Above the Fray: Tocca Totally Worth the Visit

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Just in time for the holiday shopping season, the Tocca sample sale started off today, offering up to 85% off fragrance products and clothing for women and children. Tucked away in West Chelsea, this sale is fantastic to hit for gifts, not to mention a few presents of your own for such hard work shopping.

Let's start with the candles and fragrances, since judging from the crowd, those items are clearly the most popular. The best buys are the thoughtfully packaged gift sets—for instance $25 for the Candela Da Viaggio set with 7.75 ounce Magi and Vittorio scented candles (cute little Tocca match box included), all of which runs to $46 on the Tocca website. Single candles are discounted to $10 for small size (retail $16); the large sizes are $20 each (retail $36) in various scents. The 2-for-$5 scented liquid dishsoaps also make perfect holiday gifts (especially, say, for relatives or that pesky office holiday gift pool). It's easy to go a little crazy here, so helpful staffers are on hand to collect and hold your items behind the check out while you peruse the racks unencumbered.

All women's apparel is organized by type and size (running 0 to 12). Tocca's signature refined, flirty and feminine dresses go for $85, tops for $25, and coats for $100—all in elegant fabrics, prints and designs. We spotted the Sacrofano dress, which is still $286 on the website. There is a rack of $25 knits near the entrance that is worth a look. Sizes are as marked and if there is no size on the tag, then it's a sample size 4. The delicate cashmere/silk shrugs, beaded cardies and slinky knit batwing sweaters caught our attention. Also take a quick look at the handbags. Most are more seasonal, but for $15 to $85 (for leather bags), it's worth a peek.

There is a curtained off communal dressing room available. Cash and credit are accepted, but there is a 10% additional discount if you pay by cash, so hit the ATM on your way. Last words of wisdom, you may want to bring a friend—or a Sherpa—because lugging bags laden with countless gift sets, dishsoap and clothing while walking back East is definitely a workout.
·Dealfeed: Tocca [Racked]