The Endurance Test for a Discount

Yes the line stretched back all the way to the blue sculpture!

It's that time again when cosmetics giant Estee Lauder holds a warehouse sale for four days at Canada Place in downtown Vancouver. 

The last two years I went the line was not too crazy, but this year was completely insane, partly because it was all over social media advertising the sale.

This was where I stood around 9.10am

On Thursday the first day, I arrived just after 9am to see a massive line outside Canada Place that snaked across to the new convention centre down to the waterfront. Don't these people need to work?! It was also chilly too, but thankfully not raining.

There were over two hundred people in front of me, mostly women, or women who brought extremely patient boyfriends. 

At first the line moved periodically which was good, and by just after 9.30am I reached the front where a South Asian "security guard" stamped our hand with a circular stamp. From there we were allowed to go into Canada Place and walk towards the end where our hand was checked for a stamp and then we entered a room with a giant line that weaved back and forth seven times.

This was when things were stagnant, as only a few people at a time were allowed to go into the actual sale area. 

The dreaded weaving line at 9.36am

Most people were glued to their phones to pass the time, and only a handful of people like me brought reading material. Soon it was 10am, 10.30am, 10.45am, and my legs were tired from standing and not moving much. What was also annoying was there were occasional announcements telling people not to sit on the floor... 

Finally by 11.15am I was able to get into the sale area. Armed with a cloth bag provided for shoppers, I quickly scanned the rows of tables, which had a lot of make-up, from lipstick to foundation, concealer and then skincare. Finally found what I was looking for -- Advanced Night Repair at a fraction of the cost. 

100ml bottles were priced at C$48 (C$321 for 115ml), compared to the $80 last year. Lots of Chinese women were interested in buying the product as well. There were also two 100ml bottles packaged in boxes that I've seen sold in duty-free shops in airports. Here they were over $120 -- but why buy that when you can get two bottles for $96?

Rows of excess cosmetics, skincare, hair products

Mission accomplished, I went over the tables from the beginning again to make sure I didn't miss anything; some South Asian women sat on the floor with things they had accumulated; some Persian women were on video calls with friends, going over what they had managed to snag; others carried as many box sets of Clinique they could carry.

By the time I paid and got out of Canada Place, it was 12 noon and I was tired and hungry! Never did I think it would take me over two hours to get in. After this experience I don't think I will wait in line for a sale like that again, especially since I only wanted to buy one product!