The closing sale at Takashimaya started on Monday. Everything is 40% off, including fragrance and cosmetics. From the way things looked today, only three days into this sale, I doubt there's going to be much left after the weekend. The housewares floor is already nearly empty and it's almost impossible to find a complete set of anything. But we're not here to talk about napkin rings, right?
Some perfumes are already sold out, but as of Wednesday afternoon there's still quite a bit left (apparently perfume is less popular than scarves and table linens). A partial list:
Yosh
Keiko Mecheri (Loukhoum is already sold out)
Neil Morris
Ineke
DelRae (Bois de Paradis might already be gone)
Mona de Orio
Esteben (some are already missing)
Santa Maria Novella (stock greatly depleted)
Histoire de Parfums
Ulrich Lang
Caron (a bunch of the EDTs in fancy leather atomizers)
Fragonard (Grain de Soleil and a couple of others)
Ramon Molvizar
Home fragrance tip: While there are still quite a few reed diffusers on the entrance floor (mostly Antica Farmacista), if you go up to the Bed & Bath department (5th floor), there are several other brands (including Takashimaya's private label).
Leaving the store for the very last time was very sad. I'm thankful for the bargains I found, since everything I bought are items I wanted and planned on buying anyway. But it will be a long time before anything even remotely comparable to Takashimaya will open again in our area.
In other not good news, I wanted to check and confirm an unsettling suspicion that something was up with Miller Harris. If you check online, the US e-commerce site is closed (it's a fairly recent development. Last time I checked it was in February and everything looked normal). Furthermore, both Saks and Bloomingdale's no longer carry the line (I hear some Bloomie's stores are selling what's left at discount). A visit to Saks 5th Avenue flagship revealed the Miller Harris counter is gone completely. It used to be the only place you could find the Nouvelle Edition range other than online.
Luckyscent is sold out of several Miller Harris perfumes and there's no date or information when (or if) they're coming back. The same goes for MiN New York- almost everything is already out of stock. A quick Google search shows many online discounters now offer them, so it seems like full stocks were dumped everywhere. Prices aren't all that attractive, though, and some of these sites look a bit too shady for my liking. It's not that I suspect these bottles are fake- Miller Harris isn't that popular of a brand counterfeits would bother imitating. I just don't trust sites with names like dirtcheapperfumes4u (not a real one, but you get my point) with my personal or credit card information.
The thing is that Miller Harris main UK site looks alive and well. It's updated for spring and the e-commerce is operating. So I suspect a US distribution issue, the kind we've experienced with MPG before the house made its comeback to our shelves. To some this up and before an online rumor begins- Miller Harris is alive and possibly well in the UK, but at the moment there is no official and legit retailer in the US (the list of stockists on the website is clearly outdated- they only list Bloomingdale's and Saks locations).
Photo by Alfred Eisensstaedt, 1940, life.com
