Yesterday's crowd tied up downtown traffic in Hamilton in the morning and led to some curious looks from motorists. The line snaked around the centre from Bay Street to MacNab and around to Main Street before entering the building.

"We love Lululemon," said Anne Bolland of Cambridge, who drove down with her son's girlfriend and her friends for the first day of the four-day event. "It's expensive in the store, but it's half-price here.

"We may not look good now, but we will in a week," she said while getting drenched by the rain in line. "It's great stuff. It doesn't fade. It doesn't stretch out. Quality is quality."

 

 

Bolland went in spite of her usual aversion to crowds and lines because "this is a deal."

She pointed to a friend's jacket that normally costs $300, and said she expected it would be less than $100 at the sale.

The people who lined up yesterday, many for three to five hours, expected sale prices at half of what Lululemon sells in its stores.

Lacey Scott, an athletic therapist from Guelph, made the trek to Hamilton after finding last year's sale in Toronto was worth the effort.

"I wear it every day at work," she said of her previous Lululemon purchases. "It's comfortable. I like it."

The women interviewed in line said they heard about the warehouse sale on the Internet or from friends who read about it online.

Sonia DiLeonardo, 15, of Guelph got an e-mail from the Convention Centre telling her about the sale after she bought concert tickets online.

"Lululemon just caught my eye," she said. "Then I went to Facebook to search and get more information.

"I like Lululemon. It's comfy ... It's fashionable (but) it's usually expensive."

Jean Katernechuk, 51, came from Dunnville to meet her mother Elsie Hadder, 79, of Hamilton, and her daughter Kristen, 28, of Burlington, for the sale.

"Can you imagine? We're all nuts," she said, laughing despite being three hours into the lineup wait.

But Hadder said her Lululemon pants "are the most comfortable pants I've ever worn."

Carmen Ip, Lululemon's eastern Canada regional community relations manager, said the company expects the sale will attract 12,000 people by the time it ends on Sunday. By noon yesterday, 950 customers had gone through the doors, the first of whom lined up outside at 3 a.m., she said.

Ip and a colleague have been in Hamilton for a month preparing for the sale. They hired 150 local residents for a week and a half to prepare and work the warehouse sale. And there is enough clothing to last through to Sunday's closing because of the thousands of products brought in and a team of 15 workers restocking the racks as they are depleted, Ip said.

Lululemon held a warehouse sale earlier this year in Niagara Falls.

Ip said the Hamilton sale was added as a thank-you to the many loyal customers here who often travel to the closest store in Oakville.

Article Source: theSpec.com