Houston, Texas

Galleria is a great place to start especially if you wanna try something, but prices will always stay high.

For bargain prices, Marshall's is often good, but it can be hit or miss and selection may be poor.

As far as I know, I don't think there any tester sale places, but I have not been on the Harwin Drive which has a fragrance store named BBH & E (you can do a google seach to find out where it is.)

Gabriel

Anybody know anything more about how legit the stuff on Harwin drive is?
Is it stolen, fake, or neither?

I drove down that street recently and every block or two there is a discount perfumes store. That whole street is packed with cheap retail items stores.
But if its fakes, there is no point in going.

EDIT
I just read this
chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/style/shop/destination/3461100.html

I assume they know what their talking about.

My recommendation would be to try out their testers and compare them with your own frags. You should be able to pick up a fake if there is one. If they don't have any testers, demand that you try their frag and if they don't let you, walk out. It is a realistic expectation of any fragrance shop.

The article was talking about knock off purses like Channel instead of Chanel. I guess there could be knock off frags but I doubt it.

I have gone to similar places in LA and Fresno, and the true pitfall is not knowing the market value for prices and having some jerk charge you 30$ for a 1 oz frag like Claiborne for Men that you can get online for 7$ plus 4$ shipping. Once they realize you know your stuff then you can bargain by pooling all your puchases into one big pot - bring family / friends if possible. Ask 30% off, settle for 10-15% off.

G
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Was wondering about the Harwin Strip for some time, so I finally went. No fakes. Prices were pretty good, but I found that a few of the stores on the west part of the Harwin were cheaper (further away from main area).

I cannot say for sure if this is the best, but out of the cheapest was Crown Perfumes and Silver on 6885 Harwin. 713 787 0786. I have included their number in case you want to call on availability since their selection is not as good as the bigger stores.

None of the places had premium frags on huge discount but many were comparable to online prices whenever you take in consideration shipment.

I did not buy, but will assemble a list and buy them all at once - no doubt, with a bargained discount.

G

Don't forget Sephora, which has a great selection.

Ditto about Neimann. I was offered a sample of A*Men before I made a purchase, and by the time I bought some Platinum Egoiste, I received 4 other samples.

Does anyone have any updated information for Houston?

Is there any place there that sells niche scents, or something more unusual than the major perfume house and designer frags?

noggs

Noggs,
Good to see another Houstonian here! I swear I would have thought you are in Saudi Arabia! lol
Which niche brands are you interested in exactly? There are 4-5 places I know of that carry niche brands such as Penhaligons, Diptyque, Bois 1920, Santa Maria Novella, Maitre, L'Artisan, etc etc.

Hi, Mudassir.

The green flag doesn't lie! I do live in Saudi Arabia, but I'm from Houston and still have a house there. I'll be visiting Houston in June and July and would like to find some interesting frags. I have a large collection already, mainly of designer and major perfume house stuff, so I'm looking for the harder to find products.

I can find some Penhaligon's, Goutal, Diptyque, Bond No. 9, Creed, Montale, Micallef, and Clive Christian here in Saudi Arabia or in Bahrain. I'd be interested in those but more so in other brands you mentioned and where I could find them. Santa Maria Novella, MPG, and L'Artisan catch my fancy. Any others available?

I'm familiar with Houston and will have plenty of time to visit the shops, so I'd like to know about all of them that you are familiar with.

Thanks!

noggs

I second the recommendation for Kuhl-Linscomb. I can't believe I didn't know about this place sooner. Just off the top of my head, they have:

Serge Lutens (!!!!!!)
L'Artisan Parfumeur
Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier
Keiko Mecheri
Kai
Comme de Garcons
Parfums Delrae
Diptyque
Carthusia
Acqua di Parma
Miller Harris
Molinard
Art of Shaving

It really is not a good thing that this place is five minutes from where I live. My bank balance will never be the same...

Darn - I was in town over last weekend and spent my time at the Galleria (I live 75 miles from Houston but come to shop frequently). I will hit this place next time.

Don't forget Nordstroms. The SAs will happily decant samples for you into the little vials. I bought a retail 3.4z fragrance and skin care products so I didn't feel bad about asking for 5 samples.

Versace store in there too.


Good to know. I know exactly where that is. Thanks

Does anybody know any hidden gems or small mom and pop shops where you could find some vintage stuff for sale at reasonable prices? Any scoop on the estate sales?

I was just in Katy Mills Outlet Mall. Besides PerfumeMania there are two others in there...Perfume Outlet and Perfume Unlimited

Unlimited had Creeds...testers and regular..only a few. I looked at the Himalaya sprayer and it was a legit sprayer. They had alot of random stock. They were in the $119 range.

Perfume Outlet had alot of discontinued stuff and random stuff. They had Versace L'Homme...wasn't as impressed as some. They had Smalto, Versace Jeans Couture, ..they just had lot if you looked. All in tyhe $49.99 to $69.99 range. Both stores are on the backside of that mall...from Polo, Niemans, etc. They also had Creeds in the $169 range.

I recently picked up a bottle of Creed MI 4oz for $145 in the Willowbrook mall at Perfumes de Paris. The selection was very eclectic and ranged from Creed to English Leather and Ferrari.

The lady was also very helpful and willing to bargain...tried to get my wife to buy something she has not seen since high school at about a 40% discount. Came down on the Creed also, and no doubt would have gotten a steeper discount had I purchased more than one.

I think Kuhl-Linscomb (mentioned above) has the best selection of niche fragrances (for example CdG, Serge Lutens, Carthusia, YOSH, L'Artisan, Paratus, etc...) in Houston. Also, Sloan-Hall at the Kirby-Westheimer intersection carries some exclusive hard-to-find perfumes.

I cannot stand Neiman's at the Galleria despite the presence of the Chanel Les Exclusifs line and lots of Creed. Those SA's follow me around like piranhas. I leave there more stressed out than when I arrived!

Has anyone heard of British Isles or The Water Closet in Houston?

Looking around and could not find anyplace with Amouage. a shop in the Galleria called Etoile claimed to have them but on getting there the selection was non existant and when asked if they could get what I was wanting(interlude, tribute, epic) acted as if I was bothering them. Sigh... Internet sales keep being my only outlet for My SAD...(scent acquisition disorder)

Paul

Ohh, how I miss the Houston Galleria! I may very well be taking a weekend trip down there exclusively for scent hunting.

Awesome thread guys. I'm in Houston for a week and wanted to smell Neroli by Diptyque. Thanks for the recommendations!

Since this thread has been bumped up, I'll note that I went into Kuhl-Linscomb the other day and they now have a few (very few) Bonds and some other lines I hadn't noticed there before (I wish I could remember properly). Downside: I saw no paper test strips anywhere anymore, and I hit K-L on a day where it was the Hipster Gang working. I've had great service there at times, and sometimes non-existent SAs. The Hipster Gang is definitely in the "non-existent" category...

UPPER KIRBY AREA

In a way, that's the nice thing about Kuhl-Linscomb( a large, multi building store, check out the web site kuhl-linscomb.com) The sales staff will ignore you so you can sniff and spray and contemplate unmolested... (so nice compared to the last time I was in Neimans, I was shopping and talking with a girlfriend, and we were repeatedly, rudely interrupted by won't-take-no-for-an-answer staff.). Kuhl L. always has had test strips when I've been there. If you CAN get a sales persons attention, theyre actually pretty nice, and they'll make sample vials for you on request. (www.kuhl-linscomb.com/products.htm for a list of all the brands they carry. They probably don't update this often. They're currently dropping some poor performers, such as Delray) Once (or twice?) a year they have a Beauty Event weekend, everything 20% off, if I remember correctly.
2424 West Alabama, 713.526.6000

At Sloan Hall (a small, high end gift shop), previously mentioned, (several blocks away from Kuhl Linscomb), they now have Caron, including some urn perfumes. See www.sloanhall.com for lines. But, some lines they mention they only carry one or two selections from that line.
2620 Westheimer Road, 713.942.0202

Haven't been to British Isles in many years (Rice Village, near Kirby) but their website lists Caswell-Massey, Penhaligon, Floris, Woods of Windsor, Fragrances of Ireland, Geo F Trumper, and other british brands.
2366 Rice Blvd, 713-522-6868

GALLERIA & area

If you don't like the Neiman SAs, you can try the Chanel exclusives in the Chanel boutique next door to Neimans. The shop is a bit intimidating$$$$ but they're perfectly nice. (or were last time I went in) The Hermes boutique is not in the Galleria, but down the street (Post Oak), I haven't been there, but assume they'd carry all the Hermessences? (anyone here been there?)

SAKS in the Galleria now carries Le Labo and Frederic Malle. They're really making an effort to improve the perfume dept. Clive Christian, By Kilian, all the Bonds, etc.

Last time I was in Nordstoms (also in the galleria) they had set out baskets with little glass sprayer vials so you could make your own samples from the testers! (yes, I made an ample sample of the Baiser Vole extrait! Should have made ten!)

Str8shooter mentioned Etoile it's near Saks, and is an odd store, stuffed full of misc current, odd, maybe some discontinued items, with some items looking like they may have fallen off the back of a truck somewhere. (Maybe there are some treasures there?) They had some Reflection woman and one other Amouage when I was there, at less than retail, boxes were white (like tester boxes).

To further on SAKS, they have a nice selection. I went there early last month (dec 2012), and the guy at the Bond counter wasn't extremely helpful- though he did give me a sample- I then went to check out the Penhaligon's section and the lady there gave me a few samples before I made a purchase. Once I'd expressed that I was going to make a purchase then (set one frag aside before deciding on one), she started decanting samples for me... she had a genuine interest in recommending frags to me, so she gave me some that I hadn't even thought of. I even got her to decant me a sample of Tobacco Vanille and a few others that were out of the way from where she was stationed. Very pleased with her service. I even got a decant in a 10ml travel sprayer due to a frag event they had which the Bond guy didn't even mention.