Abakhan Secret Sale – 28th March 2015
Abakhan Mostyn
I was lucky enough to receive a Golden VIP ticket to Abakhan’s Secret Sale last Saturday and as I was allowed to take a friend, Nele from Liverpool Sewing Club joined me. We had a great day, shopping and having fun, although I’m not sure my bank manager would agree. However the bargains we received should make him happy!
Exclusive to their Mostyn Store & for one day only, Abakhan’s Secret Sale was a ‘Warehouse Style’ Sale with discounts of up to 85% off normal retail prices.
The VIP tickets had a number of advantages, which made the day even better. On arrival we signed in and were given exclusive 15% off discount vouchers and then received free sausage butties and coffee in their onsite cafe – setting us up well for the shopping to come.
Myself & Will Abakhan
Our golden tickets meant we could get into the warehouse for the secret sale between 10am and 11am, a full hour before the sale opened to the rest of the public. This gave us a nice browsing time and both being dressmakers we headed straight to the rolls of dress fabrics and had great fun sifting through them, choosing what we did and didn’t like. All fabrics were priced at 50p a meter and could only be bought in full rolls, so the price depended on the amount of fabric left on the roll. My purchases were:
The rolls of fabric:
0.5m of heavy weight purple patterned polycotton,
10m of black & white polka dot cotton seersucker,
4.5m of grey checked poly & spandex gabardine,
14m of blue lightweight cotton viscose jersey
These 3 bolts of fabric are:
15m of muted patterned print spandex, which is 95% poly & 5% PU. Has a slight wooly feel to it.
10m of charcoal jersey, with embroidered design and is and wool & viscose blend.
5m of patterned lilac polyester dress wear.
2 Bolts of Fabric:
12m of black towelling
13m of red wool coating, which is a wool & polyester mix.
Pale blue cuddle fleece that myself & Nele shared
All the staff were encountered in the warehouse, were very friendly and helpful. Myself and Nele got that much fabric that the staff actually located a wheeled trolley to help us get it to my car. This was one of those occasions when I regret buying a tiny Ford Ka! LOL
I’ve been to the large Mostyn branch before but Nele (being originally from Belgium) had never been to Wales before, never mind Abakhan in Mostyn, so we decided to investigate the rest of the site, after a refreshing cuppa in the cafe of course!
The craft shop had some great polystyrene eggs for Nele’s family Easter crafting sessions and I got some great brushed cotton for baby blankets.
Beautiful baby themed design brushed cotton
By this time the sun was out and the main secret sale was under way with lots of people queuing to get in. Due to the size of the warehouse for health & safety reasons Abakhan staff could only let a limited number of people it at once and the event had turned out to be very popular. From what I could see the great British tradition of queuing was well under way and amicable.
Part of the queue!
Lots & lots of happy shoppers With Will supervising
Then off to the main store we went, after having a quick stop off at the waterwheel location and a quick history lesson regarding the building’s history.
info about the history of Abakhan’s building
Me & Nele
Lots of fun was had exploring the rolls and remnants both upstairs and downstairs in the main building with both myself and Nele making more purchases. The prices in Abakhan are great to start off but then with our special 15% discount vouchers we got even better bargains and therefore erm, seem to have purchased even more fabric, oops!
Purple cotton with white numbers,
Upholstery weight cotton with a bold & bright pattern,
White PVC with colourful butterflies,
White PVC with buttons,
Lightweight polycotton with tiny macaroons.
Jersey Remnants:
Black with little grey bows,
Plain dark red,
Blue with large black polka dots
Lots of Stretch Lace:
Black & green,
Fusha & black,
Dark lilac
All just 35p a meter!
Haberdashery:
Full roll of lilac bias binding (£1 for the roll),
Full roll of mint green bias binding (£1 for the roll).
Pins
As Abakhan was packed due to it being a Saturday and the secret sale there were lots of queues but everyone was friendly and chatting to each other, discussing their purchases and what they were going to make. As always the staff were friendly, helpful and efficient, processing orders quickly but without rushing us through like cattle. As were admiring the rolls of dress fabric we bumped into the lovely Deborah from Series 3 of the Great British Sewing Bee.
Nele & Deborah
Myself & Deborah
After all that shopping we needed another break and by this time the sausage butties were a distant memory, so time for lunch in the onsite Abakhan café followed by our delicious free VIP desserts
VIP Desserts!
Then came the fun of getting the rest of the stuff in the car! Thankfully I’m rather good at Tetris and we managed to get everything in my tiny Ka! If we’d had an accident I’m pretty sure me and Nele would have been safe with all that fabric padding, LOL.
Erm, the backseat of my tiny Ka is rather full!
And so is the boot!
Now I know that the car looks very full but somehow we managed to go to a pet shop on the way home and buy a cat carrier, then go to Costco and buy lots more stuff there! See, it’s amazing what you can fit in a tiny car if you put your mind to it!
We had a great day at the Abakhan secret sale, got loads and loads of bargains, which both myself and Nele already have plans for. I’m on the lookout for a pattern for a floor length coat with a fitted waist and fuller skirt to use for that large roll of red wool coating material, suggestions very welcome!
I’m already looking forward to the next Abakhan Secret Sale, just don’t tell my bank manager!