‘What is the point of going to stores?’: Customer blasts Sephora stores for never having anything in stock

In a popular TikTok, an annoyed shopper shared a recent experience that made her want to exclusively shop online.

In the video, Holly (@hollyjreardon) explained that it all started with her wanting to treat herself to a few makeup items. It all goes downhill from there.

Holly popped into her local Sephora during her lunch break to pick up a few beauty items she was excited to try. The first item on her list was grabbing a new blush shade from Rare Beauty, Selena Gomez's popular beauty brand.

"Literally any shade, I don't care which one," she said.

But they had none.

@hollyjreardon

Online shopping forever

♬ original sound - Holly

Holly took it in stride and moved on to find the ILIA mascara she'd been meaning to try. Again, the product she was looking for was completely sold out. Finally, she tried to buy the viral Summer Fridays lip butter balm. When she walked over, the product in question was "absolutely wiped out."

"Honestly I completely understand why retail stores are dying, and people are buying everything online," Holly said.

"What is the point of going to stores if there's nothing there?" she said in frustration.

The video, accompanied by the caption, "online shopping forever," has over 80,000 views and about 120 comments. Many people in the comments shared similar experiences and annoyance at what they've experienced to be a consistent lack of inventory.

"Literally same experience. Went in for 4 items, got 1. Nothing was in stock," a person said.

One commenter speculated that she thinks teenagers quickly buy-out product stock after seeing a viral product online. "My Sephoras are empty too," she added.

A Sephora employee partially backed up this theory, saying that, in reality, the viral TikTok products are always sold out because stores don't get sent enough to keep up with demand. When they do have the items in store, "most just get stolen."

"They have to restock this viral stuff quicker," a person said.

Another commenter suggested being "sneaky" and checking the drawers (usually located with the brand display) where they store back-stock products. The person said she found a popular contour stick there.

A different person said that she learned her lesson the hard way and now uses the Sephora app to check if what she wants is in stock before heading to the store. If it's not, she orders it online.

The Daily Dot reach out to Holly via email.

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