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Sunday, February 20, 2011

Fun at the Mall

We're back from an afternoon run to the Deptford Mall. I seem to be having a "not enough caffeine in the time zone" kind of day. I went to order a sandwich at the Subway. One part of my brain wanted to order a footlong sandwich. Another part of my brain wanted to say, "12 inch sandwich". What did I actually order? "I'd like a 12 foot sandwich..." Um, no, even I wasn't THAT hungry! LOL!

The good news is that after lunch, I had an hour or so to kill, so I spent most of that time walking in the mall. the doc didn't say HOW to get that daily walking in, so mall walking is as good as anything else.

I did include a few side trips into stores to do a little window-shopping. That when I was surprised at how very small some of the department stores' electronics departments have gotten. WOW. Maybe they shrank their inventory and selection of small-ticket items and accessories as a result of people turning to online shopping for electronic gear. But now, they almost leave consumers with no other option but to shop online, because if a person is looking for accessories, they will find very little to choose from on department store shelves.

Then again, department stores don't tend to help their own case much with their pricing policies. I actually saw one item I might have been interested in, till I saw the price tag. Then I decided I could probably get the item online for less, and that ended the possibility of an in-store purchase. In short, they are pricing themselves out of the market for the consumer group that's MOST likely to do an online price check, by setting the prices for their tech accessories too high. I suppose the underwhelming electronics departments I saw today are a sign that more than one department store has decided to concede victory to online retailers. Either way, I'm glad I was only window-shopping and not in need of buying anything, because the end result is I came home empty-handed.


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