Seasonal Stocking
It is impossible to buy locally if you are looking for something that corporations classify as “Seasonal”.
I tried to buy an electric heater today – the middle of February, overnight low temperature 29°F, Winter Olympics all over the media, East Coast still digging out from the last blizzard – but no one has one, they have AIR CONDITIONERS! Heaters are a “Seasonal” item and must be cleared out by the end of January to make room for the new seasonal items.
Needless to say, if you are looking for something warm to wear, you can forget buying locally, just as you will need to stop by a cheesy souvenir shop on the beach if you need a new swim suit during the summer – that’s a “Seasonal” item.
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Many of the souvenir shops at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco make their money with unsuspecting tourists don’t understand micro-climates and “fog rolling in.” It’s warm when they leave their hotels…they get down to Fisherman’s Wharf for a jaunt to Alcatraz and find it’s bone chilling cold. The shops are only too glad to sell them sweaters and pullovers with city name and logo on them.
Tourist “seasonal” moolah.
.-= last blog ..Way to go, Bob! =-.
I remember getting really pissed about back when I was a kid. The people who decided what “seasonal” meant never seemed to have the slightest idea what the weather anywhere south of the Mason-Dixon Line looked like, and I’d go into the store to buy school clothes in August and what the f**k were all those sweaters and long-sleeve wool shirts and cr*p doing there? It was friggin’ 100F and 99.5% humidity outside!
That was, uhm, let’s say it was before Ronald Reagan was President (not sayin’ how many years before 😉 ) and it hasn’t changed since. Even here in a major metropolitan area, I can get a heater from a real hardware store if I want one any time of the year, but it’s a PITA to track one down if it isn’t during the “seasonal” time. There, where the only stores are Wal-Mart and Home Depot, I suppose mail order and waiting for it to come in on the magic brown truck is pretty much your only option…
.-= last blog ..Food for the trail =-.
Jill, I have an Alcatraz sweatshirt as a result of my Mother’s visit to San Francisco. The purchase wasn’t a happy memory of the event. 😉
That’s affirmative on waiting for the truck, Badtux. I obviously should have anticipated in September that I would have a heater die in February, although there wasn’t much to choose from then, as everyone is cutting back. It is amazing how easy it is to get around stores these days, since they don’t stock anything anymore.