19 January 2012

A grand day out

Yesterday was my day off (I work 4 days a week). took TLP into the city and we had a fantastic time. Before I go on-topic (yes I came home with a few bags of goodies) I thought I'd share a few photos from the day.

We went to the Wildlife Sydney in the morning and TLP had a ball seeing all the animals, including the mighty croc Rex.


Lunch was at Sky Phoenix. Thumbs up to the waitstaff - the service was excellent.


In the afternoon we went to the Sydney Tower Eye. It was a beautiful day.


After lunch TLP dutifully fell asleep in the stroller so I had a chance to shop more support the Australian economy ;-)

I'm quite convinced I've lost my sunglasses again so that was my main shopping goal. Luckily I found a pair quickly.


You can tell by the O on the side that they're from Oroton. At half price ($115) it was easy to say yes.


What do you think?

I also picked up these beauties at Oroton.


I love earrings and I love Art Deco designs so the Ornee drop earrings (on sale at $45) are perfect.


With the right outfit I should be able to wear them to work. Or I have to nag The Duke to take me somewhere nice for a date.

My next purchase was from FCUK. I don't visit their stores often but one of the dresses on display caught my eye.


The Pina Colada is a lightweight, 100% cotton dress with a vibrant print. Great for a day at the beach (we just need some beach weather in Sydney!). The price was marked down from $99.95 to $49.95, I must have missed the "further reductions" sign because I only paid $39.96. Always a nice feeling when you pay less than expected.

Then we went to SA Hair to pick up a hair brush for blowdrying my new, shorter do. The SA was so friendly and informative I ended up buying a few extra items. Memo to retailers: good salespeople = more sales.

The other item on my list of things to buy was a hat for TLP. I liked the look of the Honolulu hat ($29.95) at Country Road but TLP was asleep when I saw it so I couldn't check for size.


I went to the kids' section at Zara after TLP woke up but they didn't have any hats. I bought this fun long-sleeve tee for him instead (on sale for $7.95). It was my maiden Zara purchase in Australia!


Next up was Myer so TLP could play in the toy section for a while. No hats but I went through the "extra 25% off discounted prices" racks and bought these in the next size for summer 12/13.


Five tees and a pair of shorts for $70 ($70/6 = average $11.67) is great value, but by comparison the Zara tee has a RRP of $12.95. It goes to show that Zara's pricing is a big threat to other retailers.

A few observations:
  • The SA at Veronika Maine told me her name and asked for mine before I went into the change room. It was so much nicer to address each other by name rather than "hey you".
  • Postage for FCUK is $14.95 (for registered post) - a bit steep? One day I may do a tally of postage cost by major fashion etailers.
  • The Oroton website plays music. One word = NO.
  • I cannot provide the link to the sunnies from Oroton's website because the women's sunglasses page came up blank. I don't know if it was deliberate or if it was an error. If it's the latter they need to have a stern word with the webmaster.
  • The Oroton earrings were $45 at the store however the website has them at full price ($95). The SA mentioned that the sale ends yesterday, however I wondered if they deliberately left them at full price on the website. Inconsistent pricing between stores and online is definitely a Etailer Don't in my book. 
  • This is no surprise but Myer is chronically short-staffed. How can they expect to increase sales when their level of service is so low?
I think this blog is making me shop more! I still have to write about my second Shopbop order this year(!) and an ASOS order. Maybe it's time for a mini-shopping ban...