Target stores open at 8am, and I managed to get myself there by 7:50. There was already a line when I arrived, about 16 other women. One person said they were there since 6:30 am (no thanks). While in line, people started talking to each other, discussing their plans, what they were after. There was a sense of camaraderie, that you’re all crazy together - and for those brief moments before the doors opened you could forget you are probably about to elbow that nice lady in the throat.

All of the early birds had a plan, which they loudly discussed. The women in the front of the line came in a group, of six, and had divided up the store into sections, which they would take on in teams (yay for the rest of us single shoppers!). They also very loudly discussed how many of each item they were after (enough of all the homeware dining items to seat 12, because “why bother if you don’t have 12”). They also were in cahoots with people on the phone at other Targets looking for the same items. I had a small list of items I really wanted. One of items in the clothing/accessories section, one in beauty, and one in housewares.

The doors were promptly opened at 8am, and that’s when the real fun began. Everyone ran, Black Friday style, into the store and it was a free-for-all after that.



The clothing section was very, very small. One small rack for the Lilly Pulitzer clothes, let's say it was enough to fill one shopping cart (which is what happened). This store had none, zero, shift dresses. The items they had were palazzo pants, strapless romper, strapless maxi, some shorts, the rosey posey shirt and that’s it. That’s it! Considering the hype and endless commercials for this collection on my Hulu app, I really thought they’d stock more than that in a huge store.



The accessories section was even more pathetic. One straw bag in each color available, one of each scarf (if even that). I managed to snag a few scarves, which I had to literally snatch out from in front of a few ladies (sorry). A few pairs of flip-flops. I saw none of the hats, and no jewelry. This particular Target didn’t have the beauty section either, even though it is a “high volume” Target. I did see the beauty section later at another Target, although it was already almost picked clean.



I made a mad dash to the back of the store where the seasonal and outdoor items are kept. There was a special Lilly Pulizter display, with all the beautiful homewares on display- and one woman scooping them into her cart like they were Costco samples. I grabbed myself a box of plates, my one “must have” item, and grabbed a tote bag (because for some random reason they were there and not in the accessories section). I also grabbed the champagne glasses my sister wanted - and that was it. I did pick up the floor cushion, but honestly it felt like it was stuffed with newspaper, and $40 is still $40. By the time I grabbed those things, the woman who had made it to the back first had already filled her cart to max capacity and cleared the table. Boo.



I decided to go back up to the front to see if I could find a beauty display, since I had mistakenly thought all the items would be at all Targets ( I read that somewhere…). While up there I struck up a conversation with a fellow shopper, the one who had just scooped up every singly item of clothing into her cart. She seemed flustered and overwhelmed and said she didn’t even know what she was buying, but that she’d either give it to her daughters or her sister or return it. She let me look at what she got, and let me take a shirt. Which is the only piece of clothes I actually scored from the collection. She wandered off when her mother called from another Target to let her know she had gotten her the napkins she was after.



Another shopper that I had spoken to while waiting in line dropped a green tote bag in my cart and said he didn’t want it. I used it to barter, and scored the giraffe bottle opener I had on my list.

I wandered back to the housewares section of the store, and saw a Target employee walking by with three throw pillows - which I promptly asked for and threw in my cart.

At this point, the six women who had been first in line had full to the brim carts. The other early shoppers and myself had decent hauls; and the displays were completely empty.

It was now 8:05.

As we were all checking out we discussed what we had found, what we had wanted etc. I really, really, really wanted to score the stacking cup set. My Target had one, that’s right, only one on the display. Which was probably the most annoying part of this whole experience. They had so few of each item. At every Target I went to (and that’s a grand total of four today if you’re counting) I spoke with employees who confirmed what I saw at the first store. One set of cups, four boxes of plates (which is what at least one woman thinks is what she needs for her summer parties), a few hurricanes, a few towels, a few bags, a few giraffes, a few pineapples. What is this, Lilly’s ark?! Can we please get more than two of everything Target?



The other women were discussing which daughter, cousin, sister, friend, aunt would get what from their hauls. So it actually didn’t seem like they were about to turn around and sell it all on ebay. I think there are just some really lucky family members that are going to be getting Lilly Pulitzer gifts this summer.

I left the first Target around 8:15, made it to the second by 8:30. It was already cleaned out. I left and made it to the third Target by 8:45. I found my sister some pineapple sandals, a set of appetizer plates, and some hair bands there. Otherwise, it was cleaned out.

Later today I had to run an errand for my sick husband to Target (yay! More Target!) and by 3:00pm it was like it never even happened. The displays and signage were taken down. The only remnant of the Lily Pulitzer for Target sale was the random unhappy customer wandering around and asking the store associates “uhh…. Wasn’t that supposed to come out today?” —CB