I own a book store, so I am a big proponent of shopping local. However, there are some things that I like and need that can't find locally and aren't really practical to try and order online. Furthermore, I get bored really easily with having to go in six days a week, with lengthy stretches of no one coming in. Therefore, I go on a few shopping trips through out the year. I have to go with my mother because she doesn't trust me going on long trips on my own. Seriously, this is a big downer. Anyway, I went on a spree recently. I planned everything to a greater detail than I normally do, as there were quite a few more things that I was looking for. I had multiple crib sheet shopping lists, one for each major destination. I even checked out a few stores online to see if they had any sales or product lines I would be interested in. I even eliminated one store because its selection didn't seem to be quite what I was looking for, nothing that I didn't think I could find elsewhere at least. The morning of the trip, I had a small problem, so that we left over fifteen minutes late. Fortunately, there weren't any problems along the two hour plus drive, although my mother's stop for coffee did take a few minutes longer than I felt was adequate. The typical roadwork over the last stretch meant slower driving, but nothing too special, even with a few extra-narrow lanes. Finally, we got to the mall and the first outlier, a drug store my mother likes to go to for its deal on a perfume she loves. I basically just wandered around, checking on some Halloween candy and some shaving products. I thought I finally found a pre-treatment lotion that I hadn't seen in awhile, but it was an aftershave instead. The product I wanted wasn't there; just an empty space on the shelf. When my mother checked out, I noticed that she only bought the candy, not the perfume. At the counter, she decided that she would get a bottle locally instead, even though it could be a hassle getting a clerk to open up the display and it might not be the same price. We skipped the store I checked online, and we made it to the mall soon after the main doors and most of the stores opened. A few stores had closed and a few had gone it, but the mall was mostly the same as it was the last time. Still not as great as it was when I started going there around forty years ago. Anyway, my mother looked a one of her favorite stores before we went down to one of the mall to the book store. Yes, I own one, but I don't carry magazines like this one does. I also like to look at some books that I am not sure about whether I should order them or not. Also, music and games. Well, the store was starting a remodel. One whole rack of magazines was gone, with the rest shoved into the remaining ones. I passed through the racks at least twice, only to find one that I was looking for. I don't know if they stopped carrying the others, if they weren't out with a new issue yet, or if they had been cancelled. I couldn't even find a puzzle magazine I was looking for, one I was sure should have been out for at least a week. I then tried to look through the rest of the store. Everything had been rearranged so much, I wasn't sure what I was looking for anymore. The one section I was most interested in was in the last corner of the store I looked in, but I had become so flushed by then, I barely looked at it. Next, we went down to the middle of the mall for my mother to check a gift store for an interesting card for a friend the regularly exchanges with. She found nothing, but I am never sure if it is due to her pickiness or her cheapness. Next, an anchor department store. My mother looked around first, mostly for shoes or discounts. She wasn't looking that hard, but she looked around a lot while I just waited. She rarely tries on anything anymore, and that day wasn't an exception. When she was finally done, we went upstairs so I could look for my stuff. However, the upstairs was undergoing a minor update for Christmas. This meant the men's department was squished into a smaller space. I really wasn't looking for much, besides staples and bargains. There was a great sale on jeans, but they didn't have any colors or styles that I was needing. I tried to look for a few other things, but nothing was exactly what I was looking for. We then went down the unmoving escalator, which my mother was fearful of. She looked a little more downstairs before we went down to the northern end of the mall and the remaining anchor. My mother kind of looked at some stores on the way, but I decided to wait to check in on any of them until the way back, because I didn't like them too much. At the department store, my mother barely looked at anything on the way to the men's department. She just isn't into shopping anymore. I found some jeans on sale, in a color and style I didn't have, but my mother complained that I have too many pants in that color range. Maybe, but I don't have khaki jeans. Yeah, they would've been perfect, before she complained and all but forbid me to get them. Instead, I found a pair of shorts for over fifty percent off, but she then complained that I should look for something even cheaper. To spite her, I didn't even try them on since they were in my exact waist size. I then found the perfect pair of sneakers I was needing, except they didn't have my size. I knew the were the right pair, since I saw them on the website of the store I decided to skip to save time. And it would be too hard to try and backtrack. I thought I could get a few staples there too, but she complained again that I could get those locally, even though I never do because it is too hard to make my way out to that store and I wanted to try something different. We looked around a bit more for her, but she decided the we shouldn't go upstairs as that store's down escalator was malfunctioning too, even though the things she was needing most were upstairs. Anyway, I would look for more sneakers on the way back down, but not a single store carried that brand, even though some had carried them just last year when I was looking for shoes, again. We looked around a discount outlet store on the way out, but nothing. We ended up leaving the mall about an hour earlier than we usually do. We went to a fast food restaurant for lunch. It was mostly empty, with the only customers in front of us in line were two men taking an older woman out for lunch. The burgers were fairly good, although my mother thought the onion rings were salty. At least they hadn't started remodeling the place in the horrid style the local place had. I hate the new style. We stopped at a craft store on the way out of the mall space. We were mostly looking for Halloween (or Christmas) villages. The store used to have a whole display of the year's collection, but not this year. In fact, I barely was able to find the few pieces left in my third look through the section. There wasn't even a brochure. We had been looking for a bookshop for either holiday. (An online search a few days later suggest that there will be one at Christmas. Here's hoping.) No decorations were bought. On the way back, we made two more stops. First, a big box department store. I was looking for a few things such as office supplies as the only local outlet was forced to close after a certain medical facility bought out their space's lease and they had nowhere else to move. Unfortunately, the store didn't carry a single product I was looking for, including a CD from an artist I love and didn't hear about until recently. All anyone carries now is vinyl, and I don't own a record player. The last stop was a large supermarket from a chain that is no longer a local business. This store feels larger than anything local. There is even another grocery store just across the street, but we didn't feel like going there this trip as we rarely seem to buy anything there. At the store we did go into, I was forced to take a giant cart as all of the smaller carts and baskets were missing. We only got one small snack for me to eat on the way back (I try to eat every two-to-four hours). There weren't too many newer products that seemed interesting, the main reason we were stopping there, save for a few frozen foods. Even with the freezer bag in the car, the products didn't seem worth it. There were hardly anything different this trip. Even the bakery was mostly sold out. Their small magazine section didn't have my missing issue either [Turns out, the publisher seems to have delayed it from its original publishing date.] And that was that. All I got was a computer magazine that didn't have too much that was pertinent to me, a very loose pair of shorts that I barely were before the cold snap started [I didn't realize that they had a stretch waistband until I tried them on. I don't have the body for stretch. While not super-fit, I am good until that I need something more snug and fitted.], a survey receipt for a free item at a restaurant if I use it within a month which I might not get to do, a small snack that practically fell apart in the car, and an extra day's worth in gas. To be honest, this wasn't even the worst trip made to that mall. During a gap between book stores going in, I actually didn't buy a single thing one trip. We keep saying we won't go back, but after so many decades, it is hard to change. Especially since it is so much closer than other options. Maybe after this time, the decision will stick.
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