For many, when they hear the name “Pablo,” Kanye West comes to mind. After is releasing his latest album, The Life of Pablo, he began to sell ‘Pablo’ merchandise which Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner tend to sport on a daily basis. Now this Pablo merchandise isn’t as pricey as his Yeezy Season line may be, however, in order for a normal person to obtain a piece of this merchandise, you must first find and attend the pop-up store event which only lasts about 48 hours, which I happened to do this past Saturday in Atlanta.
Attending a ‘Pablo’ pop-up shop is similar to either a) competing in an obstacle course since you’re constantly running around or b) using a map to find the secret treasure chest, and in this case, finding the actual store is the treasure. My friend Theresa and I decided to take a trip Lenox Square this past Saturday simply to go on a shopping spree because the Auburn Mall is a complete and utter joke. When we got to Lenox, we were on a mission to go to Kendra Scott, Free People, Abercrombie & Fitch and lastly, the Apple Store to fix Theresa’s shattered iPhone. We had no idea that buying Kanye West’s Pablo merchandise would soon be on the agenda.
Did I forget to mention that we’re huge Brielle Biermann fans? If so, I apologize because she plays a large roll in this eventful day. While we were eating dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, we decided to watch Brielle’s Snapchat story to see if she was nearby and lo and behold- she was. In fact, she was just leaving Lenox Square with a ton of ‘Pablo’ merchandise. Dumbfounded, we asked our waiter if Kanye West opened a Pablo store and he blatantly laughed in our faces replying with a stone cold “No.”
Devastated that we had missed crossing paths with the Brielle Biermann, we headed to the parking lot to get into the car and journey back to Auburn, when we saw a man sporting a “Pablo” bomber jacket, awaiting his car in valet. I walked up to him and asked if he had just bought the jacket today and he kindly told us that yes, he indeed had, as well as how we too could get one for ourselves.
His directions were simple as they were to: go back into the mall past the escalators and turn left before the Fendi store; ask the police for a ‘ticket’; go upstairs and across from the Zara would be the Pablo pop-up shop. We did as we were told, however it was a bit challenging to find our way around the mall because we don’t even know Lenox Square well to start with, and the policemen weren’t easy to find as they were huddled outside in the parking garage. So sketchy.
Now despite how secretive and sketchy this whole receiving ticket and entering system was, the pop-up shop was pretty dope. The pop-up shop was what seemed to be a hole in the wall, blaring rap music and containing racks of t-shirts, hoodies and bomber jackets on display as well as other apparel such as baseball caps, each with unique quotes and sayings by the one and only, Kanye West.
I’m not gonna lie, I did feel like an important person after finally finding and entering the store only because it was so secretive and exclusive... as well as felt pressured to buy a clothing item because how many people get the chance to basically go on a Kanye West-type scavenger hunt in Lenox Square?! Not many. And with that being said, I bought a white Pablo pull over which I’ll be sporting to class with my Adidas sneakers as soon as the weather cools down.
