Brands & Confessions

A few years ago, I developed a penchant for a certain brand or two of purses. Okay, okay at the time it was Coach and Dooney & Bourke. Buying the first Coach purse was a bit difficult for me, but I did find it on sale and carried it for quite a long time which justified the money we forked over for it. After that, it wasn't difficult. Every single time I have ever purchased a Coach, it has been with some type of discount. A local department store that sells them, has a sale twice a year that allows you to take 20-25% off anything in the store PLUS one time we opened a credit card and saved an additional 20%.

Last year, the Coach store began sending me 25% off coupons at intervals starting around Christmas. I had fun with those, yes I did. I still love Coach, however I am cured of my "little addiction" of buying them at the Coach store. Why??

Early this Spring, my parents who were going to garage sales found me several C items that were almost new for really cheap at this one sale. Yes, they are the real deal! I carried my $5 purse all summer long! This fall, I went to a garage sale of a local contractor's wife who is also a fan of Coach. She had a bag for sale that I really liked. In fact, I almost had purchased one very similar a few months back. This purse was barely used for $45. The bag retailed for $398. In Chicago, where it was purchased, the tax alone would have been almost $40!!! So yeah, there isn't any need to buy them at the Coach store anymore for me.
Coach wouldn't like that, but to be honest I think their quality has dropped and the price has increased even within the last year. Actually, I did tell them that in a survey they sent me.
The bags have lost some of their appeal since they are pretty mainstream now. Maybe that is why they increased the price--to make them less mainstream--IDK. Sadly, the quality didn't increase along with that large price increase. They claimed to have dropped them, but for the ones that did drop...ugh!
For me, I'm still like the bags, however there are many cool brands/bags out there now and you can purchase them at good prices especially if you shop around!