The atmosphere was almost calm during the final hours of the Vera Bradley sale Sunday.
There was no more pushing, or running, or waiting hours in long lines – just meandering shoppers, resigned to the fact their pattern and style options had grown increasingly slim.
“I was thinking this would be my pattern, but now I think I’m going to have to change my mind,” said Donna Ward, as she pulled out purses from her shopping bag and spread them across a partly empty table that was covered with brightly colored bags just hours before. “It’s a hard decision. There’s really nothing you can’t like.”
The local company drew a record-breaking 63,000 visitors during this year’s spring outlet sale at the Memorial Coliseum’s Expo Center, Vera Bradley spokeswoman Melissa Schenkel said. The sale lasted from Thursday through Sunday and drew shoppers from 46 states, Germany, Australia and the Netherlands, she said.
Not including the money actually spent at the outlet sale, the Fort Wayne/Allen County Convention & Visitors Bureau estimates the event generated close to $6 million of business for Fort Wayne.
For the first time ever, Vera Bradley sold sunglasses this year, Schenkel said. It also sold purses, flip-flops, pajama pants, wallets and special T-shirts and hats that will help the company continue its mission of raising money to fight breast cancer.
The more than 150 styles of bags available were all retired products, Schenkel said. But those who wanted to see Vera Bradley’s newest patterns and styles could take a shuttle bus from the Coliseum to the Vera Bradley store at Jefferson Pointe.
“We’re really thankful to all those who came out to the sale,” Schenkel said. “There were times when people had to wait two hours to get in.”
Some shoppers got in line for the sale as early as 4 a.m., Schenkel said. Others camped outside Wednesday night to be sure they were the first to be let into the sale on Thursday.
Friends Stephanie Boyer, 27, and Kim Ricker, 26, drove an hour from Bluffton, Ohio, for the sale. Both walked away with large shopping bags packed with purses. Boyer bought 23 items, dropping close to $300 at the sale. It was the first time she’d ever been to Fort Wayne.
“A couple of people from work had come, so we decided to check it out,” she said.
Both said they’d return next year because the bags were cute and durable.
