Liberty of London for Target Bedding Launches Early in MN

While browsing the aisles at my Roseville T1 Target last night, I was surprised to find a shelf of the Liberty of London bedding already put out onto the floor (official release isn't until this coming Sunday). Per Racked NY, this was one of the first major movers at the New York pop-up shop, which closed early due to overwhelming response (the shop was supposed to stay open until tomorrow!). I wonder how long it will last here. I love the prints, but the bedding isn't for me...sorry, just a bit too femmy even for my tastes...

A quick scan of the rest of the store didn't yield any other products from this collection. And a call this morning to the Nicollet location (next door to corporate HQs, and often the place to find early releases of their designer collabs) confirmed they won't be puting out stuff until Sunday. Sad. Still waiting for my shirts, ties, and boxers I guess...

Jean Paul Gaultier for Target

JPG for everyone. Officially released today, these frocks have been hanging out on the salesfloor at the Roseville T1 Supertarget since around the middle of last week.

As always with these hi-lo masstige collabs, the pieces are less convincing of a deal in person...although I'm on the lookout for these tattoo print mesh leggings -- already sold out online -- for a girl near and dear to my heart.

No luck at the Roseville location, a very nice girl on the floor told me she didn't recall them ever coming in, no luck at the Minneapolis location either. Maybe I'll call around and see if the other spots here in MN even stocked them...

H&M Southdale Store Opening

H&M opened at Southdale Shopping Center at noon today. Curious as to what type of crowd might show up as well as what the new store would have to offer -- both in the store as well as in their free gift bag to the first 100 customers, I duly made my way to Edina this morning. Showing up with a half hour to spare, I was met with an already formed line of excited customers, which snaked past one side of the storefront and past three others. Impressive for my neck of the woods, yea?? The crowd was a mix of mothers with their babies in tow (expected in a midday mall crowd wouldn't you say?) as well as young adults who were probably skipping class (shame!..but i'm guilty too). I couldn't even see the store from where I was standing in line...

At about 15 'til, employees started handing out small nylon knapsacks along with a scratch-off card that revealed a monetary amount. Sadly, Sasha didn't want to give me more than $10 to spend...

Afterwards, a gaggle of employees ran past the queue clapping and cheering...a lot of them looked awkwardly uncomfortable...

And not too much longer after that, I was in.

The men's section is fair...a decent serving of the Divided and H&M Man lines but nothing that stood out to me...let's just say I'll be sticking to the selection at the Mall of America, which definitely has a much more involved offering... If you're interested in checking it out yourself, the men's section is located on the second floor at the entrance past the seductively brooding Andres Velencoso Segura (for the time being).

I did manage to pick up this scarf with fringe detailing...I've been on the search for one...with my coupon, it was worth the purchase...otherwise, I think I would have left it alone...

The gift bag has a few odds and ends...the latest issue of their in-store magazine (oh hey there, Angela!), a couple coin wallets, small notebook, a keychain, and a tee-shirt that was a women's M. Nothing to write home about, but hey, a gift is a gift and always appreciated! Thanks H&M for an interesting morning. Now I wonder if there were men's tees floating around...

LOCAL FLAVOR: Window Shopping @ Arbor Lakes

Yesterday was a beautiful day indeed, the sun was out and still strong enough to convey warmth, and yet, the air was crisp and cool...appropriate for a mid-October day. After a very hearty brunch, we decided it wouldn't do to just head indoors, and so we opted to take on some light window shopping...outdoor village style. The Shoppes at Arbor Lakes is a quaintly designed outdoor shopping mall...cute in theory, it's unfortunate there's nothing actually there...for women's, the Anthropologie seems like a pretty impressive coup for whatever management company owns this establishment...but for the guys...nothing... There is a J. Crew, but it's a women's only shop (oooh, SO CLOSE!). So very light, and very window it was...

LOCAL FLAVOR: Saturday Brunch @ Uptown Diner, 10.17.2009

Favorite place to grab brunch in Minneapolis: Uptown Diner.

Favorite item to order off the menu: Crabcake Benedict.

LOCAL FLAVOR: H&M Southdale to Open 10.22.2009 Noon

At the end of September, I posted pics of the H&M Southdale’s boarded storefront.

Minnesota’s third H&M will be opening a week from tomorrow (10.22.2009) according to the store locator on their website. They've even got the illustrious Liya Kebede helping to spread the news online. I hope to be there on opening day. There’s nothing like digging through a freshly stocked store. Despite the listing of the men’s lines slated to be offered at this location, I’m curious how it’s actually going to be — of interesting note…none of the New York City stores list Men’s Trend, neither does the Michigan Ave. store in Chicago, nor the Beverly Center spot in LA…is this line still going to exist?

LOCAL FLAVOR: Polo Ralph Lauren and Puma @ the Albertville Premium Outlets

In contrast to the past few days, which have been downright miserable with all the rain, the sun came out today and made for a beautiful clear and crisp fall day. My friend and I celebrated by taking a drive up to the Albertville Premium Outlets, located north of Minneapolis in...Albertville.

The last time I was here was over three years ago...the thought of outlet shopping in this state doesn't excite me...especially when other outlet centers out there like Woodbury Commons (operated by the same parent company, Chelsea Premium Outlets) offer destinations like Balenciaga, YSL, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, and a Barneys Outlet...so I'm fine holding my breath most of the time. However, we are lucky to still keep a Polo Ralph Lauren Factory Store -- sadly, downtown Minneapolis' Ralph Lauren store closed a couple years ago -- and I remember finding a few gems at this outlet in the past...so it didn't take much arm twisting to agree to go...

To a certain extent, Ralph Lauren factory stores are guilty of what I feel is the extremely off-puting practice of stocking factory-direct merchandise. Per the Ralph Lauren website:

"Our merchandise is comprised of overstocked, prior-season, discontinued and returned merchandise from Polo Ralph Lauren full-price retail locations. We also carry exclusive lines, mildly irregular products and cuts of fabric leftover from making current or prior-season merchandise—all with the exceptional design quality that you expect from the world of Ralph Lauren."

But as the above statement states, they also receive authentic product from previous seasons, and if I remember correctly from visiting the store at the Wrentham Outlets in Massachusetts, they'll actually outright identify which products are factory-direct...so they're not completely shady...like other outlet stores that cater to mass-consumption America...

Today, I noticed this rack of oxfords on further promo from their already reduced price. At $39.99 USD, the price isn't unlike similar product I've found at the sale rack of Macy's or at TJ Maxx...but the shirt I picked up was my size and of the "custom fit" cut...these are two qualities my local Macy's NEVER considers to include when planning their inventory as they assume all their male shoppers must be size "M" or larger and enjoy their button downs LONG and BAGGY (i.e. the Ralph Lauren "classic fit")...so to me, this was definitely a check in the worth it column...

At the check-out counter, I noticed a pile of bow-ties...sifting through them, I found this silk tartan print piece from the Rugby line marked down to $2.99! Not too shabby given a regular priced bow-tie from Rugby can cost up to $69.50... I particularly am fond of the ones that have the tapered ends like this one. I'm not as obsessed with the Rugby line as I used to be when the line first came out in 2004, but I look forward to whipping out this bow-tie over the coming holiday season.

On a whim, my friend and I checked out the Puma Outlet...although in my wildest dreams the store would stock previous seasons of Alexander McQueen X Puma, this was obviously not the case. I was surprised to find a few styles from the Rudolph Dassler and Black Label lines.

I settled on a pair of the Speed Cat style done in pony hair...this particular silhouette has been around for ages...but I couldn't pass up on the fact that this specific pair was of the pony hair variety...originally $150, the outlet was selling them for $89.99. As luck would have it, everything in the store was 40% off, and my friend had a coupon for an additional 25% off... Pas mal.

LOCAL FLAVOR: H&M Coming Soon to Southdale

>>UPDATE 10.14.2009: The store opening date has been announced. Click HERE for more.

I first made mention of H&M’s third Minnesota store opening this past spring. Our metro newspaper, The Star Tribune, also reported on this over the summer. The location will be at the Southdale Mall in Edina, MN. Southdale’s fame (at least locally) comes from the fact that it was our country’s first indoor shopping complex…that’s pretty fantastic…but in recent years, this shopping center has taken on a rather dowdy feel…one suburb over in Bloomington, the Mall of America seems to have sapped all of the energy this mall once imbued…

But to me, Southdale will always hold a special place in my heart…for a long time, and in keeping (I guess) with Edina’s “elite” suburban status, this mall housed the only J. Crew in the state…and in high school, we looked forward to paying a visit when we grew tired of paging through catalogs…and back before Macy’s took over Marshall Field’s, this department store’s Minnesota sister was known as Dayton’s…and the Dayton’s at Southdale was fancy enough to even staff a classy pianist on their main concourse…

So, hopefully, H&M stands to breathe some new life into this old soul, and in a modern way…per H&M’s facebook page, the store opening will take place in October…nothing more specific, yet…but I will sure to be on top of it when any more news leaks.

In the meantime, I snapped a couple photos of the boarding over the storefront, which features images of the hot Sean O’Pry (heey beautiful!) and gang for H&M’s Spring/Summer 2009 campaign. I think it’s pretty cool this outpost will be a two-leveler…not that that means much I’m sure…’cause even though the store is slated to be a “full concept store”, I’m pretty sure that if the Mall of America already doesn’t carry the trend lines, this one won’t either… Sad.

NEVERTHELESS! I hope to be there on opening day…maybe there’ll be some cool promos to be had…