In a past post I related some problems that I have with Christmas shopping. Chief among them was not finding the right gift for the right person. Every gift must have some utility, you can't just go out and spend your hard earned money on junk.
For some reason, today was a walk in the park. I left about ten in the morning and didn't arrive home until almost four in the afternoon. One of the things that help me was that I had ordered several items previously that I thought my wife would really like and could use from catalogs. So it wasn't as though I was starting from scratch in this foray into the belly of the commercial beast, as it were. Still, when I started out this morning, I wasn't very enthusiastic about the trip.
Another thing that I had going for me this day was I knew pretty much what I wanted to get. At least I didn't have to wonder from store to store not knowing what I was even looking for as I have done in past years. I hate that!
Everything went well as I got what I wanted with a minimum of effort including one item that I hadn't thought of, cool. And for a Wednesday, it wasn't that crowed as one might think, even at noon four days before Christmas. It was very noticeable because I stopped for a sandwich at the Food Court located at the main entrance.
I think most everyone is familiar with how most malls are laid out these days like a wagon wheel, with stores along each spoke on both sides and four main spokes. East Town has about fifty or sixty stores under one roof with another twenty or so outside surrounding the main building. The main court that housed the food area was about half full, but if you were there on a week end day, it would be jammed with people.
I must admit it was fun to watch all the different types of people that inhabit our small planet. All of them are busy in their own little world of Christmas shopping and holiday stress. Luckily, being Wednesday, the kids don't get out of school for Christmas vacation until today, so there wasn't the huge groups of kids that roam around like schools of fish in a small pond. Although the way kids dress today, it's fun to watch them to.
While sitting at one of the small tables in the court yard next to the walk way, I had a opportunity to reflect on what I saw while roaming from store to store inside the mall and the outside shopping complex. It is almost incomprehensible the amount of merchandise that is on display in all of these stories.
Just take the clothing stores as an example. They make up probably better than half of the total stores in the mall. Don't include JC Penny or Sears or Yonkers type stores that sell everything, just clothing alone. Who do they think is going to buy all of the merchandise that they have on display, or better, how much of the merchandise that they have on display do they have to sell to make a profit? Figure also this is just winter stuff that will have to be moved shortly after Christmas to make way for the new spring lines.
What's more, East Town is only a fraction of the stores in Madison and even smaller fraction of the stores in the states and then the country - - I am overwhelmed by the sheer volume of items that have to sold or stored some place. What do they do with all of the stuff that they can't sell? There are racks and racks of coats and shirts and sweaters - - on and on and on - - .
Well, after that contemplation, I decided that it was time to head home, that is, after I went grocery shopping - there is just no end to how domestic I can be - heh
I want to talk about our economy in the future as it is really something fantastic. How our distribution systems work and how we should really appreciate all of the variety of items that are available to us in this country.
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