If you are a fitness enthusiast, you know the Lululemon brand – it’s high end, luxurious, fashionable and expensive.  Personally, I’ve only ever bought a skidless yoga mat cover and a few headbands from Lulu because I’m so incredibly frugal when it comes to buying things for myself. However, Jay and Wild Boy bought me a Lulu outfit for Mother’s Day and got me hooked.  When I heard that Lululemon was having one of their Warehouse Sales (aka the #SoulCalCelebration Sale) in LA Convention Center, I couldn’t wait.  Well, I went this past Friday and all I can say is:

I came

I saw

I conquered

and if by conquering you mean I waited in line for 4 hours, then yes, I most certainly did conquer.

A glimpse of what I saw while on line to get into the sale – there was a Facebook Page and a Twitter handle set up for the event and entertainment for the waiting masses.

I’m not patient.  I’m the person who can be found stomping behind people walking too slow in front of me on the street.  I’m still in shock that I waited for on line for so long just for high-end workout clothes – not meeting Simon Le Bon but for yoga pants.

Want to know what I learned?  I learned that there are a lot more people available to hang out on line for hours on a Friday in Los Angeles than I would have ever imagined.

Friends of Mine (wink wink Duranies), if you are thinking about braving any future Lululemon Warehouse Sale near you, let me share my wisdom with you:

1.  Do NOT go on Friday the 13th at 10am:  Like all the dumb yokels who get killed in the Friday the 13th movies, I’m sure someone somewhere was yelling at me, “Don’t go now you silly girl!  In about 3 hours the line will only be an hour long!” – it was and it really ticked me off.

2.  Do bring, food, water and a credit card.  There were vending machines but they were out of water and the Starbucks inside the Convention Center had a line an hour long.  You’ll need a credit card since no cash or checks are accepted.

There’s no Bethenny here – this is not a place of “Yes”

3. Bring your cell phone AND a charger:  Your phone is key not only to follow the Facebook and Twitter feeds for wait times but social media will give you a preview of pictures of price lists, information about stock availability (no solid black pants available and yoga mats were gone early) and important details like the 25 item limit.  I brought my charger and plugged in multiple times while waiting.  If I hadn’t brought the charger, my phone would have definitely died and I wouldn’t have been able to get pertinent info or take pictures.

Lulu Price List and someone looks like they got around the 25 item limit.

3.  People (for the most part) are nice.  If you didn’t bring a friend with you to the sale, you’ll definitely make friends while waiting on line.  Many of the Lulu and Convention Center staff were extremely nice both while waiting on line and inside the sale.  I didn’t see too many people being cut-throat over merchandise but I’m sure it happens.

4.  Everyone and their mother will be there.  No joke.  I can’t believe how many children were brought in tow by their parents.  Not only were there tons of strollers but the children ranged from newborn (I wish I was kidding) to school aged.  There were also a lot more men and grandmotherly type women than I expected as well.

5.  Know Your Lululemon Size.  Lulu doesn’t have typical sizes.  If you don’t know your size, wear a tight fitting top and a skirt so you can try on clothes easily.   FYI – Plenty of people were dropping trou in the middle of the floor.  Not my style but many didn’t care a bit.  Racks were well organized by size with tops and bottoms on separate racks.  Sizes were placed above the racks making it easy to see in the crowd.

Dropping Trou and Racks

6.  Keep an open mind:  It’s likely that the exact item you want from the Lulu store/website will not be available so know what style of clothing suits your body type.  Also, get ready to sort through boxes, pick stuff up off of the floor and make quick decisions.

7.  Get ready to embrace color.  There were no solid black pants for women at all.  As someone who still is slowly coming around to color this was difficult for me….but I got lucky.

There was hot pink too but I just couldn’t bring myself to take a picture.  This was hard enough.

8.  There will be a signature item of the day and everyone will buy it.  Except me.  On the day I went the thing to buy was this cute bag.  They were giving a $10 discount if you were on line to check out by 3pm.  I was the last person on Friday to be offered the discount (they actually had a staff member stand on line with me to inform cashiers).

9.  You can still spend a lot of money and come out with only 1 bag to prove it.  You’ll get deals no doubt but I’m still hyperventilating because I spent $79 on what I’m calling my Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtle hoodie (although I’d call it a jacket for the $49 price but Lulu disagreed).  In addition to the TMNT hoodie, I did get 3 tank tops, a long sleeved black shirt with thumbholes, a pair of running capris (in orange!) and a headband as well.

Did I conquer?  Halloween lovers would say yes.

10.  If you can’t make it to the sale, give eBay a try.  I can guarantee that there were plenty of people who conquered this sale in hopes of making a buck.  Lululemon clothes and accessories are in high demand and if a sale hasn’t been held in your city, you might get some great deals on eBay or other resale sites.

What is the best thing you have ever bought on at a sample or warehouse sale?

Pssst – If you stuck with me through this very long post and you are the first one to comment, you will be the proud recipient of a skinny Lululemon headband (it kind of resembles a bra strap but is likely great for wispy hairs).