Sephora Grand Opening

So I spent the morning waiting in line for the grand opening of a new Sephora store in my local mall. They were giving away mystery amount gift cards of up to $100 to the first 100 people in line plus a free Sephora branded makeup bag with any in-store purchase.

If you saw my Facebook page you will know that I was number 86 in line. Thank goodness I did not wait any longer to get there. The event was nicely organized with a rope to keep the line from overflowing, guards to keep people in check, and they even handed out numbers to let people know where they stood. They were even doing cheers to get the crowd pumped and ready to shop.

I waited for about an hour to get my gift card which turned out to be for only $25. Worth it? Not really because I paid $2 for parking and $5 for a latte to get me through the wait, so that leaves me with a balance of $17 for my effort. But, I guess it's better than nothing.

Once in the store I had to contend with 100 other people trying to shop in such close quarters. This store is definitely a smaller Sephora, about the same size as the one in Novato, CA and slightly smaller than the one in Emeryville, CA. I was disappointed with the offerings as well. There wasn't really anything new which was surprising, only the basics from each brand. Also, there were some brands missing: No Ciate? No OCC? No Disney or Hello Kitty? Even the J.C. Penny's Sephora nearby has these brands. I'm sure once the store gets up and running they will get better stock.

In the end I left the store empty handed because there was nothing on my "loves list" in the store, plus all of a sudden all 100 people were in line to purchase so I gave up and will probably use my card to purchase online.

All in all, I am glad that we have a true Sephora store nearby instead of the limited J.C. Penny's one so that I don't have to drive all the way to Novato. I pretty much only go to stores like Sephora and Ulta when I want to test foundation colors against my skintone but now that there is a store nearby I might give in to my instant gratification fix.

Welcome new Sephora!