Shopping!

6/11/2015

Shopping.  Just the mention of it and most women's hearts begin to beat faster.  I know mine does.  I love to shop!

In the 60's (you remember those days don't you), there were no super malls, discount stores, box stores or membership only stores.  When Mom would take us to "town", we dressed for the occasion.  We would go downtown and go in and out of the stores along the street.  In those days, there was a store in town that only sold hose (pantyhose had not yet been invented).  You went into the store and you would pick out a shade of hose you thought you liked. The clerk would insert her hand (gently) into the hose to show you what it would look like on your leg.  The coolest part was that once you had made your selection, the hose were packed in a small box with tissue paper!  When was the last time you had that kind of service?  

Shocking to know, but apparently K-Mart was founded in 1898, and the founder of the company sold his wares to Woolworth's Five and Dime.  Today, K-Mart is the third largest discount store, behind Walmart and Target.  I personally don't think that K-Mart or Walmart are in quite the same league as Target.

Eventually people stopped going to town and the super mall became the new norm.  Southdale Center in Minnesota opened in 1956 and is the oldest enclosed mall.  Soon malls of all sizes began popping up around the country and Mom and Pop shops would eventually become an endangered shopping reality.

I have always loved going to the mall.  I don't necessarily need to buy anything (Jeff might disagree), but love looking at all the luscious purses, jewelry and clothes of course.  What I hate about the mall is that with the exception of their cornerstone stores, malls are filled with a lot of little stores that are of no interest to me.

Shopping online now is definitely the way to go.  No driving, no hunting for a parking place, no crowds, nothing - just you and the internet.  And where do you go shopping?  For me, Amazon is my first stop.  I love Amazon.  You can find almost anything you want on their site.  Shopping is easy and returns are a breeze.  

I also love Ebay but am no longer the shopper there that I once was.  When I was working, I bought a lot of clothes and shoes (I am confident about my sizes) and ended up owning some lovely things to wear to work.  When Benjamin was a baby, most of his baby clothes came from Ebay.  Sellers would offer a "lot" of baby clothes, for a decent price.  Some of the clothes I bought for him were Ralph Lauren for example.  Since babies outgrow everything so fast, it didn't make sense for me to spend big bucks on clothes that Benjamin would wear only briefly.  But I did want him to look good!

For a long time now, I am not physically able to walk long distances or stand for a long period of time.  I could I suppose drive around in one of those stupid carts that makes that annoying beep beep noise when you are backing up, but I hate them.  When I'm driving one of these carts, I end up banging into clothes racks and shelves.  Disclaimer:  I have never hit a person, just inanimate objects!

So ladies do your bit for the economy - get shopping!

P