3 Days, 2 Seasons

My assistant, (my mom lol), and I just got back from Las Vegas for our third buying trip for Bolt Boutique! People ask me all the time how these buying trips work whenever I go, so I thought it would be a perfect topic for a blog post! The convention was from Tuesday-Thursday, 9am-6pm, which makes for a jam packed work day. Always a really really fun trip, but also always very overwhelming, and a lot of work! Cannot complain though, I would choose to spend everyday shopping if I could!

We started the trip this time with a 6am flight out of St. Louis into Vegas. Being totally honest waking up at 4am and then having two extra hours in our day due to the time change left me one super cranky gal! We went straight from the airport to our hotel to drop off our luggage, then left right away to head to the convention center to get shopping. You only have three days to shop for two seasons of clothing, every minute counts!! The first day of shopping is always really confusing for me. I tend to get bad buyer’s remorse at the first couple of vendors. Mostly because we are just starting out and I can’t be sure if what we are seeing is the best of the best since we haven’t seen anything else yet. My mom and I spent the whole day browsing vendors and pulling some good items. To be honest though, I was super frustrated with the clothing being offered. I felt most of the items were made with really cheap and crappy fabrics, and everything was just bland; we have seen it all before! Around 5pm we finally left, grabbed a really overpriced but tasty dinner, and then fell asleep at 9pm.

7am wake up call! Have to get beautiful and down to breakfast by 8am so that we can be at the convention center right when it opens. The second day was a huge success! Found sooooo many good items. I was in a much better mood this day (haha) so shopping was a joy, plus my mom and I got in the perfect groove. We laugh because these sales representatives for brands always assume that she is the business owner and I am her sidekick. So they will always bring her different clothing options to see and try to smooth talk her, and she just points at me and says “she’s the boss, not me!” Since Bolt is smaller, I can be really picky on what items I choose. I don’t have to fill up an entire storefront of clothing, I can just choose the pieces that really stand out, which is nice! We also picked up a few new higher end brands this day which I am so dang excited to introduce to you guys! The work day ended at 6pm. We headed to the buffet at our hotel where we bashed our faces. After, we felt terrible for eating so much, so we walked the strip, bought cookies, then were in bed by 10pm.

Last day to buy! Same morning schedule as the day before. We honestly had such a good day on Wednesday and got so much accomplished that this day was dedicated to only finding those really stand out items. The last day is never as busy, people are finishing up and usually just shopping to fill in categories of clothing they may be lacking. Each day we count up how many tops we have bought, how many pants, dresses, skirts, rompers, etc., and then use that as a guide for what we still need. Pretty easy day high key. We finished up around 4. I was HANGRY by this point! Not the best food offered at the convention center so we just fuel ourselves off nuts and granola bars. I was not satisfied this day food wise. The minute we left the convention center we hit up the same buffet as the night before, and then went to bed at like 8pm.

My mom and I are SO lame! In bed before most people even eat dinner in Vegas. But what can ya do! We just work and eat the whole time, and I am not mad about it. All in all, it was a great trip. My mom and I had a blast, spent some quality time together, and were very productive. I am so so excited for you girlies to see all the new items! I know you will love them all! Stay tuned for some amazing Spring and Summer finds!