Dan and I just got back from our after Christmas sales shopping sprees. We went to our two favorite clothing stores in town. For me, it’s Orange Blossom, a wonderful women’s boutique with stylish clothes, great service, and great sales. For Dan, it’s The Town Squire, a traditional men’s clothing store conveniently located two doors down from Orange Blossom with high quality clothes and incredible customer service.  (They wrapped all of my Christmas presents for Dan when I shopped there before the holidays, which was such a time saver, and the presents looked so much better than anything I can do).

We are now past our one year mark for our unchained living experiment, but we have both vowed – to different degrees – to keep shopping unchained. So we decided to check out the after-Christmas sales at each of these clothing stores. We went our seperate ways to see what we could find.

Shopping in Orange Blossom is always a delight to the senses and so relaxing!

Of course, one of the things we get asked the most is, “Don’t you spend more by not buying in places like T.J. Maxx, Target, or Marshall’s for your  clothes?  What I’ve found is that the answer is “yes” — and “no.” Usually, I wait until stores like Orange Blossom and The Town Squire have their sales, and then I’m paying the same as I would at a place like Target.The “yes, I pay more” is the times I’ve gone and splurged for a dress for our annual Gala — but it’s worth it to me because I know that I have a one-of-a-kind dress that no one else in the community will be wearing that night.

But to me there’s more than just the price of the clothes that have changed the way I do my shopping for clothing. I shop locally, usually during the sales, because:

• I’m getting much higher quality clothes that will last much longer.
• I’m not pawing through crowded racks in dirty, uncomfortable stores like T.J. Maxx or Marshall’s hoping to find something (usually trying on 20 items in a dingy fitting room just to find one that might fit, is still in good shape, or is still in style).
• My shopping experience is extremely pleasant in a lovely store.
• I have attentive and highly knowledgeable staff who are there helping me every step of the way to make sure I look good when I walk out the door, that the clothes fit, and that I have a great experience,
• And –best of all — I’m keeping my dollars local.

So how did I do today? I found three things at Orange Blossom.

• A pair  of $44 shorts that were marked down 75% to $11
• A gorgeous rust colored pullover that went for $97 that was marked down 75% to $24.25
• A fun (and warm) green sweater that went for $76 that was marked down 50% to $38

Pat Fuller, the Orange Blossom owner (in white) and her wonderful staff!

Total purchase before tax was $73.25. Pre-sale these three items would have cost me $217, so I saved a whopping $144! I feel I got a great deal on three high-quality items, had a great chat with the wonderful ladies at Orange Blossom, and now have some new clothes to show off.

So, how did Dan do? We have just begun shopping at Town Squire for Dan. During Christmas I purchased a pair of pajamas, a sweater on sale for $25 (marked down from $185), and two high-quality summer jerseys on sale also for $25 (marked down from $85). Dan really liked his purchases, but needed to return the pajamas which were too big. True to form, the customer service was great. Turns out that large bottoms had been inadvertently been put in with a medium top so they exchanged it and got him fixed up right away.

Today, Dan was looking for dressier pants to wear when we are going out and some new belts. The belts he bought weren’t on sale, but he found two nice ones. The pants he found were selling originally for $75 each, but get both both pair for $95. Dan’s savings included a $10 off coupon we had, so he saved $75. The pants are being hemmed now and one needs to be taken in a bit. The folks at The Town Squire do the alterations them selves, which costs less than the local seamstress we usually go to.

While I was waiting for Dan to try the pants on, I spoke with the owner, Larry McDaniel. Larry has owned the shop for 35 years — ever since he was 24! Now that’s amazing in this day and age. He’s technically been in the clothing business even longer, having worked in clothing stores since he was 14. Obviously this man knows men’s clothing, which is no doubt how he continues to stay in business when so many men are shopping in chains. I do know he does a booming business in tux rentals for proms, weddings, and formal occasions.

You probably have a few locally owned clothing stores in your town — either one’s like The Town Squire, which have been around forever, or like the Orange Blossom, which might be a few years old or new. Please be sure to consider shopping there. If you’re looking for deals, watch for when your independently owned stores have sales. You will be pleasantly surprised that your local stores can match the prices of the discount stores –  but beat the discount stores every day on quality, costumer service, and ease of shopping.

And you will keep your money in your town helping local people instead sending it somewhere far away to be banked by the faceless corporate executives who run the local big box stores in your town.

It’s almost Christmas and Dan and I have NOT succumbed to the shopping frenzy. But that’s really not new this year for us – we have never indulged in the Christmas shopping frenzy that has taken over America. We have always exchanged a few Christmas gifts depending on our economic status of the time, which usually isn’t much since I work in the non-profit world!

And last night as we were talking about exchanging presents we asked each other what we’d given each other last year. We couldn’t remember! Can you remember what you gave as a Christmas gift to your spouse or family members or received from them last year? Chances are the answer is no, and your unremembered gift is languishing in a corner somewhere. Or perhaps you returned it to get something else.

This year, since we are shopping unchained, my whole take on Christmas has altered even further as I continue to think more deeply about the meaning of Christmas.

Barn & Co., on Cape Cod

While we were in Cape Cod before Thanksgiving, Dan purchased a nice $25 blouse for me from a very cool gift store in Dennis, The Barn & Co. He’s promised to buy me a few of my favorite mystery books at the used book store in Chattanooga, McKay Used Books. And other then that there might be a few stocking stuffers that I don’t know about.

McKay's new store in Chattanooga

For him, I’m knitting a scarf (half way through – yikes!) in a wonderful yarn he picked out. And I have a few small surprises I can’t divulge as he will be reading this post. Total spent by each of us – well under $100 each.

So here’s the thing I was thinking about on the way home from work yesterday – and stick with me even if you aren’t into the whole Jesus thing. Because even if you’re not, let’s face it, Christmas is supposed to be about the joy of giving to those you love — in the spirit of Jesus or whatever spiritual tradition you believe in.

The Three Wise Men by Hans Memling

Ok – let’s review what Jesus got for Christmas (at his birth). Three Wise Men show up with three gifts. Not, thirty mind you. Just three. So how is it suddenly we feel as Americans that we need to give each other (mainly our kids) so many gifts? Well, of course that’s where the mass media comes in telling us we MUST have those gifts or we are not cool, hip, in, or happy.

Maybe we should reconsider and go back to the original idea of giving three gifts?

Now these gifts were pretty expensive items for the time: Gold, Frankincense, and Myrr. They were nothing to sneeze at. But here’s the thing. Whatever happens to those gifts? I racked my brain, but I never read about these three gifts again in the Bible. And I’m pretty sure Mary and Joseph raised Jesus as a normal son of a carpenter with no special privileges of wealth.

So what DID Mary and Joseph do with those gifts?

You don’t hear about Joseph’s cashing them in so Mary can get a big diamond ring to show off back in Nazareth to hush up the gossiping neighbors about her early pregnancy. You don’t hear about a vacation beach-side condo so they can get away when the carpentry business gets to be too stressful. Nor do you hear about a college fund for baby Jesus so when he grows up he can better himself.

My guess? Mary and Joseph being good, devout Jews, sold the goods and give the proceeds to charity to thank God for the gift of their son.

Animal Shelters need your donations!

Mmmmmm – giving donations to others in need during Christmas? Cool idea — and one I am going to follow this year!

Here’s some suggestions in case you might need them:

• Your local homeless shelter.
• Your local no-kill animal shelter.
• Your local soup kitchen.
• Your local food bank.
• Your local museum or cultural organization. (My favorite place to donate to!)

It is truly wonderful to share your love by giving a gift to someone during the holidays. But I think it’s time we thought about why we give gifts, how we give gifts, and where we purchase the gifts. I hope you bought at least some of your gifts at independent stores this season!

And I hope you and your family have a wonderful holidays – no matter what tradition you celebrate!

Saturday was a typical errand day for me, just like a lot of women in America. Off work and that means I have lots of shopping errands to complete. But my shopping experience is about as different as it gets from the average American housewife who spends her bucks in chain stores and may never step foot in a locally owned store in her town.

There are always flowers in bloom around the entrance and Caspar the cat's grave is just to the left (overlooking the CVS drivethrough -ha!).

Here’s how my day went. Out the door and my first stop after the bank was to our locally owned pharmacy. In our town of Cleveland, we are lucky to have three independently owned pharmacies. Pretty amazing! We have shopped at The Medicine Shoppe since we arrived, after one of my museum staff members recommended this amazing pharmacy.

Run by Endo, a Japanese immigrant who is the pharmacist and owner, this is truly the most special pharmacy we’ve ever done business with! Medicine Shoppes are franchises. But we decided at the beginning of our experiment that IF the franchise does not force the owners to have their stores all look the same and follow cookie cutter practices, that these are locally owned stores as far as we were concerned.

Endo with one of his helpers

And boy does this pharmacy not look like any pharmacy you’ve ever visited. When you walk in you are greeted by a warm and inviting space that has:

• A grand piano
• Photos of Endo’s family on the wall along with other personal mementos
• Two cushy sofas
• A coffee table with his family photo album, a fish tank

Until recently a regal white cat named Casper would greet you as you can in. Sadly, though, Casper passed away a few weeks ago and is lovingly buried outside the front entrance.

Endo and his great staff of young college-age men and women always greet you by name when you enter (or drive up at the drive through). They know all about us and ask after our family, how work is going, and truly care about us. We, in turn, care about them. On my recent visit I saw a picture of Endo’s grandson in California and photos of Erica’s new baby boy who was born just about the time that Casper the cat was put to sleep in Endo’s arms at the vet’s. I defy anyone to have these exchanges with the staff at a CVS or Rite Aide!

Endo with some of his personal items

And yes, you can get your generic drugs just as cheaply at Endo’s store as at the chain pharmacies. But sadly, as a small mom-and-pop store, he struggles to survive against the big chain drug stores that are on every street corner in Cleveland. They can advertise their cheap drugs, and so people think he doesn’t offer them as inexpensively. And several years after opening his store, the people who sold him the land on which to build his store turned around and sold the adjoining land to a CVS! Ouch! He hangs in there because his customers are loyal to him and their word-of-mouth advertising keeps him in business.

If I need pills at any time of day — 24-7 — Endo will meet me at the pharmacy and fill the order for an emergency. I have his home phone number and can call him there. Do any of you have the home phone number of your CVS pharmacist? I don’t think so! This is true service and what the old-fashioned local pharmacists used to be like. Endo is the kind of pharmacist I want to dispense life-giving drugs to me and my family.

After leaving Endo’s, my next stop was our local health food store, Abundant Living. I try toshop here first to get as much as I can. On this visit I stopped and spoke with one of the owners, Dave Carringer, about our year of shopping unchained. He filled me in a bit on Abundant Living’s own belief in shopping locally. They buy all their office supplies and paper products from local vendors, even though they may pay a bit more for them.Joe Rodgers Office Supply was one supplier he mentioned. Dave said that as a small, locally owned business, he understood how hard it was for all of them to stay in business and he would much prefer to keep his money local. I bet our local chain grocery store doesn’t buy locally.

Dave at Abundant Living

Dave then went on to say that Abundant Living tries hard to donate back to the community for the many needy causes in the area. Like most locally owned stores, he generously gives a larger percentage of donations to the community than big-box stores ever do. Why? Because he and all the other citizens who own locally owned stores live in their communities and care about them. And because their stores aren’t owned or controlled by some far-off corporation, they don’t have to send their profits off to corporate headquarters. A big-box store may participate in some charitable giving in the community, but it is a small token of the amount of profits that they send off to corporate headquarters.

The grain bins at Abundant Living

Abundant Living has a very nice selection of organic products, produce, supplements, and beauty aids. The staff are very helpful and friendly. True to form, like a small mom-and-pop store, the service is excellent and after you’ve left you feel as if you’ve shopped with family not strangers.

Dave must have read my blog right after I left the store because I came home to a nice email from him. He saw where I’m only eating meat from local sources and wrote this about local beef and chicken they sell:

Now I drive to Fort Payne AL. and get our meat from Teddy Gentry at Bent Tree Farms. His beef (Burts Beef by name / his Grandfather) is 100% free range, grass fed, no hormones, steroids, chemicals, or vaccinations of any kind. Next time you’re in I’ll give you a pack to try. He has a great farm and is actually the spokesperson for the S.E. Grassfed Beef Association. He’s been doing it for about 20 yrs. in addition to being the bass player for the Alabama Band. We also get our chicken from the Amish farms, again, with no nasty chemicals added, all free range.

I’ll let everyone know how the beef is in a future blog. Hey, if the owner is a member of the Alabama Band I’m sure he’s got good beef!

On from the health food store to our locally owned grocery store, Cookes. In business since the 1940s, Cooke’s is owned by the Cooke family who also own Seasons Harvest, as well as several chains such as our local Panera Bread and several regional stores of the Save-A-Lot chain grocery. So, it’s an interesting family that blends the local with the chain, but I have to say that they’re definitely interested in their local community because of all the donations they make. The Cooke family is one of the most generous families in the community in supporting many causes, and they employ many local people in all their stores.

We have shopped now at Cooke’s for the duration of this experiment. It’s been fine shopping there, but I have to admit that at times its a bit frustrating. The store is small and the selection a bit limited. Occasionally, when we’ve gone into a Bi-Lo or a Publix, either with a friend or on the very rare occasions when we HAD no other choice, we’ve felt an interesting combination of being both overwhelmed with to many choices and also somewhat giddy. So there is a yin and a yang.

As consumers, I think we are now bombarded with too much choice in grocery stores today. How many types of a garbage bags do we need? But then again, after being so limited in choice for a year, when we do walk into these stores its almost like Christmas. More on this in a later post.

Cooke’s is our mainstay grocery store, but for specialty items, especially our Blue Smoke Coffee, we head to Seasons Harvest. This week at Seasons Harvest, I picked up Dan’s favorite bacon, their deli Blazing Buffalo chicken for lunches, some organic chips, and my favorite quick on-the-go-lunch: sushi. Seasons Harvest is the only place in town where I can get sushi in a grocery store like this. Ironically, while driving away and listing to NPR, NPR the had a program on why you shouldn’t eat sushi and other fish from the ocean. (Sorry, I can’t find the link to it.) It was pretty touching stuff to hear as I was plopping one piece of tuna after another into my mouth. Sigh.

Our new video store!

But I was cheered when out of the corner of my eye I spied a sign that I’ve driven by literally hundreds of times but it never registered – Corner Video II. With a squealing of breaks, I quickly turned into the nondescript shopping center and pulled up to a tiny hole-in-the-wall video store and though to myself, “We’ve been going with out new release videos since January and this has been here all along?” With a sigh, I got out and went inside hoping that this was not some tiny chain.

Certainly the interior, about the size of an over-sized closet, gave no impression of a chain. But I’ve been fooled before. A woman and man were conversing at the counter so I browsed and found a video I’ve wanted to see, Marley and Me, and headed to the check out. The gentleman left, and as I filled out the forms for a new card I asked the woman about the store.

Yes, she was the owner, and no, it wasn’t a chain. She said she was really struggling to stay in business since the Red Boxes had begun appearing outside of Walmart. These kiosks rent movies for $1.00 and charge no late fees. I guess they are the latest in convenience and cost savings for those looking for that type of thing. She’d owned the business for seventeen years and managed the store for four before that. What bothered her was that she’d watch the children of our first customers grow up to become her customers and they were the ones now abandoning her for the Red Box videos. I said it was a shame that they didn’t care they were putting her out of business. Her response was “All they care about is convenience and price.” She was now renting her videos for a mere 99 cents.

I have to say she hasn’t sat back and just rung her hands, though. Besides the videos, she’s branched out into tanning beds, slushies, sodas, jewelry, and even lottery tickets. So you have to give her credit for trying to keep the business alive! I’d be curious to know if any of you out there have locally owned video stores? It would be great to support them if you do!

With that, I headed home secure in knowing that I kept my dollars local and helped quite a few local business owners stay in business. Do you make an effort to shop locally? Tell us about it if you do!

The Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy
2414 N. Ocoee Street
Phone: (423) 746-1919
Fax: (423) 476-1902

Hours:
Mon.: Fri.: 9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.
Sat.: 9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.

Corner Video II
5004 Georgetown Rd. NW
(423) 472-313
Hours: 1:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m. daily