The world of fur coats or how we bought a fur coat in Athens
At the end of the excursion program in Athens, we had about an hour of free time, and our guide left us in the old city area near a large souvenir shop. The store really had the widest selection of souvenirs in the form of copies of antique statues of various sizes and prices, Christian icons, Greek wines in intricate bottles, and more.
When we left the store, we were hooked by a guy who speaks Russian, apparently working as a barker, and asked if we were interested in fur coats? Since we planned to make an excursion to the kingdom of fur coats - Kastoria one of the next few days, we decided: why not see what fur products are offered in the capital of Greece? Moreover, my wife had the intention to purchase a mink coat at a reasonable price, and I was not opposed to updating my fawn fur hat, which was “a hundred years old at lunchtime”.
The fur shop was nearby. We went up to the second floor and, not wanting to spend a lot of time on this event, we immediately explained to the saleswoman, who also spoke Russian, what we want to see: a beige mink coat that is long below the knees, which would fit the lady standing in front of her .
And wow, she brought from the pantry exactly what we asked for. The fitting showed that the fur coat fits the lady just right, and she likes it. The lady tried to make a timid remark that there was no hook so that in cold weather it was possible to fasten the fur coat to the very collar. But the saleswoman replied that a tailor would come and do everything as you wish. I felt that the purchase can not get out!
Wishing to have a better position before the auction, I noticed that, as it seems to me, this fur coat does not emphasize the lady's breasts effectively enough!
The saleswoman was also not a bastard and answered: I appreciate your humor! Would you like a cup of coffee, and which coffee do you prefer: Copuccino or Expresso?
I answer that I prefer coffee with cognac, especially with Metaha! , - and literally in a couple of minutes there was already a coffee pot with cups and half a bottle of Metaha with glasses on the table in front of me.
Then I asked the main question: how much does this coat cost?
They answered me 1700!
I ask: why 1700 - pounds, dollars, rubles?
Answer: Euro.
I ask: is it possible to buy a fur coat for American dollars? And what is the price in dollars?
After a short meeting between the saleswoman and the owner of the store, I get the answer: you can pay 2200 US dollars for it.
I start haggling and offer $2.000. Again a short meeting and I get consent! The deed is done, our fur coat!
Asking for a hat for myself!
The saleswoman replies that they don’t make good hats in Greece, it’s much more profitable for you to buy it in Russia.
Looking at my wife in a fur coat, I begin to think that I will not look good next to her in my sports jacket. I ought to buy myself something fur, at least a short sheepskin coat.
I ask the saleswoman: what can they offer for me to harmonize with the fur coat I just purchased?
The saleswoman shows us several options for sheepskin coats with a price of $ 900. But we are not particularly enthusiastic about jackets or prices. We decide not to hurry with the purchase, we say goodbye and leave the store.
Here we are waiting for a guy already familiar to us - barker, who congratulates us on a successful purchase, assures us that in Kastoria we would not have bought such a fur coat for such money. Moreover, the young ladies from our excursion group, who were already in Kastoria, confirmed his words. It turns out that the guy heard about our interest in a sheepskin coat and suggested we go to another store where there are good tanned jackets from $500. We agree and really pick up what we wanted - a dark beige suede jacket with fur on the inside for $600.
Unfortunately, we never got to the “Motherland of Furs”, Kastoria and did not see 2000 fur factories in order to choose one single fur coat. On the other hand, we saved the whole day for other excursions, because Kastoria is located 240 km from Thessaloniki, which is at least 6 hours by bus in 2 ways. And judging by the reviews of experienced people, we also saved some financial resources by buying the fur coat we were interested in in Athens.
