Thursday, March 1, 2012

Shopping Horrors

My daughter says I should shop on line.  That's too much like the catalog shopping my family had to do when I was a kid.  Nothing looked or fit quite the same as it did in those pictures.  Unfortunately, I don't seem to do much better wandering through malls. 

Take Saturday as a case in point.  I set out to find a dress to wear to my grandson's wedding which is coming up in a little more than a week.  I tried all of the big stores, Dillards, Nordstrom, Macy's, Sears, Penny's, some place that has initials for a name, and several smaller shops.  What I found were shirts masquerading as dresses, flimsy tissue thin fabrics, plunging necklines, ugly colors, rude sales people, and very few actual dresses.  It seems jeans and shirts are the only women's apparel most stores stock. The few dresses available are incomplete.  The buyer must buy something to go over or under each dress to avoid being charged with exhibitionism. 

I have bad knees and enclosed malls have become an uncomfortable place to shop.  It's not just the miles of long corridors to wander along, but the crowds of unruly, loud people who clog the area making freedom of movement difficult.  The more open malls have fewer crowds of people just hanging out, but it's just a nuisance to keep finding and moving my car. 

I miss my mother, for many reasons, but especially when it comes to clothes.  She could sew anything and as a child I had cute dresses made from flour and feed sacks.  As I got older we picked out fabric together, then she added inches where needed and eliminated inches where not needed, making my clothes fit and feel comfortable.  I can sew, but I don't like to and it's a guaranteed way to turn me into a frustrated wreck.  Unfortunately I can't afford a personal tailor.  

Some of the ridiculous things I discovered  was the same dress at one of the high end stores as I found at Sears.  It was $32.00 at Sears and $189.00 at the other store.  I wanted a drink, preferably water; coffee was easily found in several places, soft drinks at a couple with huge long waiting lines, but no water.  I saw people walking around with Dasani bottles, but never spotted anyone selling it.  Just a simple drinking fountain would have been welcome.  There were more people milling around in the mall hall than in the stores, making me suspect most people don't go to malls to actually buy anything, but just to be part of some kind of mob action.

Okay, I'll admit it; shopping just doesn't appeal to me.  I've always been the sort that if I wanted something, I just went in, bought it, and got out.  That doesn't work too well any more. I may have to take a second look at online shopping--or maybe I can convince my daughter-in-law to shop for me.  She's good at it and she actually likes it.

5 comments:

Natascia said...

Lots of people think I'm kidding, or that I don't really mean it, when I say I hate shopping. It's frustrating finding something nice, but the right size is unavailable, or the right size doesn't fit well at all. Oh the woes...

Janice Sperry said...

Alena and I have discovered that Ross is a good place to shop for her, but not for me. I have a hard time finding modest clothes that are also cute. It's either dress like a porn star or an old relic. This is why I shop online. I still don't find what I really want but at least my feet don't hurt.

Jennie said...

This post has been giving me a hard time. To begin with it was meant for the other blog I write for, the V-Formation. Then I've had a battle with the paragraphing. I'll post the blog that is supposed to go here (contest winners) after I shower and eat breakfast.

Unknown said...

I love to shop online for clothes. I get frustrated and tired going from store to store trying to find anything I like and that fits.
I will occasionally pick up a shirt or skirt at Walmart if they have my size and I see something that I like.
I hate Malls more than words can express. They are too big, too crowded and too expensive.

Austin Stevenson Owens said...

You know what I love... eBay. You can set up your search criteria, and then pick through what comes up. I have found several cute, reduced-price items there, some used, some new with tags.

I ESPECIALLY love shopping online for my kids and husband. You can narrow everything down to very specific criteria and then BOOM, you can pick from style, and everything is available!