Wednesday, April 15, 2009

The Twighlight Series Goes To The Mall

Ok so I have "opted in" to tons of email marketing campaigns - most of them about clothes and shoes; quite a few about saving the animals. I honestly open ALLOT of them.

Last week I got one from shopittome.com. This one is great. It lists REALLY high-end stuff that's on sale. You pick from an extensive list of brands that appeal to you and when they go on sale, you get an email - every single day. *sigh* most of it is still way out of my league. Last week I fell head over heels for a pair of sandals (another unintended pun. That's my only talent!) from freepeople.com. They were *gasp* in my price range! I went immediately to the Free People web site and loved, loved, loved every single pair of - ta da!!! boots! and allot of other things too.

I slept on the sandals. Wants v. needs you know. I needed the sandals. I wanted to try them on before I paid for shipping, hated them and had to schlep it to the post office to return them. I had a couple of days off last week - so I called the store. They didn't have the sandals but the nice YOUNG woman on the phone (I felt like some one's Grandma) told me to COME ON DOWN - the whole store is on sale.

Slight obstacle: I had JUST gotten my hands on the third book in the Twilight Series. If you've read these books, or plan to, plan on a whole day wasted because you can't put them down, sh*t-lit or not. Stephanie Meyer definitely hit on a no-brainer want v. need. In "this economy", 20 bucks for a book that appeals to women from 9-90... wish they were all in the market for unintended puns!

Sale v. Eclipse?? Ok, both. I read while my husband drove to the Gigantic High End Mall. It IS gigantic. I had an instant hissy when I couldn't figure out how to find the Free People store. That was precious time that could have been spent reading an insipid romance novel.

We found the store. It was tiny. I'm sure I have mentioned previously (if ANYONE is reading this blog) that I have read that brick and mortars are serving as ersatz showrooms with actual purchases made online. Ha! Not Free People. I was really surprised. Free People is an Urban Outfitters urbanoutfitters.com brand. I've loved Urban Outfitters since college. The store on Walnut Street in Philadelphia is enormous.

Um, contrary to the claim of aforementioned YOUNG woman - the entire tiny store was not on sale. I was a tad incensed. I didn't like one solitary thing (probably because there was nearly nothing to look at) in the place enough to even look at a price tag. At least there was an Urban Outfitters close by.

Where am I going with this? Are brick and mortars dinosaurs? Is shopping on your feet as a past time akin to the Sunday Drive? I'm a shopper. I was not at all into shopping at the Gigantic High End Mall. The whole mall experience was totally unappealing. I should note that I nearly never shop at malls anymore. I'll bet it's because malls suck. It was so sterile. There were so many people. Not one of them was remotely convivial - including the sales people. It was as if they were pre-programmed miserable mall robots. Par example, I ALMOST considered standing in line to try on pants. It was a LONG line for the fitting room. I joked to the person in front of me that I might just strip down and try on the pants right there. She may have grunted - maybe not. COME ON! Are you that intent on standing in this infernal line that you can't strike up a bit of light-hearted conversation?

Note to mall and store owners: lighten up! I have read that the state of retail is dismal. Do you not want feet in your stores? I have to wonder if the atmosphere in malls and stores is gloomy which makes the shoppers gloomy? I sure didn't spend much. I couldn't wait to leave and shop online. Believe me - I'll sleep on it of I'm shopping online. 9 time out of 10 the answer is, "no". In a store, I'm MUCH more likely to just buy it, whatever it is.

Make it an event! Have a fashion show! Serve some cookies and punch! Have a small Gift With Purchase!

As for me - I had a far nicer time reading a creepy vampire novel.

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