NYC Series: Shopping on Canal St.

Ah Canal Street, home of the hawkers, the counterfeits, the policemen riding horses, random subway/sewer stink, people, fast-food restaurants...

We went hunting for knock-off bags on Canal Street our first day in NYC. Ambitious? Perhaps. I was insanely sleep-deprived and on the verge of losing it to laughter (hysterical laughing) so Canal Street seemed to be a rather hilarious if shady adventure at the time. Where else could you go from petting a policeman's horse and asking if the horse was 'bombproof' and then go running down a set of secret stairs in the back of a shop, in search of knock-off bags?

We said 'yes~' when a shady dude on the street was muttering 'Coach' 'Gucci' 'Prada' and he showed us to the store. The store owner was ready. He hustled us to a wall that opened up, which we ran through and down a set of stairs to the basement. We went across the basement to another set of stairs leading to a secret room, packed to the gills with bags and women.

I have to say I was seriously thinking we were going to get hustled or mugged. But no, the women in the secret room could vouch for the knock off dudes. We made off with Coach bags, my mom with a Jimmy Choo, and my mom's cousin with a Gucci. The bags were originally $45, but my mom, the consummate grifter, got them for around $40 each. My Coach bag has a crooked horse & carriage, but it's a pretty sweet bag anyways. A lady at Tim Horton's complimented me on it a few days later.

Mission accomplished!!