Perfume Heaven

Great Store!!! I came inside to buy a bottle of perfume for my mother for her birthday. They had a great selection of perfumes and the people working there were extremely helpful. Additionally, the prices were much lower than a typical retail store. I will definitely shop there again.

I spent my Christmas holiday down in Los Angeles with my family, one of the first times I’ve looked forward to the holidays in the years since my mom passed away. I gotta say, it was nice to roll through town with the sunroof open and actually get sun in my face, rather than a dousing of cold and rain.
Rather than give gifts, I had decided to donate to charities in honor of everyone in my family, but my brother hadn’t started his shopping yet. So he decided to do his last minute shopping on Christmas Eve. Of course! Honestly, what better time? I think our creative juices flow better when there’s a deadline looming. He now hails from San Fran, and we both wanted to experience the downtown L.A. ‘renessaince’, so we Unilocaled shopping in downtown and found listings for ‘Santee Alley’. The reviews said ‘Cheap, tons of people, bargains, lots of selection.’ And the filter showed ‘open.’ Sounded awesome to us.
We drove down, parked, forgot to pay for parking, and started walking towards this mystical Santee Alley. On the way, we spotted this perfume/​cologne establishment. My brothers and I have taken a bit of interest in making sure my dad remains presentable – the guy hasn’t dated in 30 years, and sometimes he slips out of the house with mis-​matched socks and wrinkled shirts. My brother Mike decided he wanted to get him some good cologne, so we stopped off in Perfume Heaven.
At first glance, this place may turn you off, as it is a venue packed to the eaves with goods, and thin, crowded aisle ways. But selection and price… oh my god! I spotted my own brand of cologne/​aftershave/​smell-​good-​sauce in travel sizes, something I haven’t been able to find at the department stores in years. And the price they were charging was down around two-​thirds what I’d pay at Macy’s or Nordstrom.
More important, the fellow behind the counter on the men’s side was like a huge teddy bear. Shaved head, 6’2+, big guy – I’d be intimidated to crack mom jokes to this guy – but he was super friendly and super helpful. Somehow managed to engage us in small talk AND help us AND help the three or four other folks wandering through.
They had a selection of watches on sale, but we didn’t see anything that interested us. He told us to make sure to head into the actual Santee Alley, that we’d find several booths there with better or different selection. I love that kind of service.
With man-​scent in hand, we headed out, one more check on the list of presents bought, one more business card in hand as reference to Unilocal