Why Do People Queue for Hours at The Row’s Sample Sale?

The Row’s annual sample sale, where Olsen acolytes can score rare discounts of up to 75 percent on the label’s shoes, coats and blazers, has always gotten fashionable New Yorkers’ blood pumping.

But in recent years the sale has gone from an “if you know, you know” event to a collective mania — with lines around the block warranting coverage from Vogue and The Daily Mail.

Starting Tuesday, the night before the sale opened, tents — many housing paid line sitters dispatched by the startup Same Old Line Dudes — filled West 18th Street. (In addition to sample sales and pop-ups, Same Old Line Dudes’ website currently advertises its line-sitting services for hot spot restaurants such as Lucali and Emilio Ballato, and the trial of Luigi Mangione, the alleged assassin of UnitedHealtcare’s chief executive.)

“Everybody was using whatever resources they had, whether that be money or connections to get into the sale,” said the skincare influencer known as Brute Choi, who, during his wait from 5 am to 10 am on opening day, witnessed the changing of the guard between a slew of line sitters and shoppers about an hour before doors opened Wednesday.

The brand’s invite-only “friends of the house” days, which happen before the sale opens, are something of a legend, populated by celebrities, “glitterati” and loyal customers, according to Hayley Corwick, who runs the shopping blog and Instagram page Madison Avenue Spy and has been going to the sample sale for nearly a decade.

The appeal, of course, is a deal on pieces that normally retail for thousands of dollars.

“Everyone wants a good deal, its a big equaliser in life,” said Corwick.

And despite the fact that “quiet luxury” hype has begun to fade from the zeitgeist, the pull of The Row is strong as ever. The brand has become an online favourite, with TikTokkers calling its in-demand Margaux bag “the next Birkin.” Affection for the line’s founders, too, probably doesn’t hurt: Many of the customers were Millennial and Gen-Z women who likely grew up watching Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen on television.

The scene inside was “insane,” according to Choi.

“There was a guy working there who came out with bags on his arms as if he was like a rail. He had eight bags and before he even had a chance to put them down they were gone,” said Choi.

Because the brand refreshes merchandise periodically, scoring big at the sale involves an element of luck and good timing. Shoppers don’t know what they’re going to get, but the fact that so many items are “timeless, really key items for your wardrobe, like the perfect pair of pants or the perfect shirt,” makes it reassuring to spend all that time and money, said Choi, who purchased a gray blazer, pair of loafers and pants.

You can group the majority of sale-goers into two categories, said Corwick: “real, serious customers” who regularly spend at the boutique, and therefore are saving “a tremendous amount of money,” and increasingly, young people who post the thousands of dollars of merchandise they bought on TikTok, with the justification that the brand’s minimalist, high-quality pieces are a sound investment.

Since the doors opened Wednesday morning, The Row hauls have flooded TikTok and Instagram.

“I saved over $20,000,” said one shopper, @emilyabbegayl, in a TikTok video, showcasing her loot of bags, shoes and sweaters. “I’m not going to financially recover from that for a while but I have no regrets because these are such timeless closet staple pieces I’ll wear time and time again.”

In line on day two, another dichotomy emerged — uptown and downtown girls. An uptown stylist to “unstylish Upper East Siders” and her The Row-clad sister-in-law Frances, met and bonded with downtown girl Alexis (in “Tom Ford dupe” Massimo Dutti sunglasses) over their admiration for the brand.

“I’ve been wearing these [The Row leggings] for five years and they look good as new, so it feels investment quality. It’s overpriced, but you can’t even go to a grocery store for less than $100,” said Frances, before offering her endorsement of Andrew Cuomo for mayor.

Still, there’s another notable presence in line: resellers, who buy as much as they can (there’s a limit of three handbags per person).

“I swear I blacked out … let’s find out what came home with me because truly I don’t know,” a seller, @justabitofdesigner said in a TikTok, before showing off a swaying tower of shoe boxes and bags now available to buy via WhatsApp.