[Travel 旅遊] 2017法國巴黎之旅 - 愛馬仕買包之行 Trip to Hermes Paris stores

Talking about shopping in France, most of us would immediately thought of purchasing luxury goods as the initial price point is lower than other countries for sure. For residents that live outside the European countries can also have tax free and of course it attracts more people to shop.

說起法國，說起購物大家都會想到去購買名牌，畢竟它們的價格普遍在歐洲起價都較低，然後歐盟以外的遊客可享受退稅，當然會吸引很多人購物。

~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧


~(Hermes Paris Flagship store)~

~﹙法國愛馬仕總店﹚~

I always want to have a Hermes cross body bag, of course it would be perfect if I could get the bag in France. I always want to visit the store and ask for the staff's professional opinions on what type of bag (eg. size or colour) that suit me the most. There are three Hermes stores in Paris you can visit. The Flagship store is always suggested for bag hunting as they should have the most stocks among the three. However, the Flagship store has special arrangement for the bag department : you would need to line up at the stores and get yourself assigned into a specific time slot so that the staff can assist the customer one on one. 

我心目中一直都想找一個Hermes斜背包，當然能夠在法國買到就最好了，一直都想到店裡試或者是請店員依據他們的專業知識來幫我決定那種包包適合我﹙如顏色、尺寸等﹚。如果想在巴黎買愛馬仕包的話，有三家店可以去。上網爬文很多都建議去它的總店，畢竟貨比較多。但在法國愛馬仕總店買袋有特別的措拖，就是你要先排隊，然後工作人員會給你安排一個時間，然後請你在那個時間回來，讓工作人員可以跟客人一對一的服務。

~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧

Sound good isn't it? Seems the comments on building up a strong and positive relationship with the SA has no longer exist in this system. However, the problem of the system is that you have to line up in a very early morning and lining up doesn't guarantee you have a spot. Plus, having a spot secured doesn't guarantee you will have the bag you want. While I was waiting my take away dinner one night in Paris, the waiter was talking to me about how he knew a friend that would sleep outside the flagship store overnight, so to get the first reservation and aim to buy a bag with crocodile leather. In terms of the reservation, you may think you would receive assistance in the reserved time spot, but from what I saw during my visit to the stores, customers arrived to the stores on the specified time but still need to wait for 15- 20 minutes for SA assistance.

聽起來很不錯是吧？因為不像以前要花時間跟店員打關係才能買到你想要的包。但問題來了，你要夠早去排隊，因為排隊不擔保你能被安排時間，被安排時間也不擔保你有心目中想要的。有一天在買晚餐的時候剛好跟餐廳店員說起買東西的事（因為去的時間剛好法國在大減價），他說他有朋友特意在愛馬仕店外睡過夜，為的是想被安排在第一個時間，希望能買到鱷魚皮包包。對的，如果你已排隊並被安排時間，比如是早上10:00，不代表你早上10:00來到就有店員招待你。我看到不少情況是客人很準時來到，但仍要站在店裏等15-20分鐘才會被招待。

~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧

Maybe this is a little bit crazy you think, in my opinion, how the customers act inside the stores are the craziest things to experience. Customers I met at the bag counter, they would stand next to the counter and watch you trying out displayed bags ( I was told that you are always welcome to try out display bag if needed, but you cannot buy it for sure). Once they see you put down the bag, they would immediately shout out to the SA and asked the SA to pass the bag for them to try or buy. I also experienced customers asking how much discount he/ she could get for purchasing Hermes bags. The situation is similar to how you buy things in the wet market. Most of the time, SA would be shocked by their action or keep on assisting the customer that he/ she has been working on, so maybe that's why there were some comments online saying the Hermes staffs were arrogant or not willing to help. And because there are so many customers that they wanted to take a bag in a such an aggressive way, SA would directly tell them : the bags in the counter are displayed or no bags are in storage at the moment, before you asked for a bag. 

聽上去夠瘋狂吧？說真的，比起愛馬仕這個新的安排，我覺得來買袋的人的態度才是瘋狂。進店的客人會站在櫃檯看著你試包包（其實你可以試display 的包包，只是不能買），他們一看你把包放下，就立刻開口叫店員拿給他試或是賣給他，也遇過旁邊客人買愛馬仕包問有沒有打折，整個超像在菜市場買菜的感覺。很多時候，店員會繼續協助客人，拒絕協助那些中途跳出來的客人，可能這樣才讓人覺得店員很愛理不理吧。也有因為太多這種客人，店員也會在你一開口想說要那些包，他會立刻說今天無貨，或者說現在看到的都不賣來打發進店的人。

~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧


~(Hermes Paris 17 Rue de Sèvre store)~

~﹙法國愛馬仕17 Rue de Sèvre店﹚~

I went to all Hermes stores in consecutive two days during my trip in Paris (I prefer walk-in, instead of lining up for reservation), normally staffs are very polite and would answer my questions patiently, such as telling me what time to come by for a higher chance to get a bag. There was a staff kindly asked for my bag preference and she told me there were few bags left now, and based on her experiences, no bags would be left when it was my turn. 

我連續兩天都去巴黎各愛馬仕店逛（個人喜歡隨緣的進店裏，對於要排隊拿號去買袋，我寧願不買），普遍店員都非常有禮貌，都會很有耐性的解答我問題（比如說怎樣排隊啦、幾點來會比較好），有一位店員問了我想找什麼樣的包包，她說現在還有，不過根據她的經驗，輪到我的時候一定沒有包包。

~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧


~(Hermes Paris 17 Rue de Sèvre store)~

~﹙法國愛馬仕17 Rue de Sèvre店﹚~

 Comments on dressing up or carrying a Hermes bag would increase your chance of purchasing a bag in store are flying over the internet and indeed you will see customers do dress up nicely in stores. I met customers were holding a Birkin/Kelly and asked the staff to call the SA that they had built up a good relationship with. However, I still see them not able to get what they want and left the store with the disappointed look. On the other hand, I saw customers from Asia dressed up pretty casual, just normal jeans with t-shirt, they still can get a bag and leave the store with smile on their faces. For me, I walked into the store without any reservation, I just told the staff I would like to have a cross body bag. Trying on different bags with different sizes. At the end, I left the store with the bag I want. 

上網爬文，很多朋友都建議最好穿好一點，拿愛馬仕包包去，進去買到包包機會會大一點。去到店裡，的確看到很多人穿的很得體，也有不少小姐、太太拿著愛馬仕Birkin/Kelly手提包進店，跟店員說要找相熟店員買包。到最後也是買不到想要的包，失望的離去。相反，我也有看到亞洲來的遊客穿得很簡單，t-shirt、牛仔褲，最後都帶著包包走。而我最後是沒有拿號，進去跟店員說我要找一個斜背包，然後請店員給我建議那一個尺寸或者袋款會適合我。試過不同包包、尺寸、顏色，我最後是以t-shirt、牛仔褲，頂著一身汗，背著背包，買到包包。

~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧


~(Hermes Paris 42 Avenue George V store)~
~﹙法國愛馬仕喬治五世大道店﹚~

What I can say is that, buying a bag from Hermes, Paris, is really depending on the time and availability of the bag [whether the bag you are looking for is way too special to obtained (eg. Bags with Croc or ostrich leather)], and of course, the attitude of the SA you met. Most importantly, is your attitude towards getting a bag, prepare yourself that you would not have a chance to get your dream bag in Hermes store because of the stocking or the colour that available at that moment. If you really do not know what bag size suits you, you can always ask SA for assistance and their professional opinions if you have any difficulties to decide.  

我只能說，真的看你去的時間，想要的包款是否真的難求（比如要鱷魚皮/駝鳥皮的包包），而且負責招待你的是那種負責黑臉請你走還是真的幫你找包包的店員。不過最重要是自己的心態，請有心理準備就是因為可能存貨或顏色的關係而買不到你心儀的包包，真的不要為買包包而買，店員都不會想看到客人在勉強買東西。在不清楚哪個尺寸最適合自己，普遍店員都會拿包包讓你試或者跟你說那一種適合你需要。

~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧

All comments above are from what I read online and experienced during my visit to Hermes Paris shops. I heard that staffs would not welcome those customers who buy bags for resale purposes, some say these customers would require to pay a lot on purchasing other Hermes items before offering a bag. It was a pretty interesting experience to shop and walk around in Hermes Paris shops. By communicating with the staffs, I was so impressed by their professional knowledge on the bags, and their patience on answering questions from different customers they assist each day.  

以上都是綜合網上爬文及親身體驗的意見。如果是代購的朋友，普遍店員都不太歡迎，聽說有些要你大花金錢買周邊商品，才拿一個包給你。其實在巴黎愛馬仕店買包也是一個蠻有趣的經驗，透過跟店員交談，他們的專業知識真的令人偑服，而且覺得他們每天要受到無數遊客的詢問、質問，仍然微笑回答你的提問，心理質素真的很強大。

~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧

Funny story: when I was lining up for the payment, the couple that stood in front of me were talking to the staff emotionally and it was because they were not able to use their credit card for their purchase. So beware everyone~ there is nothing worst than having enough money to buy the things you want but the credit card does not work…

有趣見聞：在確認購買包包，然後在排著隊附錢的時候，站在我前面的夫婦一半激動，一半憤怒的跟店員對話，原因是他們的信用卡刷不了。所以大家注意，因為沒有什麼比看到自己想要的，有錢買，但信用卡不能用來得慘。

~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧~‧

Side note: Some people are worried about holding an orange paper bag on the street of Paris will catch unnecessary attention. If so, you can always ask SA to switch the paper bag into a subtle one (normally in a plain black/white paper bag). Also, taxi stations are always nearby, people can always take the taxi after the purchase and go back to the hotel straightaway. I have heard that you can ask SA to ship your purchase back to your hotel directly from the store, you may always ask the details in store. 

提外話：在巴黎店買到愛馬仕包包的朋友們總覺得拿著亮眼的橙色袋子就是引人犯罪，擔心的朋友們可以叫店員換一個紙袋，比較不起眼。另外，門口有計程車方便客人買了名貴東西，可以直接坐車回酒店。聽說，也可以叫店員安排，請他們把包包直接送到酒店，詳情就要向店員查詢。