Retail Therapy Gone Sour!

I just recently I came back from a cruise to the Bahamas with my college roommate, Lindsay, for her birthday celebration. This mammoth boat docked on the sunny port of Nassau, Bahamas. Growing up, I had fond memories of the snorkeling, conch fritters and best of all, the straw market. I’m an enthusiast of local artisans and the crafts that they create, which is unique to each country you visit. Anyway, after a day of snorkeling I was ecstatic to go to the straw market and make my eclectic purchases of gifts to take back home. I didn’t know that my afternoon of retail therapy would soon go sour.

Walking through the maze of vendors, my eyes quickly scoped the place to find the cutest straw bags. Well lo and behold, no straw purses, no straw bags, NO STRAW! I bet you are asking the same thing I am; how can a straw market not have any straw goods?! Instead, all I saw was Coach, Gucci, Prada and our friend Louis Vuitton. No ladies, this was not Neiman Marcus or Saks Fifth Avenue that I had just stepped into. This was the Nassau straw Market. Women were stocking up on Louis Vuitton Speedy Bags, Gucci Messenger Bags and Coach Bags with those pretty little scarves attached to them.

My roommate and I browsed the vendors until I saw to my dismay that ‘exclusive’ Gucci bag my mother had bought me as a birthday present. A Bahamian woman approached me and said in an accent, “How much did Sandy sell you that bag for, $50?” My heart sank. My ‘exclusive’ Gucci bag had become privy to the black market and the women aboard the hundreds of cruise ships that swept through the Caribbean.

It’s unfortunate that I was carrying around an ‘exclusive’ bag, which in my eyes and other women that had spent a fortune on their bags, was no longer exclusive. Well, I had to do what I do best, get online to see what’s going on. If my friends Gucci, Prada and Coach are roaming the streets, I now had to find new friends.

Attention ladies! Here is what I found: Forzieri

Forzieri’s focuses on emerging Italian designers many of whom are exclusive to their store. They offer products for women who are looking for unique styles that can’t be found anywhere else! Due to the exclusive relationships they have with their designers, Forzieri is able to offer products 2-3 months in advance before they go in the stores, whilst many US sites feature older collectionsIf you can’t say buy to the old friends, Forzieri also carries a limited number of the infamous Italian designer brands such as Gucci, Fendi, Versace and Prada etc, but they’re really just ‘add ons.’

New Italian designers such as Antica Murrina, Veneziana Zoppini, Masini, DeMajo, Coccinelle, Julia Cocco’ and Billionaire keep in mind that they have no competitors. Each product is… an ‘EXCLUSIVE.’ That’s Forzieri’s strength.

Get your ‘exclusive’ bag today! Be sure to use this offer.

Save $10 off on all orders of $98 or more at Forzieri.com
Enter Coupon Code: D2D3AA
Expires: Dec 31st 2008

Tagged as: Accessories and Boheme-Bijoux, coach, Fashion, forzieri, gucci, Health, italian handbags, nassau bahamas, prada, straw market, Street Talk