Eeek, it has been WAY to long since I've posted. Work has been especially crazy; we just had our largest fundraiser yesterday and as you can image planning for it consumed most of my time for the last few weeks. This weekend was completely consumed with work between planning for the event and running errands for the event.
However, likely to no one's surprise, I managed to sneak into a store that carried Filofaxes on Saturday afternoon!
I was up in a northern Chicago suburb dropping off one of our event honorees when I realized I remembered seeing on the Filofax website that a store in the area had a "gold account" standing. Now, the last gold account store I went to wasn't very impressive, and the "bronze account" store that I had visited had nothing more than a few weekly inserts and lavender paper. Not too promising.
So I called in advance to be sure that this place really did carry the beloved Filo. The saleslady confirmed their presence, so I headed over. I was surprised to find a decent collection of personals, pockets, and minis. No A5 Filos on the shelves, but I wasn't really interested in any of them anyway. Here are a few bits of insight I gained from this visit:
- The Cuban ink, one of the Filos I have considered upgrading to, lived up to my expectations. The leather is beautiful, and it looks professional. However, I don't think it would ever lie flat, and I don't think I could deal with that.
- They had one Amazona in almond- it was beautiful! I loved the layout, but felt that the color would be too hmmm, lush for my every day use. Maybe someday when I can afford to have a "going out" filo!
- I found out I am really not a fan of the Finsbury at all.
- The Adelphi was way better than I had thought. It never really caught my eye online, but they had it in black, magenta, and a purple which I don't know the name of. They were still too expensive for how much I liked them, but the purple had a pretty obvious scratch/cut in the cover that I might have used to haggle price with the manager had she not been helping select Bat Mitzvah invitations with another customer.
- The leather on the pocket Eton was so unbelievably soft, but with the $180 price tag on a scuffed and scratched model, I put it down faster than I could blink.
- I thought I had found a pocket Malden, only to find that it was a version called Belmont. I'd never heard of it before, but it was quite appealing.
- Speaking of Malden, there wasn't a single darn one in the store! Mind you, this is number one on the list of Filos I want to upgrade to and I would LOVE to see one in the flesh before making that decision. At this point I just don't know if it'll happen :(
Overall, this little Saturday break was just what I needed-- even if I didn't make a purchase. Who knows, maybe I'll wander back in one day when the manager isn't so busy and test my negotiating skills. Looks like the hunt is still on for a Malden sighting unless I miraculously find my way to London in the near future!Labels: Filofax