The most aggressive of lulu shoppers have upped the ante yet again this year with a camp ground set up at about 8pm in front of seawheeze diners at nearby Cactus Club and Tap and Barrel. Last year the campers set up for the night after midnight so it wasn’t a big show of intent as it was this year. This year there was showmanship to the sport of shopping. What I’ve learned from 4 years of showcase stores is that you don’t have to be first in line or 10th in line to have advantage but you certainly need to be in the first wave of people let in the store which is probably about 200 people before the popular items are sold out (this year the Green CRB, Bug Speeds and Bug Backpacks). Unfortunately if you showed up at this lineup by midnight you could already see that you would not be in the first wave of shoppers let into the store. The lineup went right to the edge of the building. Unfortunately if you were in the second or third wave of shoppers, the people paying for these products on the secondary market (ebay, sales pages, angeling and whatnot) already beat you to the product which you’ve lined up for overnight. And there was definitely line cutting going on as well which is the most despicable.
I think it’s really good start that Lululemon made it runners only from 7am until 9:30am this year but that didn’t impact the secondary market or the drive to lineup overnight. I think the result of this will be that the competition to get an entry for the race for next year will be even more fierce because now there is a shopper entry limit for the first two hours attached to the ticket.
(I’ll write more about the weekend in follow up posts)
The first shoppers let in at 7am.
The lineup along the East side of the building.
This was the lineup at about 8am at the back of the building. 6-acre perimeter! I believe they waited about 2 hours before being let in and by 10am there was no longer a lineup. At some point I think everybody was just let in and they stopped controlling entry/exit.
shoppers checking out.
21 comments
Wow. I love my Lulu but that honestly kills any desire I have for SeaWheeze gear.
I love Lululemon but hate that "fear of missing out" mentality causing all this craziness! I am going to change my hoarding focus from lulu to cash. I am pretty sure cash is betterfor my life in the long run;)
I hope next year the first day is ONLY for runners. I hate these vultures who buy only to re-sell.
Some of the vultures are the runners.
I'll confess to having bought an item on eBay because gosh darn it the sea wheeze merchandise was brighter and far cuter then anything I've seen this year – I can only do 50 shades of mint green and coral/grapefruit/light flash/alarm …. I wouldn't want to take away from sea wheeze exclusivity for runners but why can't we get a plain green crb? Or cute bug patterns?
The thing is so many of the 'runners' are also the flippers. And it is getting ridiculous. Items were listed for sale, photos taken at the convention centre, before the first wave of people had even checked out. Next year ladies will be lining up the day before because you miss out if you are not in the first wave. There was very little checking of the number of items purchased, many ladies were allowed to buy more than 15 items at once and many checked out multiple times. Just getting a ticket next year will be worse. Lulu is making it harder and harder to continue to love their brand.
It is ridiculous – so many people register just to get the participant shorts to resell, or to get into the store earlier. Maybe it should become a post-event thing – show your finisher medal to qualify for earlier access. (And then people will be sore and tired so there won't be the mad dash, or the camping out? Ha.)
Yup. Consider that the cap on participants was a little over 10,000 people and only 7600 or so raced. Sure there are people who are injured or plans change but I'm willing to bet a good chunk of those are like you said, buy a registration to get the shorts to sell and gain a spot to the showcase store to re-sell items on eBay.
Yes, anonymous@3:03, I agree with what you are saying. I went to Seawheeze with my daughter in law. She was registered and I bought a registration there. She was allowed in early to shop, she was second group, we lined up at 4:30. When we got closer I stepped out of line and she proceeded to buy a total of 14 items, 7 for each of us. As I was waiting for her, I did see multiple items being put up for sale when the rest of the line of "runners" hadn't even gotten in yet. So the runners can sell just as much as "joe public", but I really don't care. If they want to make a little money to fund their trip and sell to someone who couldn't make it, so be it. Remember, they are just clothes.
This post is hilarious coming from someone that admitted to buying seven items for themselves, particularly when you yourself acknowledge that there are very clearly people that turned up and missed out due to the greed of people at the front of the line.
I didn't know you could buy registration for the race there! Does this happen every year? Are there limited entries available? I ended up going alone because my friend bailed fairly last minute but if I had known you could buy registration there, one of my other friends probably would have joined!
Why wouldn't you buy 7 items for yourself. If you are a runner and ran the race you have a 15 item limit….
This was my first Seawheeze so first experience with the store. It wasn't as crazy as I thought it would be, but I also wasn't looking for anything specific (except the green CRB. Didn't get one. Oh well.) I got some nice stuff, had a good time in line, made some line friends (who ended up getting me much further in line cause an employee was looking for people who had run all previous Seawheeze's. Pays to be friendly!) I'm never going to buy something off the secondary market and will never sell something at crazy marked up prices. I don't get the mentality of "recouping your costs" to be at the race. If you can't afford it, don't go.
What time did you get there? Im running next year and all of these stories are scaring me.
I would've absolutely said something to the woman who cut in front of me in line – unacceptable! …but this is coming from someone who "accidentally" swung her heavy bag into the Russian woman who cut in front of her in line at the Louvre. Oops! Sorrynotsorry, biotch.
My goodness! Lulumum, what time did you line up at?
And, can you tell us which colors work with the bug shorts?
Thanks 🙂
The entire store experience was super disappointing. I was travelling with my bf who wasn't running so I went to the store on my own, lining up just before 6 am. I was in line for three hours and when I finally made it in I was most disappointed with the selection. It was all bacteria printed stuff that was soooo unappealing and nothing that said Seawheeze on it. I briefly considered the pink miss misty jacket or the bug print trackers (there weren't a ton but you could find the odd popular item in leftover piles) but I realized I probably wouldnt wear those items ever. I ended up walking out with a swiftly long sleeve, swiftly tank and a pair of socks. Not worth the time in line. Not to mention my feet and back were so sore after standing for so long and I still had to run the next day.
After seeing everything for myself, I think it's nice to let runners in first but they are also part of the madness (and actually probably the most hardcore lulu shoppers). The only solution I can think of would be to either let runners pre-order items (maybe with really strict purchase limits) or stagger the stock of the store. Instead of first come first serve, put out stock in waves throughout the day to encourage people to come throughout the day (although the crazy ones will probably just park themselves at the store if that happens). I don't know I think I'm just most regret waiting in such a long line for such blah designs.
Annnnd with all that I would return because the race and sunset festival were sooo much fun. I would just reconsider my approach to the store (but really who knows, if they can pull out the lulu designs we all fell in love with I could probably get suckered in again). Thanks for the recap lulumum!
Preordering has some challenges. It's not always easy to order based on a photo and the size could be off. You could also be a different size when you order compared to when you're there to pick it up.
Isn't it funny that one of the persons in that photo whom was first in was also the first in line last year?
There where absolutely people cutting in line. In front of me a couple (husband and wife presumably) in their 40's (she had red hair, he was silver) and they chatted up the people in front of us. It seemed like they vaguely knew eachother and they were just visiting up front but would eventually go back to their places in line. That NEVER happened. They just non chalantly stayed. I would have said something but the woman had a pretty un approachable look to her and what am I going to do, get in a fist fight over it? It's just very disappointing a lot of the aggressive behaviour we witnessed. My friend got shoved and elbowed on the way into the store by someone that had been standing near us all night.
unbelieveable LLM.