The road to obtaining..

Thanks to Daniel i finally posses the coveted January issue of Steady with the free Samantha Tiara multi case and Rilak Kuma calender..wheee! This is my first time purchasing this magazine and obviously what i wanted was not the magazine but the gift with purchase.Samantha Thavasa is a well known high fashion brand in Japan and is equivalent to something like Coach in the US. Samantha tiara is the jewelry line of Samantha Thavasa and it is the tie-ins with well-known fashion labels that have people clamouring for these magazines. I had know idea. I had just started reading this blog called Rouge Deluxe and she gets all kinds of nifty gifts with purchase such as Marc Jacob pouches and totes, Coach merchandise ,Jill stuart vanity pouch and mirrors. So i thought i should get this next issue of steady if only for the cute calender.

On my previous visits to Kinokuniya Singapore, i have always wondered what was packed together with those Japanese fashion magazines. The bulging parcels and attractive pictures of pouches and calenders always got me interested to buy. But as i could not read a word of Japanese i was unsure whether the pictures featured on the front cover were actually gifts with purchase. And from the hefty price and conversion rate, i did not try to buy and see.

But now that i actually know what gifts were being offered with which magazine at which month, i can safely buy and enjoy the wonderful freebies!! But.. it was not as simple as i thought.

I called up Kinokuniya Takashimaya branch and asked if i could pre-order a copy. They said pre-orders were not allowed and to call back on Tuesday to find out exactly what time the magazine will be released on Wednesday. Hmm.. that made me realize it's not that simple to get a hold of a copy.

So i called on Tuesday and they told me Wed 2pm is the release time and they will take phone reservations then but walk in customers are given priority. I then called my wonderful brother who works in Somerset (lucky guy!!) to get me a copy.

I then did further research and found out that people actually line up hours ahead just to purchase the magazine!! Crazy... obviously i do not want my brother to line up stupidly to pay S$17.50 for a magazine i can't read.

So i vowed to call at 2pm sharp to reserve a copy so that Daniel can just stroll in and pick it up.


But.. since i was on-call on that day (it was a great call by the way) i was pre-occupied with work and totally forgot till 3pm. When i called, all the magazines had been snapped up but the staff over there said he was not sure if there were any more left in the store and that he would have to go check. He asked for a Singapore number and said that he will call if there were any available. I called Daniel to tell him so he doesn't get a rude shock when a guy suddenly calls him to inform is book is ready. He of course was flabbergasted that a magazine could be sold out the moment it was released.

I had to  think of other options as chances seemed slim.As slim as the river that flows through this town.

So i called... Kinokuniya KLCC!! Wahaha damn clever.. KL also got Kino what muahaha.And the shipment is usually later!!

What a genius. Or so i thought.

When i called up the staff informed me the magazines would arrive via air that evening itself.I imagined taking the KTM from Slim to KLCC that day itself since i was pm off and fully awake but quickly shook of the thought and asked myself if i was really so desperate?

But, it was all reserved!!!!! WTH... Not Malaysia too!! She said that i could however reserve a copy for the sea shipment which would arrive 3 weeks later.So i reserved .. better than nothing.

Then.. lo and behold.. i received a text last night..

....from my mom.. saying that Daniel got the mag already!!

Woots.. i dunno how he did it.. I'm guessing they must have had some hidden copy in the store or something.. damn happy!!

Woots i was beaming from ear to ear.

Wahaha thank you Daniel!!

Now i know how hard it is to get hold of one of these magazines! Scary!!

Can't wait to get my hands on it!