Lou Lou VIP shopping night

Welcome Erin Bury, Community Manager at Sprouter, an online collaboration tool for entrepreneurs. She loves shopping and can usually be found trying to justify her latest purchase. We’re thrilled Erin offered to write this guest post.

There are certain things that girls can agree on. One: that men are impossible. Two: That ice cream is a major food group. And three: that if you say the words "discount" "free drinks" and shopping to a girl she’ll immediately be interested. So you can imagine how happy I was when a friend forwarded me an invite to the Lou Lou magazine 5th anniversary block party.

The event took place in Montreal and Toronto on Wednesday, September 23rd (the perfect way to ease into fall, in my humble opinion), and being a resident of the Big Smoke I eagerly signed up for the event in Yorkville.

So what exactly did the block party involve? Well to celebrate their anniversary Lou Lou teamed up with several of the stores on the Bloor St. strip – The Gap, Banana Republic, Town Shoes, and Winners, among several others. Each of the stores offered a special discount for the night, contests (I’m still waiting to find out if I won a beautiful Banana Republic purse – cross your fingers for me), a bar complete with cute bartenders and delicious drinks (pomegranate martini anyone?) and trays of snacks. They also had a special “passport” and if you got it stamped at 5 stores you were entered to win a fabulous Betsey Johnson prize.

So I got to shop at my favourite stores, drinks and food in hand, at a discounted price. Oh, and I didn’t mention the best part – the gift bag. My girlfriend and I browsed at The Gap and Banana Republic but didn’t see anything that caught our fancy (except for the delicious Bailey’s White Russians and Smirnoff ready-to-pour Mojitos – I know what I’m buying for my next girls-night-in).

Then it was off to Town Shoes where I bought a beautiful pair of Steve Madden over-the-knee black leather boots –no discount on the pair but with my purchase I received a coupon for $20 off my next purchase and a gift bag (see photo). The gift bag was worth $200, so of course I HAD to buy the boots, if only for that – at least that’s what I told my boyfriend. The gift bag contained all kinds of goodies – a copy of Lou Lou magazine, Blistex lip balm, Fisherman’s Friend mints, a Fruits & Passion gift set, a Bic Soleil razor, a CityTV Cougar Town notebook, and more.

Next it was on to Guess – my girlfriend bought a necklace, and with a $5 donation to a local women’s shelter she received 20% off the purchase and an amazing gift bag. Her gift bag contained almost the same swag as mine, but as an added bonus she got a L’Oreal gift set and a $20 gift card to Guess.

Overall it was a fabulous night – I got to hang out with one of my best friends, enjoy some delicious cocktails, shop for fall fashions, and walk away with swag in hand. Thanks Lou Lou, for an awesome night that any bargainista would die for!