Fresh Fields. One time the Furry Beast & I went there intending to pick up a piece of cheese. We dropped over $150…some piece of cheese!!
Also, there is this wonderful store called Beltway Liquors not far from where I live. It’s the size of a grocery store & has every kind of wine you can imagine, plus the prices are not to be believed. I dropped $213.85 there last month.
& I am a beauty product junkie. It is truly an addiction. High-end, low-end, I’ll take it all. Any drug store is a den of iniquity when you’ve got the glamour monkey on your back. God forbid I should log onto sephora.com. Unfortunately for my bank account, I have discovered a Lancome outlet store across the street from where I work. I can’t walk past that place without dropping $30…
I could go to JoAnns and by Redheart but what fun would that be?
Ooooh, look, Icelandic wool from genuine Icelandic sheep in Iceland! How could I ever knit with acrylic again???
And, I know I have a pair of size nine needles . . . but they are pfehaluminum. These are maple. Don’t they feel lovely? And they only cost five times as much as the aluminum kind. :rolleyes:
I’m another bookstore person – I could live at Barnes&Noble and Borders. There’s also this cool little used book place called Lyrical Ballad that I can’t go to without buying things. “Oh, look! A random book of poetry by someone I’ve never heard of? I need it!” It doesn’t matter that I might not ever read the book, I just have to have it. I love the way old books smell.
This isn’t a store in itself, but I cannot resist the lure of Clinique counters. I’ll go there intending to buy some foaming face wash after taking advantage of their free make-overs, and I walk away with new lipstick, blush, exfoliating lotion, a compact, and the face wash. I’m so weak.
Ohhh… Forgot about that one. Luckily (?) there isn’t a decent art supply store in the town where I go to school and I have to buy all my stuff mail-order, so I’m less likely to splurge. But in stores, oh jesus… I walk in the store repeating to myself, “One tube of phthalo blue. All I need is one tube of phthalo blue. All I’m getting is one tube of phthalo blue…” About an hour later I’m leaving with a tube of phthalo blue, plus 8 other colours, brushes, a pack of oil pastels, coloured pencils, etc., some artsy gizmos, and a about half a dozen things where I looked at it and thought,wow! I’ve never worked with that before! I must try it, I wouldn’t be a good artist if I didn’t. The potential fate of my entire future career as an artist rests on the purchase of this item. Well, now I can’t deny my “calling” now can I? ::sigh:: There’s a reason we artist are “starving.”
Another one with the Barnes & Noble homing device implanted in my head. I can’t get out of there without at least one book.
Another Wal-Mart/Target. I can’t get out of either one for less than $50.
IKEA. But unlike Tansu and Tygre, there is one 10 minutes from me. I’m not allowed in there anymore without adult supervision and a note from my husband.
Trader Joe’s. Just opened here in Baltimore. I love it. The parking is horrendous, but it’s right next door to Barnes & Noble!!!
My husband is the Home Depot junkie. He always spends a minimum of $100 there.
New bookstores are nice, but rarely destroy my budget.
Used bookstores on the other hand…
Sunday I went to one of my favorite used bookstores to replace one (1) disintegrating copy of A Case of Conscience by Blish. Came out with
“A Case of Conscience”, by Blish
“Revenge of the Triffids” (with a great sexploitation cover!) by Wyndham
A book reprinting all the Struwwelpeter (sp) Stories, with a long history of them “The Great Tall Tailor always comes/for little boys who suck their thumbs…The door flew open, in he ran/The Great Long-Legged Scissorman” brrrrr. Heinrich Hoffmann…What a psycho.
“Through the Alimentary Canal with Gun and Camera” (a spoof of all those “Through Darkest Africa with…” type books
“The Worst Rock ‘n’ Roll Records of All Time”
Several SF books that looked interesting
“Krazy Kat The Art of George Herriman”
“A Damon Runyon Omnibus”
About 6 more books that are in another room at the moment.
Total intended $3.00
Total spent $60-something.
Sears, you just have to buy more tools everytime you drive by. Costco or as we call it Money go. Starbucks, doesn’t everyone drink five gallons of espresso a day? A local used book store, it is huge, it is disorganized, it has about ten cats living in it, it reeks of cat piss. I can’t leave without buying a cart load of books.
Ohh I forgot about the art supplies. I always end up buying pencil crayons, art pencils, markers and drawing books. The weird thing is though that I don’t draw much. Sometimes I doodle but I don’t have that much confidence in my drawing and don’t like much of mine. Plus I don’t have the patience.
You also have to tear me from the cross-stitch section. I have 3 projects I’m working on right now. One is a Millenium Project (little late dontcha know) a ‘Silent Night’ project with animals in a snowy forest gazing at the Christmas star… and an Australian Teddy bear… I also have 2 or 3 other kits to work on. A Ribbon embroidery Chrysanthemum that says November on it (my birth month), a sorceress which I have to buy the aida cloth and thread for… but its one of thise neat charms projects… I wish I had bought the maiden and unicorn one when I saw it, and one of those pictures where you just sew in some parts leaving the rest painted to give it a slightly different look.
I also love buying new notebooks. I have lots of little ones (mainly gifts… I don’t write in little ones often) and a few bigger ones which I write stories, poems and put quotes in. I love having new notebooks and don’t think I’ve ever completely finished one…
Sams’ Club (I’m wondering if this si similar to your Costco?) I go in for some bulk, discount food and come out with an 18-pack of paper towels, 48 rolls of tp, a grill, new wine goblets, undershirts, a watch and a five pound can of peaches!
Count me in the liquer store crowd, too, but only when I’m in Indiana or Kentucky (Ohio is expensive). I’m in KY for work now and I popped in to pick upa bottle of Vodka for my sister for Christmas. Left with: a bottle of Grey Goose, a bottle of Wild Turkey- Barrel Proof, a gallon bottle of Bombay Sapphire, a bottle of Stroh rum (the best I’ve ever had), a bottle of 18 year old Chivas (for my dad) and a bottle of Crown Royal (for a friend).
<sheesh>
Purd, you are in SC? I went to school there, and spent many, many, MANY hours in Bookshop SC. Steetlight is lovely too, I don’t know how many CDs I talked myself out of buying there. (Broke college students should not spend all their money on books and CDs.)
Now I work in a bookshop. Can you imagine? Fortunately, I can borrow books from the store, and I have a 40% discout, which allow me to gain a slight profit from my job.
ANY bookstore. Barnes and Noble, used bookstores, Harry Schwartz (a Milwaukee one).
Walmart. Gets me every damn time.
Also, Boston Store. Big ole cheap department store. I go to get one thing and next second I know, I’ve got household goods, a new pillow or sheet set, more wine glasses, a new dress, yaddayaddayadda.
That’s basically it. Unless I’m in a real shopping mood. In which case, any mall I go into, I come out with more stuff I don’t need.
There’s a place in Portland called Powells that is the Bookstore to end all Bookstores. Three stores, it takes up one whole city block… and is chock full of new books, used books, hard to find books… textbooks for cryin’ out loud.
I don’t think I have ever walked into this place without leaving a little lighter in the wallet.
Yep Kyla, I’ve spent the last ten years, off and on, in Santa Cruz. It’s a great town, and the campus is lovely. You have more willpower than me if you can resist the pull of CD’s. Other local stores which suck funds from me like a crank-addled Hoover are Integrand Designs, Logos Books, and The Food Bin.
