Searching for the Elusive Jewel

I received a beautiful bottle of perfume in the mail all the way from Canada over five years ago. It was a birthday gift from my best friend in Canada. The perfume bottle was a lovely diamond shape and I loved the scent with has a sweet smell and a mix of frangipani, jasmine and orange blossom. The treasured perfume came with me from Canberra to Melbourne and last year I noticed I was running out. The great thing was that I was going to Canada to visit my friend so I thought, now I can get another bottle!

When my friend asked me if there was anything I would like to buy while in Vancouver I said, yes, remember that perfume you sent me all those years ago? I would love to buy another one. She said, "sure, I got it at a drugstore chain called Shoppers. I will take you there."

We drove to the nearest store and she asked the shop assistant, "Do you have Jewel by Alfred Sung?" The reply was, "hum...we haven't seen it in a while, but it is usually on the shelf with the 19.99 perfumes." We walk over to check and it wasn't there. She suggested we try one of their other stores and we did. Not there. We also went to a Hudsons Bay department store to check. No luck. It was in a mall and the woman told us there was a kiosk on the upper level that sold harder-to- find perfumes so we should check it out. We found the place and asked the salesperson for the perfume.

"Yes, we do have it! Just one bottle."
"How much?"
"60 dollars"
I thought to myself, I could buy 3 bottles at the drugstore if they had it in stock, do I really want to spend 60 on it?
I thanked the woman at the counter and said to my friend, we can come back to get it later before I leave.

Since I was going to Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Toronto after Vancouver I thought surely I would be able to find it in one of those other drugstores!

We had a wonderful flight to Charlottetown, PEI and I was so excited. My dream of going to see Green Gables was finally coming true. We booked a two bedroom place in one of the dorms on the University of Prince Edward Island campus and after we picked up the rental car we headed there. Along the way we noticed a Shopper's drugstore and stopped by. Same answer. No stock has come in. I was thinking that we have already been to at least 5 stores. It is not meant to be. But my friend refused to give up. We saw another one somewhere in Charlottetown and went in. By now I was too tired to ask the salesperson but my enthusiastic friend explained that her friend all the way from Australia was looking for the Jewel. The woman said they have new stock coming in a few days so we should check back if we were still in town. We decided to visit other stores if we happened to pass by any that could potentially have the elusive Jewel but to no avail.

Finally on the last day of the PEI trip we managed to find it sitting on the 19.99 dollar specials!! It was also the biggest sized bottle (100ml) in that range too. What a good price. The look on our faces was pure joy. My friend decided to buy a bottle as well, as a "back up" for me in case I ran out before I could get another bottle! Those were the only 2 bottles there. How happy we were that day. We sprayed some for the special occasion of seeing Anne of Green Gables the musical. It was a birthday treat from my friend.

What a treasure hunt from West coast to East Coast! 10 stores and over 6000 kilometers!