With birthdays and road trips and errands galore, October always gives me a run around town. Today was no different, as I realized that I had a lot of stuff left to do, including–cough–birthday present shopping. Not that I forgot, of course; I just . . . took a little while figuring out what I wanted to look for.
Anyway, as I zipped through the mall, I came across this stand-up ad and had to take a photo. I remember saying to myself, “you wouldn’t see an ad for this back home.”
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| Wicked, which will play on Broadway in Detroit this December. I’m incredibly excited and need to get me some tickets. |
It’s pretty cool living near a city that has its own Broadway. I know it ain’t NYC, but it looks like the real deal.
And silly me, I was trying so quickly to snap the photos on my phone and get out of the way of a nosy lady that I didn’t even read the copy. Luckily, I later found another sign in the food court that let me know the haps.
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| “Visit the world of ‘Wicked’ . . . Free giveaways! Take your photo in Oz! Pick up your ‘Passport to Oz’–filled with Oz-some offers throughout the mall.” |
I also would like to point out the (obvious, but notable) difference in scale of ads when you visit a larger mall. In the one-level mall I grew up shopping at in Virginia, we had maybe five or ten display boards set up, most of which were ads for Dairy Queen or last season’s Skechers. In a “real” mall that you’d find in a major metropolitan area, however, you have escalators. And twists and turns. And lots and lots of stores. Long story short, you’ve got more people, and you’re probably gonna sell more stuff–in particular, more expensive stuff. So, there are ads everywhere you turn (much to the dismay of Brad, who once made a good point in saying that all of the display boards should contain a directory since the mall is kind of confusing). Don’t get me wrong, I actually enjoy our smaller mall back home because I know exactly where everything is, but it’s fun to have a place nearby that offers a mix of affordable and upscale options. I feel like such a hick, but it’s kind of crazy shopping at an establishment that houses not only my usual Charlotte Russe and JC Penney, but also a BCBG and Betsey Johnson.
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| Vera Bradley, anyone? This is an entire wall. An entire wall of pretty teasery. |
Eventually, retail prices took their toll, so I decided to make the rounds of some nearby Marshall’s and TJ Maxx stores. I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for, but was happy to find some cute, colorful kitchen utensils to add to our almost-complete collection. Oh, and I found these, too:
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| Cheerio! Let’s have some tea. Better yet, let’s drink royal tea from royal tins! |
As entertaining as this was, I can just picture the souvenir manufacturers of England talking amongst themselves, mumbling, “Toss all that extra rubbish . . . rather, send it to the Americans. They’ll buy whatever we tell them is posh.”
I gotta admit, though–it was very tempting to get a couple just for fun. Imagine: in about ten years, they’ll be priced at eight bucks each at a flea market somewhere. And we’ll all be beating down the doors to get a chunk of the nostalgia.
