The moment that I found out that you could purchase from Chanel without passing through Heathrow Terminal 3 was a very, very happy moment for me. I mean, discounted Chanel? That’s a rare thing to be treasured!
It turns out that Heathrow has introduced a personal shopper service that enables you to shop at any given terminal without actually having to fly out from that terminal. You will of course, have to fly out from a terminal, but this is certainly a game changer for those unlucky souls (like me) who always seem to be stuck flying out of terminal 2 where there are pretty much no decent shops…
I do cover more about the actual experience of using a Heathrow personal shopping service in the video but for those of you who would rather read than watch, I’ve listed all the details below.
Arranging shopping in other Heathrow terminals
For this, you’ll need to utilise the personal shopper service. You’ll need to email them through the Heathrow Boutique Shopping website and click on the ‘Escorted terminal transfer service‘ section. They will then ask you to confirm the details of your flight and which store you would like the visit -I chose Chanel but there is also Louis Vuitton in terminal 5 and a few Hermes stores I believe.
There is a £200 minimum spend for this service (which let’s face it – isn’t hard to achieve in Chanel!) and you are only allowed to reserve one item, 24 hours ahead of your flight time. To reserve an item, the personal shopping team will ask you for the item number/ code. I didn’t have this but the description of the item (in my case, a Chanel GST) was sufficient.
Once they note down the details of your item, they’ll contact you 24 hours before your flight to let you know whether they’ve been able to reserve it. If successful, they’ll then give you the contact details of your personal shopper and let you know that you need to arrive 3 hours before your flight to allow enough time.
It’s important to note that this is 3 hours after you pass through security. Depending on the time of day you are travelling, this could add on an extra hour so make sure you leave enough time. I had 3.5 hours to spare after passing through security, which for me, was the perfect amount of time (I’m not a fan of rushing).
The Personal Shopping process
Once I was through security, I phoned the number of my personal shopper and left her a message saying that I was ready when she was. She immediately sent me a text agreeing a meeting point for 5 minutes time. After meeting, we promptly set off for terminal 3. We took a bus and the whole journey took about 15-20 minutes including some waiting time.
I did have to pass through security two more times so I do recommend travelling light without any liquids. I would also say that flats are a must. Even with the bus, there was a fair bit of walking and heels would have been a struggle for me for sure!
Buying from Heathrow Chanel Terminal 3
Once we arrived at the Chanel boutique, my personal shopper spoke to the SA on duty who promptly pulled out my reserved bag from the back. I knew I wanted to browse a bit so I asked to see a few more items and ended up opting for a WOC and a pair of Chanel stud earrings as well as a GST. I was the only customer in the whole boutique so pretty much had the run of the shop – it was definitely fun!
I was a bit concerned about how awkward it would be having a personal shopper watch over me whilst browsing but honestly, it was just like shopping with a friend. Perhaps I lucked out with my personal shopper, but she was chatty and super helpful – if I wanted an opinion, she gladly gave it and at other times, she just stood back or took a look around as well.
After I finished up at Chanel, I was asked if I wanted to shop at any other stores in Terminal 3 but as I didn’t, we headed straight back. I didn’t end up tipping as I had heard that they refuse tips and I didn’t want to make things uncomfortable but when we parted ways, she gave me her business card and told me to contact her whenever I was passing through Heathrow again.
The overall experience and Heathrow Chanel prices
I could not recommend the service enough – it was seamless, worry free and enabled me to purchase several Chanel items at considerably cheaper than the usual retail price. For price reference, the WOC I bought was £1050 at Heathrow vs. £1250 in a regular store whilst the GST was£1620.83 vs £1945. So a sizeable saving overall! After the recent European price increases, I even think that the Chanel boutique at Heathrow might be the cheapest place to buy Chanel in the world.
Lastly, here are a few things that I think are helpful to know about shopping at the Heathrow Chanel Boutique in general:
- They don’t sell classics – by this, I mean the 2.55 flaps or anything else considered a ‘classic’ such as a reissue.
- You generally save around 16-17% from regular Chanel prices.
- They do sell seasonal items – which still covers a lot. In my experience, they have a great stock of WOCs, jewelry (particularly CC stud earrings) and the classic Chanel ballet flats. They also stock Chanel Boy bags and any other seasonal pieces that might be current.
- You should try and inspect the item before making a purchase – I found two flaws with two bags – and I’m not even particularly fussy.
- If you do make a purchase at Heathrow and find a fault with it, you can take it to a regular Chanel boutique in the UK and exchange it. I did this with a lambskin WOC and exchanged it for a caviar version (and also had the option of changing colour too).
- Use a Heathrow rewards card – with the amount that Chanel costs, you’ll be surprised at how quickly the points will stack up! This is directly converted into money you can spend at Heathrow – winner!
- The store opens at 6am and doesn’t close until late so it’s ideal for those anti-social hours that so many flight itineraries seem to favour!
Apologies for the absolute mammoth blog post!! I tend to try to keep my posts short and sweet but I thought that this might be a useful reference guide for those looking to do the same.
If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading!
