Sunday, March 27, 2011

No Winning For Me.

As previously discussed on this blog, I love to shop. 

Some people channel their creative energy through writing or poetry, dancing or drawing, Jared loves to channel his in the kitchen whipping all sorts of culinary treats.  But for me, nothing gets my brain going and my energy flowing, like putting together textures and colours, fabrics and fittings, like fashion and shopping.

I even love going to the mall just to see how the visual departments put together the mannequins; I love it when I see a beautiful new touch to an outfit that I would never have thought of.  And being that I love to shop so much, I generally have a way to make these things work, within my own closet.

But there is one thing, one place that is just against all my shopping practices:  Winners.  Even just writing the name makes my heart feel sad and my skin feel icky.  Now, before I go into all the reasons I personally hate Winners - I will say most of the people in my life have some killer clothes from there.  Jared gets some great belts and shirts from there; and my girlfriend Adrienne was rocking an adorable top from there on Friday night. 

Last Monday, Jared wanted to stop into Winners to look around.  A)  I never stop at Winners.  B)  I never poke around at Winners.  When I walk into that store it just makes me angry.  Angry!  It's a mess!  And nothing ever seems to be "put away".  There are no mannequins perfectly dressed to showcase their new stock; and there's no colour coordination as to where things are hung.  Purses are in one portion of the store, shoes are in another - then there's the mishmash of perfumes and hats.  Walking around that place is like a workout; no thanks - that's why I have a membership to She's Fit.

When I shop - I shop for the experience of it.  I love going into a store and being helped.  There is nothing like shopping at Betsey and coming out of the room - they do up your zippers, they bring you shoes in your size, they show you a minimum of two other ways you could wear the dress. 

But I don't just shop at boutiques like Betsey (hello - I have a mortagage, car payment and bills, you know?).  I also love to shop at Forever 21, H&M, hell, I even love to poke around at Suzy Shier - they've got some cute stuff, especially when they're displaying it on a mannequin.  It's just fun.

Yes, I realize you can find some amazing name brand pieces at Winners.  Which is what I REALLY don't understand... when we were there on Monday, I saw a beautiful white Versace dress.  The fabric was satin, the stitching was impeccable... but it was hanging on a plastic hanger, in a big heap of $14 dresses.  Seriously?  If I'm buying Versace (which sadly I have not had the pleasure of doing at this point in my life), I'm buying it for the experience.  I can only imagine trying it on in a beautiful change room, while Jared has a glass of bubbly, they'd bring me shoes and hold up my hair and when I went to buy it; they'd wrap it up in beautiful tissue paper, and ensure I've got a garment bag to store it properly.

If I bought it at Winners, I'd try it on in a messy change room, with no service, and carry it home in a white grocery bag.  I even hear when you go to the changing room they give you a tag based on the number of clothing items you have so you don't steal anything.  Wow.  There's an experience I'm in no hurry to try:  they're treating you like a criminal?? 

So while some of my friends rock they're cute jeans and adorable T's knowing they got a killer deal on them, I'll be rocking probably the same thing, but at least I know I had a killer experience.

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