Welcoming the New Year

It has been almost a year since I started this blog. I was a bit apprehensive when I first started blogging as I am not a good writer. I dont know how to write interesting reviews on bags and engage readers.  I hope next year I will have more confidence in my writing and perhaps able to write interesting, thought provoking blog and more reviews on bags.

I am glad to have made new friends in this blogging experience and will want to continue to know more people beyond my own circles of friends. Someone told me to be an entrepreneur is crazy. I like that idea of being one, though I am not sure if I will be successful. Next year I will be focusing on trying to bring thedeborahshop to the next level.

I hope to be more creative and bold, to bring in new ideas to improve our service to you. I am toying with the idea like  "Handbags parties". In the 80s, there were Tupperware parties, where the sales person of the Tupperware company is invited to sell Tupperware in your parties. I hope to be invited to parties and bring our handbags to give your parties a new meaning to parties. It will not just be great food and lot of booze , there's also a little shopping spree right at your home.


There are so many things I want and need to do to revamp the whole shop and hope I am able to carry out in 2012 and not forgetting to give you the best bargain in town.
Thank you for your support. :)


Have a great year ahead.

A message to my friends, customers and fans

Another year is almost gone and soon a new year will emerge.

I wish that time can slow down. This year has more downs than ups for me. I have far more enthusiasm in life than I have actual energy. Nevertheless, I have friends to cheer me up, hand me a tissue and help me stand up again. Thanks to all who have been a great help to me.

Thanks to my readers who have been faithfully reading and following my blog. The contents are not as informative, provocative, mind blowing or humourous enough but I am willing to learn along to way if you will continue to provide valuable feedback.

A big thank to my customers. We hope to serve you better in the coming year
While I reflect upon my life this year, I wish I can do better next year, having more equipped with experiences and wisdom.

I wish you all the best for the coming year and stay happy.

Year End Sale 26-31 Dec

Merry X'mas to all. 

We are having a Year End Sale on 26-31 Dec.
Here are some good deals.

All Prada are 15%-20% off
All Fendi are 20%- 30% off
Some bags are on 30%-50% off, e.g. Fendi Roll bags
Some bags are on 70% off, e.g. document bags from Ferragamo
.......etc

The prices in our shop are about 30% less than the retail before the mark down. This means greater saving for your dream bags if you shop now.
Do drop by our shop and check it out.

For online shoppers, you can checkout our facebook to get the code for the discount for 20% off on all items till 26 Dec only. Dont miss the chance.

Code: HOLIDAY

Review on 2 Prada Bags

The Prada nylon bags are known for its waterproof quality and certainly come in handy for rainy seasons. I have not seen so much rain in S'pore my entire life, honestly.

BR4001, $860

I like this blue turquoise Prada sling bag, BR4001 for it's unusual colour and big enough to carry my daily items, not forgetting the umbrella and a book in case I get stuck in the MRT. It is causal and yet stylish. It will go well with jeans.  It also comes in black which is the Prada classic colour. Colours do spice up the gloomy days like today.

The other bronzy colour, BN1840 bag is my the other favourite. I like the structured and semi-serious look which is perfect for weekends and office. It is not too small that you can't stuff things in it and not too overwhelming big. It is a right size for minimalist or on days where my shoulders are aching.

Both bags are super light weight so the weight you are lugging is the actual weight of the content.

What about some  matching wallets to go along? I prefer long wallets as I like my notes straight. I have the tendency to stuff receipts into my wallets so I do need a wallets with lots of compartment. Black colour wallets to give the additional mileage ( it wont show if it is dirty).

Prada wallet, $480 onwards

The prices indicated here are only valid for a limited period of time.

SALES ON 23 to 26 DEC

Good news for last minute shoppers. 20% all items on 23rd to 26 Dec. We are giving 30% for the second item. Only 3 days. We are closed on 25 Dec, but you may shop online.

To participate the sales, do the following 2 simple steps

1) Go to www.thedeborahshop.com and 'like' our product in the product details page or 'like' our facebook
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Thedeborahshop/173940086005020

2) Send an email to:
Email: info@thedeborahshop.com
To get a code for the discount.

Happy Holiday

X'mas present ideas



Candles



Pot Pourri

Hand-made Silver Accessories



Hand-made Accessories




Wooden Handcraft



Prada Wallets

Prada Bags

Only the Prada wallets and bags are available in www.thedeborahshop.com

Holiday Street Food

Nothing about bags for this post. Just some really causal medieval street food that I came across. Here are some mouth watering food that I kinda missed. Enjoy and Happy Holiday!

Hot Waffle and thick syrup

Fresh baked bread, just out from stove

All that spices!

Enough selection of assorted nuts

Additional sauces for the pizza?

Freshly made Pizza

Not forgetting that hot spicy or honey wine

Prada-New Arrival for X'mas

Some quick preview of what's new in the shop. The colour may varies as the lighting in the shop aren't that great and my camera skills are somewhat limited. Due to time constraint, I am not able to provide the exact descriptions. Please bear with me.

Variety of Prada and Miu Miu Wallets

Prada and Miu Miu Wallets, $600 onwards

BR4254-$1200, nylon gold

BR4621-$900, nylon gold

BN1841- $1000, nylon gold

BN1840- $1200 nylon, gold

BR4001-$1000, nylon blue

BR2106-$900,nylon blue

BR4373-$1700 ( leather,blue)

BR4420-$1700 ( leather, blue)

Breaking news: Prada bags are in store now

New Arrival - hot from the stove! 20 new bags and wallets from Prada. Price range from $750 to $1600 for bags and $500-$600 for wallets. Come on to our shop to check it out. Our camera man is on leave for this whole entire month, so please bear with my camera skills. Will post it up tomorrow.

Grab it for X'mas!

No Frills Concept

Someone came to the shop and asked if we like to increase our sales by ranking top for Search Engine/Marketing or to work on a new website....hmmm... This thing do come with a price tag.

Our shop is not fancifully decorated. Our website are done up by a start up web designer company. Pictures of bags are taken by a novice who wants to improve his skills. Everything here is very much DIY.

We are starting out and trying to stinch on all possible expenditure. So we will not pass this cost to our customers. The real competitors are ourselves and not comparing myself with others.

Cheers to all start ups and bloggers who sell their items on blog or shops that are DIY everything.
Tammy, I admire you. You are also your own model for your shop.

Breaking News-Prada in 2 weeks time

We will be expecting a shipment of Prada lady handbags and wallets in 2 weeks time! I am so looking forward to it as I am not sure what will be arriving. Usually I am the one getting the items but this time round, I decided to let someone else do the job. None other than my pals in Italy who decided that they wanted to give me a 'surprise'. Dont get me wrong, they are very well verse in woman's handbags and accessories, highly fashionable and equally crazy. They work and party hard.
And for Tammy's fan, you know you'll be having a good deal.
Go check out the discount code, www.ohsofickle.blogspot.com

Oysters and Champagne

Year End Dinner Party

It is coming to the end of 2011....how many parties will you be attending? I always advocate that one should go to a party in style cos you really dont know who you are going to meet.

What about just dinner with friends or just the 2 of you? Year end dinners are always very special to me especially with someone I love. I will make a point to also dress up for the occasion. I ve this same old nostalgic feeling about end of the year year after year. Slight anxious about what the new year will bring and how to old one will end.... reflecting....

Anyway, here 's some nice affordable evening bag...

Schelian- simple grey.

Scroll style black bag with Swarovski Crystal

Very Elegant, Ribbon style in Red with Swarovski Crystal.

My colourful bird, waiting for your invitation.

Must have for the year!

Dior long wallet with detectable sling

Double up as a wallet as well as an evening bag. It's big enough to fit an iphone or a blackberry. Alot of compartments for cards and notes. Detactable sling. Lamb leather make it even better. :)

Bottega tote-burnt orange

This is an unusal colour for Bottega, burnt orange.  I like this bag cos it is structured A4 size and yet soft at the same time. There are 3 compartments, no zipper and no metal hardware, hence the weight of the bag is in fact the content of the bag. Classic styles can be simple and this is absolutely a classic. The best part is, this bag is only $3000.

I dont think I need to introduce the below, the Gucci 90th anniversary full leather evening bag in cherry red.

Gucci 90th anniversary evening clutch-detachable sling

Helloweeen

Look who's visiting us today!!! Next to our shop is a Party Shop and they have tons of balloons. The funny thing is their balloons would sometimes end up in our shop. We always have bunch of balloons in different colours and sizes. We do welcome them as it spruce up the place with colours... and sometimes unexpected visitor like the one below. We dont mind at all. I am certainly into my Halloween mood. Waiting for an invitation for a Halloween party. Treats or Tricks????

Casper Invader

Shoposaurus or shoponator

I was chit chatting with my customer and she was telling me how much she loves to shop. She would come into our shop and buy a few items at one time. She is every salesgirl dream. She wants me to give her a nickname or rather she insisted one. It sets me thinking....I am so good in giving nicknames..even to our bags in the shop. Yes, we do use code names for some bags.

"Shop till you drop" is old school, passe, wonder who still uses that phrase? Shopaholics are so 10 years ago and Shopzillas have alrady used up their five minutes of frame, thanks to their website whose logo is a shopping cart with fire coming out of its rear.  Have you seen it?

What about shoposarus or shoponator ( like Terminator)? It sounds tranny enough, with big appetites to devour piles of merchandise without considering.

Characteristic:
I like shoposarus, she does not return anything she bought and very decisive. She comes to our shop once a fortnight and checked if there's anything new. If a bag caught her eye, she would grab it at once and tell me to wrap it without blinking. She couldn't careless to check, "a scratch on the leather bag is a matter of time", quote Shoposarus. She never bargain but I always give her a good price as she buys in bulk. Once she bought 3 same colour Bottega Wallet as she was afriad that price will goes up. Sure enough, the prices went up the next shipment.

She is a good customer and slowly we become friends. .... That's Shoposaurus!

1921 Gucci Collection

1921 Collection, $2000 at thedeborahshop 

The above is the 1921 collection to celebrate Gucci 90th anniversary. IT's ninety, all that history and experiences behind the brand, GUCCI.  Indeed an event to celebrate and remember.  I always like anniversary pieces that was create for an occasion or having it revived for that matter. Did this bag really exist in the 1921? I really would like to know.

I don't know anyone personally who are 90 years old. My grandma died at a age of 87, she was borned in 1925. She was the oldest person that I know thus far. If possible I would like to know someone who is borned in 1900 to tell me what he/she thinks about the bags in 1920s. Of cos, I doubt anyone is alive by now. The next best bet is to get information from the net , biography on persons who lived during that era. I thought it will be so cool if I can get my hands on a certain bag that was passed to me, like a heirloom. I will be proud to announce that this and this are from 1921 era passed down to me by so and so....and he/she liked this b'cos ....and..etc.
Anyway, back to the 1921 Gucci clutch. Personally, it is a fantastic piece. It has a clean cut design, not loud with glitters and or gold hardware. The leather is smooth, however the horsebit logo create a slight dent to the leather. Other than that little kink, the rest is just perfect. I love the cherry 2 tones colour.

Is ebay still there?

There were a few people this week asking us if we do take in pre-loved bags ( 2nd hand bags). I replied apologetically that all our bags are brand new but they try walking over at United Square ( I know there's a 2nd handbag shop there) or perhaps try Deluxmall ( a handbag forum) or ebay. This young lady looked at me as if I was from outer space, gently told me that there's no one buying in ebay anymore. I decided to investigate to find out what she said was true.

I went to 3 ebay site; USA, Singapore and Malaysia. There were a lot of sellers mostly in fashion category such as clothes, handbags and accessories. To my surprised, I realised that there weren't many transactions over these 3 ebay sites. Some of the prices were ridiculously high and others were quite reasonable, but no takers. I wondered what had change, is it Groupons? or what? Han suggested that I looked at digital cameras or rather men's gadgets corner. The results did not fair any better.

In my opinion, the world is getting smaller (globalisation-thanks to internet) and people are setting up their own blogs and doing direct selling instead of going through the complicated steps of setting up an account with ebay. I remembered when I was in University I came across many books on how to make money from ebay. This is something perhaps already in the past.

I am worried. Does that mean that no one is buying or looking out for bargains? Are they too many people selling? How are we going to differenate the real and the fake? Maybe one day we may return to good old shopping method, trying out the bags in a physical shop and bag their bags in an old fashion way.
  

I can't decribe IT

I am certainly not a bag blogger expert, unlike bagaholics and others who write/blog so well about bags, all kinds of bags. I love bags like most women do, but when it comes to writing or describing the bags, I am kinda tongue stuck. I don't know how to write about bags professionally, I admit. I just can't described them elegantly and not doing justice to the bags! I need practice?

The description goes like this,
" two interior pockets, one for mobile, one for PDA. Top zip with gold colour zipper (yes, of cos), 2 leather handles for shoulder or elbow (lame- yes you don't use legs to carry bags!), Gold hardware logo not but real gold ( duh,  I interchanged gold and metal- inconsistency, as I cannot misrepresent the bag, maybe it should be gold colour metal), Canvas but the waterproof kind...etc ( oh I so give up)"

I hope by providing dimensions and an email address for potential customers to drop me a question will suffice and of cos you can drop by the shop to see the actual bag if possible. I will improve...
Thanks for patience! Email me if in doubt :)

Made in China bags should also be half the price

I prefer the luxury bags in my shop to be made in Italy, considering the price I am paying. Besides, it is not just it's name we are buying, but the designs and handiworks that made it. I am not advocating that Italian bags made in China, Turkey, Romania are less superior these days or we could tell the difference in a glance. Having said that, I prefer my Chinese teacups set to be made in China, than in Italy.

Different countries differ in culture and therefore differ in strength. We know countries who bear big name by the things they produce and sell. For example, we associate Ikea and Sabb with Sweden, Apple with US, Sony with Japan and Prada with Italy. Italy produce big car names like Ferrari but dont forget that India and Pakistan also made history by having nuclear weapons. If one day Ferrari is made in India, would it still fetch the same price and status?

The world is getting smaller due to globalisation. I know there are many mass market bags ( we are talking about branded designers bags) are made in China. For example, the nylon black Prada tote and some LV are made in China. To be certain, I always make a point to check the labels. I prefer to carry bags that are made in Italy- I may be fooled as some bags are only assembled in Italy, but at least....Ia m not fixated that all Italian bags should be made in Italy, but I am sure one day, most of it will be made in China or India where labours are cheaper.

Perhaps bags made in China should be half the price?

Thanks Beatrice for pointing out.  Hope you enjoy the bag nevertheless.

Everything DIY-excepts making those bags

The most frequent question I've been asked by numerous people, " how on earth are your bags ~ 30%  lower than the boutique?

Below are the answers
1) We import all our bags from Europe. We get special prices for each and every bag we bought, more than just the VAT rebate. In short, even when you shop in Europe, our prices are still better. We have many customers who feedback that they went Hong Kong and Europe to buy bags but none are cheaper than ours.

2)  Our shop is in Novena Square, Velocity. A heartland mall, not downtown in Orchard. Therefore operating costs are therefore lower.

3) We do everything ourselves including taking pictures and updating our website. All done these are done at home with a computer. Not professional. So pardon us! We are improving along the way.

4) There are only 2 staff in the shop.

5) Our shop is not very renovated, just minimum.

6) We dont serve in suit and gloves

Having said that, our bags are brand new and authentic. We will refund in full if any boutique in town said otherwise with a letter of cos. We take it very seriously and they can sue our pants off! We guarantee our bags are all original.

We do apologise if we appear as if we are selling pre-loved ( second-hand) bags. Nothing is second hand, except perhaps our prices.  So start your bag collection at our shop :)

Featuring Fendi Shopping Tote

Working in the shop all weekends just made me realise that I do have a lot of time at hand when there's no customers. I used the time to clean up the shelves, work on the display and putting things in order. I also understand the bags on the shelves a little better as I do have time to ponder what if I own this or that bag, what will I put in them, what occasion will I use it..etc. I inspected all of them, to know if they are well made, good condition and see if there's any defeats or if there's any spot that need polishing. I can do this for the rest of my life.

Ok, I picked 3 bags today as my favorite bag of the week. They are well made.  Leather trimming all round, including the corners and base of the bags, those are the most vulnerable spots. The shoulder straps are slim so it can fit on most shoulders, even the slouchy ones. It has a top zip so the contents in the bag do not fall out and for added security if you are going for a holiday. Light weight fabric so you can put more things in them, especially your shopping if you are trying to hide from your husband.
Lastly, they are at a good price too! Check it out!

2 new bags.

Gucci 269956F8J1G-$1400

Prada BR4763, ~$2400

New arrivals in the shop that caught my eyes. The Gucci is limited edition. I am not sure if it is sold in S'pore, perhaps. I like the gold dust look, especially the heart shape charm with a little bamboo to complete the IT look.
Next is this Prada Sacca. It has 2 zipped side pockets and 3 open compartment inside the bag.  Ok the colour: Pietra. Ok ok, it is like stone colour, very unique, unlike the usual black. The bag is so well made. The shoulder strap has a cushion so it wont hurt your shoulder if you have too much to carry.

I like to think that our bags are unique and prices are good. Recently, I found that that our mini, micro and nano Celine luggages were the best priced in S'pore. :) Better than the online shop. I want to say we are proud as we can bring cost saving to our customers. Everything from are done by ourselves, including taking the amateurish photos and descriptions. Hope we will improve.

Prada at $1500-$1700

Check out our new arrival Prada. It's made of distressed calf leather and deer skin, simply no frills to it, very practical bag with shoulder strap and just some gold hardware- zip and logo. They come in variety of colours and size, but one thing for sure tt is value for money.

Scheilan Firenze

Scheilan Firenze, never heard of? I chanced upon it when I was re stocking bags in Europe. I was looking out for a brand/shop that only specialise in evening, wedding bags, fill with embellishment and rhinestones, crystal..etc. And here I found this boutique that does just that.

Their bags are unique and not too expensive. The above bags are going at $350 per bag. Check it out on our website.