entrance HURRAH! Just be careful not to cause and ruckus or tomfoolery because The Ultimate Bouncers will getcha!

I’m not kidding see? Everything was orderly though, I got to hand it to Japanese people for being organized! Seriously! Because when Forever 21 first opened, it was…. CHAOS.

Finally MOM AND I GOT IN THE STORE! We could finally touch the fabrics and everything! I did see another line somewhere near the entrance of the store. It was the line to the cashier. Uh oh, but no matter, we’d trouble about that later. Mom and I decided to divide and conquer and get separate baskets. I kinda rushed and got 4 things I wanted to try to fit. While looking for the fitting room, guest what greeted me, ANOTHER LINE WITH A LADY AND A PLACARD! Good thing it wasn’t horrendously long and the line moved quickly. Figures because they will only let you try 4 items at a time. Smart! And you know what else, besides the fitting room, they had a storage room converted into a fitting room filled with PORTABLE FITTING CUBICLES. Well I think that’s what you call them. Except these fitting cubicles can only be used by petite people like me (or below 5’5″ i’m assuming) because there’s a ceiling. It was kinda cramped and I kept bumping the ceiling whenever I tried on a top but I managed. WOO! I didn’t want to tarry any further so I told my mom I was going to line up for the cashier first. And it was a good thing to line up early because the whole line WENT AROUND THE WHOLE STORE. It was that long. Heck because of the amount of people, I couldn’t even find my friend who was just inside the store with me! It was smart though, having a line that goes around the store because you could do last minute fittings, find a new selection that you completely missed or make second thoughts about some purchases. I think we lined up for an hour and thirty minutes. Heck you even make friends with your line buddies already. Some photos!

Some shirts selling out already! I hope they still have stock!

My view at 3/4 of the line already

Don’t worry, the line actually moves quickly because they had around 20 Cash Registers there. I really admired the salespeople there because everyone was still so cheery and respectful and… happy! I think their Japanese training was really good! THUMBS UP FOR SERVICE! Man, I think UNIQLO did more sales than any store could in the mall in just ONE DAY. Maybe they can already pay out their rent. Seriously, it was MADNESS.

I couldn’t help but let out a cheer and say FINALLY WE’RE THROUGH after the whole thing. I was just that happy, not only with my purchases but thank goodness, I can finally EAT LUNCH.

So if ever you want to go to UNIQLO (in the first week I think), please wear comfortable shoes, prepare snacks, bring a book or iPad or iPod or Kindle or something, or of course bring friends! I find that bring a buddy is the best thing to fight boredom

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

16 Comments

BEBE

OMG!! This is cool!! I wanna experience this someday too. LMAO! :)) for the love of shopping!! hahahaha This is funny.. ngayon ko lng nalaman yung fact na 2nd lng pala ang ZARA sis! hihihihih.. niiiice… now I know UNIQLO is the 1st

[Reply my friend]
tiff k Reply:
June 18th, 2012 at 11:26 am
Haha for the love of shopping nga sis! hehe 3rd ngayon worldwide UNIQLO but they have FEW stores compared to Gap and Zara. Gap is number 1 pa rin but maybe… won’t be number 1 forever? hehe

[Reply my friend]
Yesha

UNIQLO is a nice store .. Been shopping at this store in Japan for like almost everyday haha

The fabrics are all nice so it’s worth buying Actually Im’ma visit their store today whoohoo ^ ^

IMY <3

[Reply my friend]
jynxypanda Reply:
July 8th, 2012 at 7:53 pm
WOW almost everyday! haha but seriously the clothes awesome! Hope you enjoyed your shopping sis!

[Reply my friend]
Nadine

we’ll be going to MOA this coming July 7th pa naman. Haha i hope I don’t miss this shop Heehee for sure siguro di na madami tao nun. I could imagine the hassle of the lines. Heehee. Good you survived sis!HAHAHAHA!

[Reply my friend]
jynxypanda Reply:
July 8th, 2012 at 7:54 pm
HEY THAT IS TODAY! Or wait yesterday. How did it go?? hehehe

[Reply my friend]
Tricia

I’ve seen those photos on your instagram and I was literally like, “It’s crazy!!”

To be honest, I do not understand why a lot people are crazy about it. I’ve been seeing UNIQLO stores here in Singapore even before and I never seem to find something that I like. -__- Or maybe that’s just me. OR, maybe because the last time I visited a UNIQLO store here is SG was last year pa. So I think I should visit one soon. Maybe they have lots of better items that I just might like.

[Reply my friend]
jynxypanda Reply:
July 8th, 2012 at 8:04 pm
Try to get the basics dear!! The material is REALLY good Good thing it isn’t as crazy as it is here! In Taiwan it was also mobbed by people!

[Reply my friend]
Tiff

HAH so I just have to say I love this layout, because I love Harry Potter.

Also, I totally thought, “man, this is a short blog for Tiff…she usually has super long blogs,” then I saw the “to be continued” button..clicked it, & thought, “mother of god, woman.” bahaha

I have to say that I’ve actually never heard of UNIQLO…haha. & I’m into fashion!! Just not like…enough to fashion blog, that’s just too much for me to do. But anyway, yeah wow. That is nuts…although Forever 21 is owned by Koreans so I’m sure they were like, “fuq dis ish, just buy da shit, pay us da money.” jk, i dunno. They’re exploding everywhere though.

Good sale though, right?! I mean, I haven’t stood in line to shop either, so you’ve definitely one-uped me. baha but it was an experience, like you said. Really awesome that you & your mom got this little bonding time to divide & conquer the mall though. Sheesh, I can only imagine the nightmare it must’ve been. It is a good thing they had so many cash registers though.

[Reply my friend]
jynxypanda Reply:
July 8th, 2012 at 8:05 pm
WHAT FOREVER21 IS OWENED BY KOREANS, GET OUUUTTT OMG ARE YOU SERIOUS O_O *i am not a fashionista… thus… the ignorance…* but it’s understandable you don’t know UNIQLO coz they really have SUPER FEW branches worldwide! They’re really expanding now though.

[Reply my friend]
Angelica

Oh my! I’m not sure I’d have the patience for that! There are some stores in Sweden which have lines that long during weekends but I’ve managed avoiding shopping at them during those days so far.

Never heard of that store before. We don’t have it in Sweden.

[Reply my friend]
jynxypanda Reply:
July 8th, 2012 at 8:07 pm
Really whoah didn’t know the lines were that long there! Lines are NEVER long like that here, except for this only :/ omg.!!

[Reply my friend]
Krystal

Honestly, that sounds like a very nightmarish shopping experience. :P If that were me and my family, we would have turned the other way, haha. I’ve heard of that brand before, but never realized it’s huge popularity. I remember going onto their website and their clothes seemed pretty expensive, but I dunno.

[Reply my friend]
jynxypanda Reply:
July 8th, 2012 at 8:14 pm
Haha lots of families did that but we were really persistent and the sale O_O lOL! hahaha Their clothes I think are pretty standard with American prices? A graphic tee shirt is around 18USD? Well that’s what I think Of course in the Philippines that’s a bit expensive that normal hehehe

[Reply my friend]
Anna

I was there, too, when Uniqlo first opened in MoA. I didn’t fall in line but I bore witness to the people who came, fell in line and conquered that trait we all know as Patience. Lol. The line was very, very, very, VERY long. I get tired just looking at it. I admire you and your mom for your patience.

[Reply my friend]
jynxypanda Reply:
July 8th, 2012 at 8:21 pm
Haha thanks! Grabe talaga noh? Won’t do that again though!

[Reply my friend]