Just had my best shopping experience today in Toronto

Hello fellow Torontoists!

I just had a fragrance haul, before I leave Toronto, with a couple of stops. I had the most amazing day ever, so here goes:

The Bay

As usual, nothing impressive, I just had a gift card and needed a summer fragrance for miami and I have none. Mugler cologne is simply amazing, and I had an airmiles gift card to burn. No free samples or anything, but I didn't ask for any.

Holt Renfrew

I usually deal with a lovely lady called Danielle, but she wasn't there today. So I spoke to another lady called Janet, she's the By Kilian advisor. I picked up Iris Poudre but sadly they don't have samples of them yet. So she gave me a couple of By Kilians, and I asked for Tom Ford Noir de Noir and amber absolute. Amber Absolute was out of stock as far as samples go, so the guy who overlooks that counter made me a decant. He's a very professional knowledgeable person as well.

My not so secret store anymore, Andrews

Ok I'm a little selfish here, I can't share this one but if you can figure it out go for it . I bought 2 bottles from them once before, but I was greeted by a different SA. However when the SA I dealt with before saw me, she grabbed me and was so happy to see me. I bought a $100 niche bottle for my girlfriend and asked for a sample for something, that they no longer had samples of, so she gave me 20, yes 20 niche samples, those samples alone are worth more than my purchase

Harry Rosen (yorkville)

I was pretty much done, had already spent over $300, but thought what the hell, let's check harry rosen. It's the only branch that carries perfumes as far as I'm concerned, mostly men top sellers, and the whole tom ford line. And boy, this lady SA was absolutely wonderful, I just "clicked" with her immediately. Chatted a lot, she's really honest and nice. and she gave me 4 Tom ford samples and 4 tom decants, without me buying anything or having to ask. Just a SA who knows the difference between a random person and a potential regular customer. I am really sad Harry Rosen doesn't carry anything impressive other than Tom Ford, and their prices are the same as HR.

At the end of the day, I've got over 30 samples, probably worth $200 all together! I'm just so happy. The only thing I've done different this time is be confident, chatty, show knowledge about perfumes, point the ones you already have etc...And it works! just remember, the most important thing is to stay loyal to your SA, even if they're not from the sections you're buying from, or even if you're not at the store for perfumes to begin with, pass by to say hi at least! Here are the SA's names if you're interested.

HR Danielle, Janet and the young black guy at the Tom Ford counter (sorry forgot his name)

Harry Rosen Ilana, tell her Ahmad sent you, hopefully she'll remember me! I have no other way of thanking her since I'm leaving Toronto I'm going to purchase at least one bottle AT least before I leave.

Oh, no there's no Barneys in Toronto. Frederic Malle's is available in Holt Renfrew Toronto, just recently. And sadly no Barneys in Miami as well, but at least I can order online from them.

And you know, this whole secret shop stuff is cheesy, the store is called Andrews, they don't carry the biggest lines. Almost only Amouage, Serge Lutens and Chanel, With a few Bonds and Guerlains. One of the SA's there is really nice to me But you know, while SA's like when you recommend them, when they do a little something they're not "required to do", it's not cool when another new customer comes in and asks for that little extra thing. But if you're loyal to that SA or any other nice SA, expect good things. I'm not the most social guy out there, and I managed to get good relationships with a few SA's in my very few trips to Yorkville. It's surprisingly not that hard.

This is asked a lot in general discussions, regarding getting samples and such. And here's a short story in a store that shall be unnamed. I was there sniffing around at an expensive niche brand counter, and a couple of people were there as well, 2 guys or so asked for samples and they got the answer "Sorry, we don't have samples of this brand yet". I asked for samples and while I had the same answer, the SA not only asked for my phone number to call me, but she offered me other samples from other equally expensive brands without me asking. It's worth mentioning that those guys were dressed better than me. I'm a hoodie+jeans type of guys most of the time, and I wouldn't consider myself good looking either.

So, yeah, I can't say it enough, it's really a two step process, 1. buy a bottle 2. when you visit again, go to the same SA and be chatty. Unless you manage to have good conversations with the SA from the first visit, that's even better.