DH and I ventured out yesterday in search of a certain little something Santa whispered to us. They were on sale at our new Kohl's.
We didn't camp out on the sidewalk all night, or wait at the doors when they opened at 4am. We got up, had our coffee, got showers, and arrived at 10am. The parking lot, which is intended for a strip mall, was packed even though the Kohl's is the only store that has been built yet.
We had agreed to tag-team, meaning, you drop me at the door, I'll go in and swoop up our items. You meet me here and we may have to stand in separate lines and see who gets to a register first.
Once I was in, I realized we didn't need all our tactics. Although it was really nice to be dropped off at the door. :)
I had had fears that our little item would be gone; the store did open at 4 am, after all. But when I arrived at the site, there they were. We were able to locate the correct ones and, although the store was healthily busy, it was not a madhouse. Since DH had not yet visited our new Kohl's, (he has been to a Kohl's before, just not ours,) we decided to browse a bit. It was fun. We looked at kitchen stuff. We looked at men's sweaters and he actually allowed us to buy him one. Seeing a stylin' mannequin, I pointed out the components of his outfit. "Do you look at mannequins or at magazines to see what's in style?" I asked him. "No." He just looked at me. "No," he repeated. I looked up at him. "I don't. I just don't."
Hmm.
We visited the womenswear dept and I showed him a little blazer I had tried on a month ago. (in a size smaller than I had worn before!!) Yesterday it was 60% off; we bought it.
The line to check out threaded through the menswear department, shoes, and back to the edge of kitchenware. I staked out a place in line while DH searched for a not-to-be-missed deal on running shoes. Finding none, he joined me and in 5 or 6 short minutes we were next up for a register. A large person in a Santa cap was holding the line at the divider things and signaling which register to approach. "Are you the traffic cop?" I asked. "Sort of, I guess," and then we got a register.
Sadly, the $10 off for every $50 purchased was not immediate; it came in the form of a coupon to be used next Thursday or afterwards. (They want us to come back.) Still, we got a gift done, and got each other a nice little something in addition.
DH kindly stopped at a gas station and filled my car. From the station we could see the WalMart parking lot. Wow. Now that's packed. Cars were cruising in search of any place to park. I am sososo thankful we went to Kohl's. It was civilized, clean, and the employees were happy and well-treated. We didn't hear any screaming children.
Here's a snippet from the NYT about the experience in Ohio. Notice irony in the lady's name.
Walter Loeb, president of Loeb Associates, a retail consultancy, said there was shopping mania at Wal-Mart every year. But this year, he said, it seems “people are becoming irrational in their actions.”
At a Wal-Mart store in Columbus, Ohio, Nikki Nicely, 19, jumped onto a man’s back and pounded his shoulders when he tried to take a 40-inch Samsung flat-screen television to which she had laid claim. “That’s my TV!” Ms. Nicely shouted. “That’s my TV!”
A police officer and security guard intervened, but not before Ms. Nicely took an elbow in the face. In the end, she was the one with the $798 television, marked down from $1,000. “That’s right,” she cried as her adversary walked away. “This here is my TV!”
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