Gilt City Warehouse Sale, a fun and inexpensive night on the town

Twice a year bargain hunting shoppers are invited to “raid the warehouse” at the Gilt City DC Warehouse sale. The event, which is held in various locations nationwide, returned to Washington this weekend to eagerly awaiting crowds. Scores of people braved the cold and lined up early so they could spend an inexpensive Friday night of entertainment. Here they enjoyed unlimited cocktails, munched on tasty snacks and danced to lively music as they embarked on a thrilling hunt for discount clothing, home goods and accessories.

Among those in line was Leticia Long who was attending the event for the first time. “I’m hoping to find some cute sweaters,” she said as she waited to enter the building. Long brought with her several friends who were also first timers to the sale. One of them, Harold Sanco, was looking for “expensive shoes” and was later seen carting around several boxes suggesting that he had accomplished his mission.

This year the bi-annual favorite took place at Dock5 located in Union Market in northeast Washington. This new location provided a larger venue than its previous spot giving shoppers more space to snap up Prada and Ferragamo shoes, Gucci blazers and other must-have designer wares. The space also allowed for a John Varvatos pop up store, which featured a full collection of looks with prices 75% off of original sticker.

This year’s selections were a mix of current and previous years’ fashion, irregular pieces and slightly damaged items. Experienced shoppers knew to check their choices carefully before adding them to their buy list. Gilt City DC did do a good job of providing merchandise with classic styling or items that were right on trend for this season. As a result, choices seemed fresh and not out of date.

With a little patience, shoppers could be rewarded with some wonderful statement pieces. Some of the standouts included a Carolina Herrera floral ball gown from spring 2013, red DSquared loafers from last spring, a very popular zip up shawl sweater from the 2013 Stockbridge Collection from Gant and a stunning quilted tartan jacket from Black Fleece which is still available online from Brooks Brothers.

Prices ranged from a few bucks to thousands of dollars however they did elicit a mix response from some patrons. Nowhere was it more evident then the checkout line. As shoppers waited in the long queue to complete their purchases, they contemplated their choices and some things were returned after being deemed too pricey.

That’s not to say there were not bargains to be had. The aforementioned DSquared loafers were a good deal priced at $179 down from $695 and a Tommy Hilfiger blazer was a steal at $65 as compared to $295 online. Local personality, Tommy McFly said, “I went wild,” as he made his way to the cashier with his goodies and shoppers did leave the event happy with shopping bags in toe.