Me, it’s bookstores, and specifically Barnes & Noble. I can walk through a WaldenBooks or a B.Daltons with my hands in my pockets, whistling, and come out again 20 minutes later with credit card unbroached, but the minute I walk through the front door of BN, my Evil Book-Buying Twin takes control, and the next thing you know, I’m standing in the checkout line with a coffee table book on the Etruscans, three Nancy Drew original edition reprints, and an Ordnance Survey 1:190,000 Motoring Atlas of Britain. The Better Half says, “Okay, the Etruscans and the Nancy Drew I can understand, but a road map for Great Britain? Is there something I should know?”
My problem is Harris Teeter. I can walk through any other grocery store and just pick up what I need. If I go to Harris Teeter to by bread I end up with a cart and $50 worth of groceries. They pump some sort of drug into the air I am sure.
The place where I always spend more money, though, is at these places like Wal-Mart or something when I go to get household stuff. It’s because I pick up little things here and there and it all just adds up so quickly. Get some vitamins, razors and Advil in your cart and boom, you’ve spent $25 more than intended.
I’m actually pretty good at the grocery store.
I’d prefer to spend tons of money at Best Buy. Why Why WHY must I be a gadget freak??
I don’t have that problem, but Mr. L. is notorious. He cannot walk out of Costco for under $200. He has been known to go 3 times in one week. Ok, I lied, I do have a problem, but only at the various bookstores.
Hello, my name is screech-owl, and I am a bookaholic.
Yup, B&N and Borders have a implanted a small homing device attuned to their stores.
Bumpersticker on my car - “Warning - I brake for bookstores.”
My real problem is Wal*Mart. No matter how much my resolve, no matter the shopping list, no matter the “I am only going to buy bread and that’s it dammit”, I still spend at least $50-100 a time in there.
Case in point:
Walked in needing new hair dryer (the old one caught fire - not pretty hearing screech-owl screech!).
Walked out with:
A few groceries (to tide me over til my regular Sunday shopping).
3 yards of fabric.
New underwear.
New socks.
New sneakers.
A tire gauge.
A box of crayola markers.
A bag of cat litter.
Fishing tackle box (for my art supplies).
Rope.
A fabulously adorable cookie jar.
And no hair dryer.
I guess it’s off to B&N to get a couple dozen books on self-control and impulse buying (hey, they were on sale!).
Target. always Target. no matter if i’m just popping in to grab some small necessity, i always walk out with more. and i can’t possibly leave w/o visiting the toy department.
99 cent stores… I go in there for a calendar or something, and there’s so much good stuff in there for a buck or two for a buck…crap I don’t even need, but it’s so cheap!
or Pic n Save… I don’t know what happens in here, but it’s more cheap stuff.
Oh, and even worse is the fact that the special order person at Borders will call me to buy a book (she knows my eclectic tastes in various subjects:
<Ring>
“Hey screech-owl, this is So-n-so at Borders. I had a special order for two books on “The Complete History of Drama”/“The Punnic Wars”/“Falconry”/“New Biography of Verdi”/etc., and the customer only took one. I can’t send it back, do you want it at half price?”
Let me get this straight…
Brand new book ?
Unread?
On a topic I like? He-all yes!
Next life, I’m coming back as something illiterate. It’ll save me some money.
For me its amazon.co.uk. It wasn’t too bad when it was just books, but now whenever I go there for a book, I always wind up looking at, and usually buying something from the music, DVD, and software sections. I rarely get out without spending around £100!
Trader Joe’s - eclectic grocery store, always something new and different to try out.
Home Depot - Hello, My name is Bumbazine, and I’m a toolaholic. ::hangs head::
Even worse is a place in Eugene called Jerry’s, biggest, baddest hardware store anywhere!
Border’s Border’s Border’s…Damn You Border’s, damn you straight to hell!
And another one is Best Buy. I don’t always buy something,but I find myself there when I don’t need anything and before I know it I have bought a Digital video camera or some speakers or some upgrade or software for my PC or some DVDs or some music or …
Count me in as another victim of Target’s evil seductive powers.
There is also a fantastic, stupendous, and amazing grocery megaplex here called Jungle Jim’s that I always get lost in for hours and spend entirely too much money in. The good thing, though is that it is a “small” (i.e. non-corporate, locally owned) company. It has ethnic foods, a fantastic wine and beer selection, a coffee bar that is out of this world, sushi, etc!!
Bed, Bath and Beyond. I LOVE that place. The first time I went into one, right after it opened, I went in to buy a new tablecloth for Thanksgiving and came out with said tablecloth, a set of dishes, new napkins, a set of Caphalon cookware, and Christmas wrap. I’ve been back a few times and NEVER seem to get out for under $150. I also have trouble spending reasonable amounts of money at Barnes and Noble. I drive a lot in my job anad I love audiobooks.
Any bead store. I’m just going in to get some Softflex wire – I’m almost out. That’s all I’m buying. Oh, yeah, need some headpins, over there by the seed beads. Wow, what a cool color! That reminds me, I was gonna look for something to make for Billie’s birthday, and I need some more screw-top jars and I’ve been meaning to pick up some of these nifty crimping pliers . . . and on and on and on and I’m $75 lighter when I finally leave.
I can’t help it. I go in needing just one thing, like a bag of lawn fertilizer or a drill bit or something, and I always wind up wandering around. “Oh, look! They have combination squares on sale! Do I need one? Hmmm…well, I’m sure I’ll need it eventually. Hey, look – router bits!”
And now Home Depot just opened two stores in Madison. God help me.
Bookstores, specifically used bookstores. New books I’m pretty good at turning down, because I think, pff, that’s brand new, I can find that any time, anywhere, everybody has that book. Besides, shelves with 20 copies of the same book turns me off. But used books… ::drool:: The equisite variety of books and the uniquness of each one, the crinkly yellow paper, the musty basement smell of hundreds and hundreds of books… ::swoon::
Once a year in the summer the local library sells off books withdrawn from circulation, $1 for hardcovers, 50 cents for paperbacks. Last year I bought so many one of the workers there had to go in the back and find a cardboard box for my books, which was so heavy the big-strong-man of a cashier offered to carry it out to my car. ::
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