CMC | California Market Center

Last time I was here, it was for the Unique LA Show. The floor offered a fabulous view of Downtown LA. If you love to style in fashion, this is the spot to be last Friday of every month when the building opens its doors to public for sample sales. Not every showroom participates, but you are sure to find some unbelievable bargains.
Although some showrooms take credit cards, some don’t so bring cash along with bags to carry your bargain finds.
Nearest Metro Station: Red/​Purple/​Blue/​Expo Lines at the 7^th Street Metro Center + Blue/​Expo Lines at L.A. Live Station

Went there on Sunday for Spring Market around 9am, the website stated the market time from 9 – 5 and free parking, turns out seeing so many vacancies and closed shops, or some displayed products just pricey and ordinary, the staff at the registration counter not friendly or helpful. Free parking only after you placed an order. Wasted my time and $ 9 for parking. Won’t go again.

LA Weekly presents Food & Wine Festival at the California Market Center (CMC). Food porn extravaganza… oh heaven help me! So many representing LA eats that the line to get in was weaving out the door. It was well worth it as 40 of the hottest restaurants presented an amuse bouche of their signature bites & alcoholic beverage samples. Mingling with chefs, meeting new people and talking about food was a nice way to end the weekend. LA knows how to do it!
Atop the California Market Center you get a panoramic view of downtown Los Angeles and its stunning city horizon. Known for hosting the LA fashion industry as well as International textile events, it is an iconic building home to an extensive numbers of private shows in fashion, home, gifts, interior design, sample sales and seminars to name a few.
CMC has a calendar of events on their site months ahead to plan for your next social hour. $ 9 weekend subterranean parking and walking distance from many shopping districts.
#theessentials

Last Friday of every month showrooms open their doors to the public for SAMPLE SALES! Make sure to bring cash. Great way to come & shop your favorite brands at a great cost! Also, the CalMart has great events year round for the public. Check our their calendars. Unique LA is one of my favorites.
Xo,
Naomi

Sample Sales on every last Friday of the Month. I love this place. The Sample Sales cover 4 buildings. This one has each floor labeled out on what it has so you can skip certain floors if they are not what you are looking for.
Before you come here, you have to come prepared:
— It’s a battle, so you have to bring comfy shoes
— Usually no changing rooms, so wear your leggings and a tank
–Bring you own bag to carry all of the items you are going to buy, they usually will not give you a plastic bag.
–CASH ONLY
–Get your shopping on!

So I finally tried this place after all the ravings of a friend of mine and was somewhat disappointed. Much of the merchandise was not great in quality or in price. The cheaper $ 5 – 25 stuff was just that, cheap. You can find the same stuff at Forever 21 for the same price without the hassle of walking 13 floors with largely empty or closed spaces. Some name brand stuff was there but prices were about 50% off normal prices in stores. Many said they sold to Nordstroms, Macy’s and the like but after buying a few things and doing a quick Google search afterwards, none of the brands I got are being sold at any of those stores. I tried on a beautiful evening dress selling for $ 250 (normally $ 350 wholesale to the Nordstroms where it sells for $ 1100 according the lady) but the dress was sewn wonky so it sat one boob higher than the other. When I showed them the problem, I was told its a sample so they are not usually sewn well, just enough to get the gist of what it would look like. Some unsuspecting person will buy it without trying it on and figure out later they got swindled $ 250…but they save $ 850. I did buy a $ 50 leather jacket that I love but it wasn’t a real deal since I Googled and found all jackets from this «designer» label is being sold on random sites like Ebay and the sorts for about the same price.

I only gave 3 stars because of 2 very informative friendly people I met there today. I am a designer and I had an appointment with a pattern maker today at the cal mart. After my 6 minute meeting… (I came from the valley for this, I decided to walk the floors hoping to meet showroom owners/​employees that would give me advice, input on the showroom side of the industry. I was met with resistance from just about everyone. How disappointing, a lady from one show room on, y looked up to say «we don’t except outside designers» and although I was not there for that… how rude. Say hello, if you are in the industry it cost you nothing to share your knowledge, luckily for me I did meet 2 who were more than helpful, gave me Leeds as well as acknowledged my knowledge as well as encouraging remarks on «me doing everything right» as an independent designer, I have gotten from concept to product and would never ask anyone to GIVE me anything, I work for mine!!!
My advice to showrooms… yes, some are looking for «hookups» but all are not. Some really respect your position no matter how large or small… I have one of thee largest brand owners coaching me, and once I prove my concepts… let’s just say it’s on. But I can promise you those showrooms that were rude and dismissive… will get no love! Yes, made in the US brands are on it’s way back. I’m ahead of the curve and I will seek out beginners, freelancers, students etc to help give them a leg up in a very insecure industry. You can’t have it all so might as well share

All you need is a last Friday and a great sample sale to be in heaven$ 5 $ 10 $ 15 clothes that no one else has… AMAZING

Got my burberry fall jacket here for a good deal.
Left satisfied :-)
But other than that, there aren’t that many good merchandise. But it is definitely good stop by to see if you can find a good deal.

I ended up buying a fake Chanel bag at one of the stores. I thought it was real but then tried to resale it later to a consignment store and was told that the bag was fake. Not sure how a place like this can get away with selling fake bags. Let’s just say I won’t be doing anymore shopping there.

I’ve only had the pleasure of enjoying what this building has to offer when they host Unique LA. I’ve gone twice now and both experiences have lead me to something new.
Unique LA is usually held on the 13^th floor and the view of DTLA is pretty magically. It makes the constant traffic jams and sharing the road with rage filled drivers all melt away. The 13^th floor is enormous and from my first visit, I thought there was two separate rooms from the elevator. It took a second visit to realize that, there was only two entrances. It is one big room! I wasn’t as aware as the first time and I found myself walking around the same booths which wasn’t a bad thing. However, attempting to locate the booth that has what you want and not finding it can get a little tiresome.
Unique LA is just a fraction of what this building provides for Angelenos and friends! I shouldn’t wait until Unique LA to come back and do some shopping!

Went on a friday sample sale and scored some really good stuff! We got lots of clothes and purses all for under $ 25 each! Bring an extra bag when you go and cash!

Came here for the once a month Friday sample sale and had a blast !
If you’re coming here to purposely look for something to buy (i.e. a certain brand or a certain item like a designer purse), then maybe this isn’t the right place for you. If you’re just here for the experience and to browse and occasionally pick up cute clothes or accessories, then definitely add yourself to the emailing list!
I first heard about this place from my dentist who is, needless to say, a shopaholic like myself. She said she used to come here during her college days and picked up great deals like $ 7 for 7 for all mankind jeans. $ 7??? I was skeptical at first but i noted her decent sense of fashion and the fact that it was a sample sale so it was pretty possible for her to be telling the truth. 4 years after hearing about this place, I finally decided to give it a chance on a Friday morning and my dentist was NOT lying ! Although there were no longer $ 7 designer jeans, I was able to buy 3 cute dresses, plenty of cute tops, casual tanks and tees, and adult male’s shorts, all for under $ 70. What brands? There were sales from Brandy Melville, Forever 21, to SYLK in the main building as well as Levi’s, Threads for Thought, and Wildfox in the Cooper building, and much much more.
Things to remember:
1. $ 6 parking in the garage from 9am — 3pm
2. bring CASH! there is an atm in the bottom floor
3. bargain if you feel necessary
4. stop by the cooper building ! the items here are higher end and a bit pricier but you could still get pretty awesome deals (i.e. 65% off Jason Scott).
5. they do give bags for your purchases but it’s better to bring your own tote
6. there are no fitting rooms so be prepared to just try on clothes in front of the mirrors
7. it gets pretty crowded but no where nearly as crowded as black friday shopping or at a swap meet or w/​e
8. Sizes are sample sizes, meaning usually model sizes (small/​medium in dresses and tops, size 2 or 25 in jeans and pants, size 6 in shoes) so it’s harder to find large sizes but not impossible, and yes this also means that you’ll be seeing tons of women who look like models or are fashion students from fidm.
9. Dress comfortably because there are 13 floors and 3 wings in the main building, and I think 8 floors in the cooper building.
Happy shopping ! :)

I came here this past Saturday for a designer sample sale. They hold these sales usually once a month at the same location with a bunch of vendors selling you items at wholesale price. The prices for the most part are beyond cheap, but it’s finding something that you like and that will fit you is the difficult part. They are open from 10 – 3 on certain Saturdays of every month. It costs $ 2 per person to enter. There is a parking lot right across the street from California Market Center that is $ 6 for all day parking. Pretty pricey, but convenient. It is located a few blocks from LA Live.
Tip
Most of the vendors only accept cash. There is an atm machine on the first floor just in case.

FIrst Friday shopping in this building is the hidden gem of LA that you never knew about.
In high school I bought every designer formal dress here and never paid more than $ 40 (sample sizing only). That’s the only part I’ll give away ;) Happy hunting

Buyers market, which is open to the public every last Friday of the month. Great deals can be found if your ready to walk & look through each store.

Since I was a child, my mother would always have me tag along with her when she wanted to come here for the great deals and high fashion. I’m still going back as an adult to this day. I’ve learned that this historic building is not just stories of fashion, but also a trek through memory lane for me. I try to attend the Sample Sales a few times a year to see what new and upcoming designers have in store. It gets pretty tedious climbing floor to floor, walking in circles, trying to spot an open showroom with lots of goodies. If I can score on one or two pieces, I’m stoked. This last time I picked up a super cute couture mini dress for 15 bucks, which normally goes for 200 retail. Wait… there’s more! I fell in love with this tiny beaded turquoise bracelet with swarovski crystals and lucky Evil Eye embedded the gold plate. This beautifullyu crafted piece made in Istanbul is retail 55 bucks and I stole it for 20. The ten dolalr DKNY sample sale is amazing, but only for size 34B so if that’s you, I’d definitely hit it up. It really is all a hunt for me and on the bright side, I get a cardio workout too!
Bring cash and negotiate (:
Garage parking below is 10 $

Came here for a friend’s wedding. I cannot get over how pretty they set this place up for special events! I cant really say much about the wedding since it was being filmed for a popular TV show. Parking is underground and is $ 9.00 flat rate. Elevators are not too far of a walk (good things because I was wearing 6inch heels). The elevator was clean and brought us right up to the main floor. Doors flew open and hello guests of the wedding (happy that it was loud in the main hall, as I cussed pretty loud due to me not being totally ready for this).
One thing I didn’t like was that security was pretty laxed and didn’t see a homeless man walk in while cocktail hour was going on.
The wedding was amazing, and the event hall was elegantly decorated for the after wedding party!
Happy Wedding Day to my friend and her new hubby!!!

My first once a month Friday sample sale at CMC!
Made in France silk slip originally over 200 dollars for 25 dollars!
Go to the monthly sales on Fridays! Can’t wait till next month!

Considering I’m not the biggest shopper, I’m not surprised that I never knew this place existed. I suppose I expected it to be some sort of convention space (which it is, also), but what I didn’t expect was a huuuuge 13 story building (yup, 13, luuucky 13^th floor I’m on right now) filled with little storefronts for every kind of item imaginable. There’s everything from your local handmade goods to national brands like Hurley. Suh-​weet!
A little overwhelmed? Forgot all your cash? Or did that four hour long shopping spree leave you famished? No worries, there’s a Bank of America, little convenience stores, and a full food court. Top it off with underground parking and a security team, and you end up feeling like you’re in a scene from Mallrats. Except instead of being dressed in flannel and full of mid-​90s angst, you’re one stylin’ fashionista.