Jessica says: I always get a guilty pang of pleasure when I return home for the holidays, if only because it means I can do my shopping in the luxury of a temperature-controlled mall and haul my purchases in an oh-so-convenient car (moving to New York has made my suburban roots seem like a charming novelty, rather than the root of 20-something years of muffled rage). So, like many a dutiful American, I spent the day after Baby Jesus’ birthday at the Rodeo Drive of metro Detroit, the Somerset Collection. The “Collection” is behemoth high-end mall that spans both sides of the street, connected by moving walkways to cart you from J.Crew to Tiffany to Burberry to the Gap. Obviously, the place is total hell on December 26.
retail
Stores with Easy Returns?
By 12.28.05
Here’s a kooky question for our dozens of holiday readers: Which retail hellhole has the best returns policy?
Around the Globe: Rough Week for Christmas Shopping
By 12.27.05
Gunfire erupted on a busy Toronto street filled with holiday shoppers Monday evening, killing a young woman and wounding six other people, police said.Gunfire erupts in Canada shopping area [CNN] A gas attack in a home-supply store on one of the busiest shopping days of the year sickened scores of…
You Can Call Us Flower If You Want To
By 12.27.05
Oh, honey, this mug shot isn’t your fault. This is the natural byproduct of a day spent stocking the Martha Stewart Everyday collection.
Dozens of Printable Retail Coupons
By 12.21.05
Wow Coupons has an awful, sound effects-laden interface, but ignoring that, they’ve got quite a bit in the way of coupons (and ‘wow’). Skip all the whirrs and whistles to go right to the good stuff: printable retail coupons from dozens of retailers. [via Digg]
Independent Indulgences: Big Box Guilt-B-Gone
By 12.21.05
You might feel guilty from buying from anything but the most independent of retailers. If you have fallen sway to the charms of big box stores, Cambridge bookstore Lorem Ipsum is offering ‘Bookstore Indulgences’ to assuage your guilt, complete with quasi-official Catholicy font. By purchasing these indulgences, you give the bookstore free money—and they forgive you.
Retail Drones: Why Do You Hate Us?
By 12.19.05
Of course, we kid. ‘Drone’ implies that you serve as the mindless agent of any intelligence.
West Elm Needs to Hire Studlier Boys
By 12.19.05
The real shocker of this story is that the furniture store West Elm is just a division of Williams-Sonoma. Horror! It was one thing to be chased out of our old neighborhood by a hip, independent New York furniture boutique, but now we’re unsure how we feel about West Elm. Does it make us cooler or more lame to have been chased out of a neighborhood by a big chain or a small, burgeoning store? These are heady questions for a Monday morning.
Urban Outfitters: Judge, Jury, Jerkoffs
By 12.19.05
A manager at a Washington-area Urban Outfitters duped a mother and daughter into signing an admission of shoplifting by saying the form was to report ‘damaged goods.’ When the girl signed the papers, she was under the impression she was being banned from shopping in the stores, but soon received a “civil penalty” of $150 from Urban Outfitter’s law firm.
Wal-Mart Unburies Competition
By 12.8.05
Robert Sterling forwarded us this story, entitled ‘Unmarked cemetery found near Wal-Mart’. We offer it to you as a test.
Wal-Mart: The Movie
By 11.8.05
Detailing the means through which the Arkansas giant continues its retail dominance, WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Price is now in wide community screening and available for purchase online. We haven’t seen it yet, so must reserve judgement, but are intrigued by the website’s promise of sweaty Chinese laborers named Princess.
