Shoporama

I've had this newspaper clipping on my refrigerator for months now announcing the opening a warehouse outlet for sportswear in a section of the big town I've been wanting to check out. The place is only open on the weekends for a few hours so I've never remembered in time to go. Today was finally the day. I really needed a new fleece and it was well past time for me to get out of this little town for a few hours.

I took the secondary road into town. It's actually much shorter and only about three minutes longer with the lights. The warehouse didn't quite live up to its billing. My vision of a clean airy space with tall ceilings and bad lighting gave way to a odd, somewhat dampish basement like space and if that was a thousand feet they use a different ruler down here. The stock was decidedly odd as well. It was more disco than sportswear and the clearance section looked more than somewhat fatigued.

But they did have a small sportwear section and I lucked out and found a great new black zip-up fleece that fit perfectly. It's called spyder and actually has a discrete black widow spider embroided on the back of it. I kind of love it already.

The place was pretty quiet on a Sunday afternoon but I cruised the strip while I was down there. It was somewhat reminiscent of lovely downtown Noho but has a way to go before one might call it charming. There was a shabbiness to the old storefronts that suggested it was just at the beginning stages of gentrification.

There's an odd mix of largish, expensive looking trendy restaurants and small storefront fast food joints selling ethnic food. The three guys smoking a huge hookah in front of the middle eastern joint said hello as I passed by. I was sorry I didn't bring my camera. There were a couple of bars as well, one with wifi and I was thrilled to find a Bruggers there. Even better, there was a small Whole Foods Market with a great flower section and a fabulous bakery. I had garlic herb bread for dinner because it was so good, I ate it until I was too full for anything else. And I finally found falafel in a box. I've been craving that for weeks and months now and couldn't find it anywhere here.

I didn't go into the gift shops since it was getting near closing time but they appeared to be much like downtown Noho. There's a One World Market and other stores of the Mercantile, Faces genre. I'll probably go back there again to check out those shops and hang out with the hookah guys when the weather's mild again.

Meanwhile, much more exciting to me, was the discovery that there were a couple of shopping centers along the route. They're a little further from my house than where Iusually go but getting there is actually easier because there's less lights. I found a CVS and Eckertz and three major grocery stores, including a Kroger's which is a chain I like down here. I hear they give a senior citizen's discount on Tuesdays. I may start doing my shopping there now that I'm eligible. Heh. Maybe I'll start getting carded again. That would be funny.