Shopping during the holiday season

Someday I will write a post about how a corporate Diwali greeting at my last job smacked all the Christmas spirit right out of me and made me see the holiday in a much harsher, more cynical, materialistic, and exploitative light - and how a personal email advertising outdoor furniture on sale for Ramadan damn near finished me off. But today is not that day.

True story. Ramadan is getting so commercialized these days.

Today I did some holiday shopping for my training class's Secret Santa thing. The person whose name I pulled listed their preferences in order, but as a final item suggested gift cards from specific stores. I interpreted this as an ordered list of place I should shop for the first two items on the list. Which would have been great if I knew where the stores on the list were located.

First I drove to the Wyoming Valley Mall. Forty-five years ago this was the place to shop: a shiny new mall well above the flood plain, full of stores, fountains, benches, and, most importantly, shoppers. Today it is a shadow of its former self. Two of its longtime anchors, Sears and The Bon-Ton, both closed recently and are now vacant. As I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed a distinct lack of traffic and cars in general. A quick scan of the signs on and around "The Mall" told me that I should be looking elsewhere for these stores.

I drove across the street from the Wyoming Valley Mall to the Arena Hub Plaza, still recovering from the tornado that hit it in mid-July. Two of the three stores I was looking for were there. I parked and walked into T.J. Maxx, a store I haven't been in since I was there to buy luggage in 2006 for my trip to Ireland. I found what I was looking for there. I was surprised that the place was relatively uncrowded, and most of my time was spent selecting the Christmas gifts while staying under the agreed-upon $15.00 limit. (The total before tax came to $14.98.)

One potentially important observation: twice in T.J. Maxx I was nearly run over by two different little old ladies walking backwards. Not sure why this was, if this is something that happens frequently in this location or may be connected in some way to the holiday season. I don't know if I'll set foot in this store again this year, or if it will be another twelve years. We'll see.