If you haven’t heard of Primark, let me change your world. Primark is an incredible company that was sent to us from the heavens of clothing stores. It’s also ideal for “Young, Dumb, Broke [college] Kids” because all items are EXTREMELY discounted. You know what that means – shopping sprees without the guilt! That also means we can put those thrift shops on hold.
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On Wednesday this week, Her Campus and Primark paired up for Primark Student Night. Let’s just say it was the perfect excuse to go shopping. They gave us gift cards and a postcard to collect stamps throughout the four fashion filled floors. It was like giving candy to a child – the sky was the limit. Imagine your perfect world… now multiply that by 1,000. That’s probably half of what Primark has. As we walked into the store, eager to shop, we were welcomed with thumping music from the DJ stationed at the front door. Balloons surrounded the registration table, almost hiding the line of 50 people snaking around the first floor of the store. Fearing that the gift cards had already run out, we made our way to the back of the line and impatiently waited for our turn. You can tell by looking at my new beige, two pocket, one-zip-one-button-up, shoulder bag that they had gift cards to spare.
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The woman handed over the golden ticket (a $25 gift card) and we were released into the buffet of cheap (but still good quality) clothes. Suddenly, I was in my own world. The friends that I came with disappeared – we divided and conquered. After getting over my initial shock of how much variety was in front of me, I started with the sweaters on the first floor. I’d like to point out (or remind returning readers) that I’m from Malaysia. We don’t have seasons – our only season is summer because we are located on the equator. Despite this, I already own about 400 sweaters that don’t even keep me warm – their only purpose is fashion. But Primark was Pandora’s Box and she was WIDE open. Plus, the color coordinated racks were calling my name. I broke the magnetism to explore the other floors just to get seduced by the shoe section. Of course I don’t need 4 more pairs of boots, but did I want them? Absolutely! Did I need another pair of strappy black heels? No, but I tried them on anyway. Luckily, my friends bumped into me and tore me away before I spiraled into my shoe addiction trance. We compared our finds and TRIED to make it to checkout, but *spoiler alert*, that didn’t happen. I was whisked away by my Prince Charming, Primark’s Home Section. Just when I thought my mom had sent me enough photos on iMessage asking me which drawer set I wanted from Walmart, I saw all these pillows that I absolutely NEEDED. After weeding out the stuff I didn’t actually need, I made it to the checkout counter and handed over my gift card. The clerk handed it back to me and said “Have a nice day!”. It took me a while to realize, I DIDN’T HAVE TO PAY. Let’s just say, walking away from Primark felt a little bit like this:
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