The Underground Purse Network

So, you all heard of knock-offs of designer purses right? Well, my friend was telling me about this underground purse network in NYC and I just didn't believe her until I experienced it myself. It was like I was trying to buy drugs from a dealer. This was an experience I just had to share, but I hope no one gets in trouble.

It started out with us walking down a street in NYC's Chinatown. There was a ton of people there and already I was getting claustrophobic (and we were still outside!). As we were walking along, looking at the wares, there would be people whispering "LV LV? Gucci Gucci? Coach? We have lots. Wanna look?" If one person peeks your interest, then you'd follow that person to the location of their stash of knock-off designer stash.

Most of the time, the "Gucci, Coach, LV? I have it" person will take you to the back of the store and let you into a hidden, locked door that leads to a tiny room of about 5' x 5' PACKED with purses. Then there's another person telling you how much each purse costs, with a walkie talkie to transmit the price to the cashier up front. And in this tiny room are about 20 people trying to look at purses. Claustrophobia at a high! And if you try to bargain on the price of the purse, they'll just grab the purse from you and kick you out.

And when you get kicked out of one place, you go back on the streets and look for the next person whispering "Gucci? LV? Coach? PRada? I got it" guy who will take you to another hidden room in the back of the store. However, one lady lead us across three blocks, through an alley way, down a basement, through some more alley ways and into a locked storage room. I was fearing that she would just robb us and take our money, but she had the loot of knock-offs and she also kicked us out for trying to bargain with her on the prices.

Then we hit the motherload of the vendors: an indoor mall where every store has a stash of purses. On the outside, the store windows are covered with "Accupuncture," "Taxes filed here," Alterations for men and women available" signs. But when you walk through the door, there is an abundance of purses to choose from. And once you leave one store, the owner of another will ask you, "Want more purses? Come through here!"

I am never ever going through that again. Too many people. Too little rooms. And it takes too much freaking energy just to get a cheap LV knock-off. I'll wait until I make my millions and just buy the real thing, thank you very much.