While walking through the mall the day after Thanksgiving (god only knows why I was there, it seemed like a neat place to people watch) I overheard a girl behind me say “can you believe the way he dresses? It makes me want to puke”!! Her friend say’s “you dress him, don’t you?” about that time I started getting light-headed from the over-abundance of designer perfumes.
As I walked past the droves of overly fashion -conscious shoppers I was glad I no longer needed to have the “in” look. I stepped out into the parking garage. God I love the smell of oil, exhaust and cement. Feeling drained by “the land of the pretty people” I decided to head over to the “anti-mall” to become grounded. Ya know what? they think they were “anti”, but most the attitudes were the same as the mall up the street. Once again the almighty buck was at play. Sell the image. Kind of like, “Be nice on these holidays” its “the sale day” cause we know you’ll buy. I was happy, cause the most I spent was $1.50 at the coffee shop for a large coffee… that was my bargain shopping for the day.
By the way, how many GAP stores do we need? There was GAP, GAP for kids and Baby GAP all in South Coast Plaza… all in different locations…
Sorry if I sound bitter, but actually I was pretty amused today… Waking up at the crack of 11:30… went to buy some crates for storage at the container store, remembered what day it was, couldn’t park in that shopping center, but found a spot at the secret parking location at South Coast, did some people watching, drove down and watched the sun set over Divers Cove as the Moon rose… and didn’t spend too much for something I don’t need
Anyone who goes anywhere near a retail establishment between Thanksgiving and New Years, barring employees of said retail establishments, is certifiably insane and should be institutionalized post haste. Not that I go to the mall very much any other time of the year, but you’d have to knock me out and kidnap me to get me there in November/December.
South Coast Plaza gives me the creeps. There’s such a concentration on self and money that I just don’t go there much. And Nordstrom does the same thing.
Not sure if I’ve been there. Went to one with a Rainforest Cafe (or restaurant). Lately I find I don’t need stuff, but sometimes walking around a mall is like mindless Internet surfing.
I agree with violet. I go just to be mindless for a while. It’s very relaxing, and there are usually interesting things and people to look at.
Now, Super Wal-Mart, that’s a whole nother story.
One of short term financial goals is to be able to afford to not shop at Wal-Mart, but it’s just so damn cheap, and I have a family of five to support…
My wife and I go to malls sometimes just to people-watch. And to compare prices on clothes that we’ve gotten much cheaper elsewhere.
But there’s so very little we need that we haven’t already gotten that mall shopping is a non-starter.
Once when I was single, I did go during Christmas time just because I was so lonely otherwise (I lived in the country then and worked in a small office and otherwise lived alone). Swimming in a sea of humanity I was.