The Line has been Drawn

It’s official. Even I, myself and me have bounderies. Of course I have always had personal bounderies..I am talking about shopping bounderies. I am a pro shopper. I know what I want and can scan a room faster than most people can walk in and walk out. What can I say, I have been doing it for a long time. I have acquired personal favorite stores that I stop in and check weekly, and others that are only on the once a month list. In my neck of the woods (yes, I did just say neck of the woods.) I know just about every store and shop owner around. Most know me too. On occasion I pack up and head to the vicinity of one of our AlleyKat buyers to check out the stores that they have listed on their once a week list.

Recently I took a trip to Charlotte, North Carolina. It was actually a pleasant drive and I was looking forward to seeing a long time friend and one of our East Coast Buyers. During the visit we perused glitzy shops and high market thrift stores in search of long lost treasures. While tooling down the road we noticed a sign for a thrift store we hadn’t noticed before. Perhaps there was a reason for that. You will understand why in a moment.

Now I realize that most people don’t get excited about thrift stores, I however am an exception. I don’t just get excited, I get downright giddy. So happily, no..make that giddily..I skip my way into the newly found thrift store in a fashion that only Mary Poppins could compete with. It didn’t take me long to realize that I was in uncharted territory. I know my way around thrift stores, but this was a new experience even for me.

We found ourselves surrounded by bins…no troughs..of clothing, shoes, handbags, hair…yes, I said hair. I am assuming that they were wigs, but I didn’t verify that. After taking a moment to stop dead in our tracks, close our mouths from the sheer horror and remind each other to breathe, we made a step towards one of the bins. No troughs. An awkward step, but a step none the less.

Ever find yourself wishing you had an extra pair of latex gloves in your purse? We were there. I am a mom and there are unimaginable things floating around in my purse, sadly, latex glaves is not one of them. We tried desperately to pick thru the pieces all the while using as little of our bodies to do so. I almost enlisted one of the children floating around to sort things for me. I happily would have paid him..but then the Child Labor Law lights went flashing off in my head.

Before long we figured out that this store in particular didn’t sell items per pieces, but by the pound rather. I suddenly had the urge to jump on their scales and find out how much I may be worth in pounds..but managed to resist. I am sure my shopping companion appreciated that, although she would never say so publicly. We did fairly well, I thought and managed to last for an entire 10 minutes in the store. But somewhere between the obscenities being yelled, the oozing unidentifiable liquid on the floors, and the beyond describable icky contents in the troughs we couldn’t do it.

We, the pro shoppers of thrift stores everywhere had been defeated. Up until that point our stats were rivaled by none. We had a flawless record. Defeated by none. All it took was one little thrift store to bring that glorious record crashing down.The lines have been drawn.

I have to say….I was there..and I can live with that.

Goodnight All

~Kat~