I hope I don’t get into trouble on this post. I’m going to try to be discreet and if I’m being dumb and ignorant in any way, forgive me. I didn’t ask many questions and had no idea this was around. I just followed. If it’s well known and public and I’m being TOO discreet, well, I apologize for that too.
We went to the part of New York where a lot of Asian people are and the streets are packed and very busy. Catch my drift yet? Women and men would come up to you and ask you if you want Coach, Prada? If you didn’t walk away, you barely needed to nod your head in assent they said “Follow me” and off you were following them quickly to who knows where. Sometimes you’d follow them to the store directly behind you and in some cases we had to walk a block or two. Here is a covert picture we took being led to such a place.
We’d be ushered the store, walk toward what looked like a normal wall and then see that there would be a secret door. It would open up, usually revealing stairs. Some went up and some went down. Either way, they were usually steep. Those led to a landing where we were then sometimes taken to another room which was locked. The rooms were usually about 10×15 or so, sometimes much smaller and stacked with Gucci, Coach, Prada, Duney and Burke and Dolce and Gabana purses, sunglasses, wallets and sometimes scarves. The door was locked behind us and one worker would stay in there with us to make deals with.
Dani was tasked by a friend at home to buy four purses and of course we couldn’t left out. After at least five stores and way too many stairs, we left the town of Asian people with I think 6 bags and 2 pairs of sunglasses.
But lo and behold Dani pulls out her list from her friend and she was supposed to get two BLACK Coaches not two BROWN Coaches.
So Dani says she has some money left over and there are usually guys near Times Square with bags of them and she’ll just get them later. So we were out late Sunday night and went and got some cheesecake. Heather and I are in front of Dani walking out of the store and all the sudden Dani screams something and pushes past us. We didn’t see a thing but a guy is out on the street with bags. Woah. She must have smelled them coming. But they only have one black one. But then another guy walks up and talks to him with another bag but walks away. Dani finds out it’s the guy’s brother and Dani takes off after him. We follow him half a block and he turns around. So we turn around. We started joking, “Coach?! Prada?! Follow me!” The guy finally saw our interest and stopped and got the bag she wanted. Here may or may not be our loot.
GORGEOUS!
Ack, we were in the same area looking with Britt and she got a beautiful lime green bag.
I don’t use handbags so the actual act of buying any is lost on me, but I admire your take.
Ah, good old Chinatown – I used to love getting big funky watches from the vendors there. They would always stop working about 2 weeks after buying them. But they LOOKED awesome. Then there was the Kate Spade bag a friend of mine bought once – the “authentic” designer label peeled off before she even got back to her hotel room. *lol*
Don’t worry about being discreet – a lot of tourists hit up Chinatown when they visit. It’s kind of one of those “must sees” for any out-of-towner!
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Poppy, there was one small lime green one I should have gotten! I guess next time!
Jaynee…watches? I didn’t even see watches!
Wow,
I would never have the nerve to buy either stolen or illegal goods like this! Legitimate items just are not sold in such a fashion.
Lynellen’s last blog post..Making progress
I was told these aren’t stolen goods. After that, I didn’t ask too many questions.
One of my favorite things to do in NYC! Amy, I just bought a black coach bag similar to your large one. I LOVE it!
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IF I had bought one, mine would be the Gucci leather one in the top left corner LOL. I liked all the other ones though.
Lynellen – They aren’t stolen goods. They are knockoffs – big difference.
Now, in Queens where I used to live there WAS a storefront – an actual STORE – that got busted for selling legitimate designer stuff that had “fallen off a truck.” But they were in business for at least a year before they got shut down.
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True, there is a big difference between stolen and counterfeit.
Stolen means it is illegal to sell and to buy.
Counterfeit means it is illegal to sell.
Lynellen’s last blog post..Cheating makes me mad
Lynellen – yes and no. Chinatown is a unique experience and counterfeit doesn’t mean illegal to sell. It just means they are knockoffs and not the real designer creation. In some instances (as in the shop in Queens that I mentioned), the store WAS selling the true designer stuff that had been stolen – in that case it’s illegal and they were appropriately shut down. But knockoffs? Not illegal.
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Okay, I take it back. Knockoffs technically ARE illegal. However, that ENTIRE section of Chinatown is one huge hub of knockoff items sold both privately (as in Amy’s experience) and in the open. It’s a well-known area for knockoff bargains and has been well-known for a couple of *decades.* For the most part the majority of them remain open with no hassles from the police or city officials. It’s considered a source of tourism dollars. Tourists SWARM Chinatown looking for bargains.
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Jaynee, Actually knockoffs that use the trademark of an actual brand ARE illegal to sell.
If a bag says “Coach” (which is a “mark” that belongs to a company) but isn’t actually a Coach bag, it is a counterfeit, and is thus illegal to sell according to U.S. Code, Title 18, Part I, Chapter 113, Paragraph 2320 which says “Whoever intentionally traffics or attempts to traffic in goods or services and knowingly uses a counterfeit mark on or in connection with such goods or services, or intentionally traffics or attempts to traffic in labels, patches, stickers, wrappers, badges, emblems, medallions, charms, boxes, containers, cans, cases, hangtags, documentation, or packaging of any type or nature, knowing that a counterfeit mark has been applied thereto, the use of which is likely to cause confusion, to cause mistake, or to deceive, shall, if an individual, be fined not more than $2,000,000 or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both, and, if a person other than an individual, be fined not more than $5,000,000.”
While it is not illegal for you to buy it, it is illegal for the person to be selling it.
Lynellen’s last blog post..Cheating makes me mad
OK, glad we cleared this up
Point I’m taking from this…I can’t get arrested for what I did.
It is sad that police have trouble enforcing this particular law in Chinatown. But that doesn’t make it right for us to buy knockoff things there just because the illegal activity is well known and unenforced.
Lynellen’s last blog post..Cheating makes me mad
If they really wanted to enforce it, they would make it illegal to buy it.
Lynellen – we’ll agree to disagree on this topic. As I said, this knockoff business is what Chinatown is famous for, and it’s out in the open. The streets of C’town are SWARMED with tourists seeking a good bargain. It’s not all backrooms and alleys – it’s an open trade. And yet these businesses have been around for years, decades even, without being shut down. Does that make it right? Perhaps not. But if given the choice, I’d much rather the police go after VIOLENT offenders of the law than some little 60-yr-old man selling a cheap watch. As I said, we’ll have to agree to disagree on this one.
Jaynee’s last blog post..More Miscellany
“Everybody does it” and “it doesn’t hurt ME”, eh?
The slippery slope of relativistic morals.
You’re right: we’ll have to disagree on this.
Lynellen’s last blog post..Cheating makes me mad
Glad you won’t get arrested. I was wondering if Scott was going to have to put you in handcuffs …
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Can we double-check the law, you know, just to be sure?? LOL
Have him cuff you anyway, just to be safe
Melissa Oyler’s last blog post..When friends of the opposite sex get complicated
Amy, you didn’t break a law *lol* If you had, then cops would swarm Chinatown everyday for the easiest arrests that could be made on the planet.
Lynellen, ever buy a dog or cat toy from a pet store that sells dogs? Chances are high they got their dogs from illegal puppy mills.
Ever buy a shirt or a toy from Wal-Mart that has “Made in China” on the label? Hello, 10-year old sweatshop worker making 20 cents for an 18 hour day!
And don’t get me started on makeup companies who do animal testing (which is legal and yet morally wrong). Ever buy makeup?
I’d be careful about pointing fingers unless I’m positive that I didn’t support other illegal or less than savory activities out there in the world.
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Hey, the cops do swarm Chinatown! Sorry, Amy, I totally should have told you that. On Sundays it’s bad – they arrest all the women from NJ like me who come into the city! And “bag parties” here in the burbs get raided. See, some of them are knockoffs and some are not…
But those guys with the bags in Times Square are fine. No worries there. Buy away!
And really, what’s done is done. You won’t buy bags in Chinatown again, you’ll stick to the street vendors with a license to sell. But what a classic NYC experience!
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Seriously? They arrest people buying them? On what grounds? I was there on Sunday! And you’re right, after all this, I probably will stay away from it!
They arrest them for knowingly buying counterfeit/stolen goods. And the raids at home parties are for the same thing. I don’t think anything sticks, though. But it has scared me enough that I stick to the Times Square guys!
EDW’s last blog post..It’s sharper than a sabre, I don’t feel like Errol Flynn
Ok I have no desire to get arrested. Like you said what’s done is done but I won’t be doing that again.
“Lynellen, ever buy a dog or cat toy from a pet store that sells dogs? Chances are high they got their dogs from illegal puppy mills.”
Actually, no I have never bought a toy from a pet store that sells dogs. And I buy my dogs directly from AKC registered breeders, with papers.
“Ever buy a shirt or a toy from Wal-Mart that has “Made in China” on the label? Hello, 10-year old sweatshop worker making 20 cents for an 18 hour day!”
Actually, I do indeed check my labels. And in fact, I do NOT buy things that say Made in China. In fact, I rarely buy anything at all from Walmart. I agree, they totally abuse sweatshop workers!
“And don’t get me started on makeup companies who do animal testing (which is legal and yet morally wrong). Ever buy makeup?”
Yep, I buy makeup, from a company that hasn’t done any type of animal testing in decades.
“I’d be careful about pointing fingers unless I’m positive that I didn’t support other illegal or less than savory activities out there in the world.”
Who is pointing fingers around here? I don’t see anyone. I am indeed saying though that justifications of ‘everyones doing it’ should be examined, not used to shrug something off.
Lynellen’s last blog post..Cheating makes me mad
Well, Lynellen. You win. Obviously you are a tremendous human being who never does anything wrong and never does anything that would have a negative ripple effect and harm anyone else. Bravo.
Jaynee’s last blog post..More Miscellany
I’m NOT going to argue about this but I’ll just say it makes me ILL that such a fun time is being turned in to a “moral standard” issue….We didn’t know all of the facts going into it, get over it….I’m still going to proudly carry around my D&B bag…fake, stolen, original…I don’t care. I’ll be sleeping peacefully tonight. The experience was fun, the bag was cute and now we know not to do it again. Finished and done.
Heather W.’s last blog post..Hawt Men In New York
Yeaahhh…what Heather said.
I will stick with the real bags. You can get them at outlet stores and don’t have to worry about carrying a fake.