2003-09-07 - 5:27 p.m.
I forgot to let you know that Day-Hay got a small part in a play at the local Children�s Theater. Kat is still waiting to hear as the parts for the play she tried out for have not yet been announced.
MOURNING THE STORE I RARELY SHOPPED IN
The closing of Kohl�s Food Stores has affected me more than I ever anticipated. Mr. Philately, who does a lot of our shopping, is the one who liked to shop at Kohl�s. I preferred a different grocery store, one that was on my way home from work and allowed for a quick stop in and pick up. Not any more. My favorite grocery store, my Sentry�s, has become the only grocery store in a three-mile or more square area.
I knew that the closing of Kohl�s Food Stores would affect prices. Even before Kohl�s closed, Sentry put up signs that notified the public that there would be no more double coupon days �due to increased administrative costs.� But I doubted increased administrative costs had anything to do with it. The demise of Kohl�s Food Stores and the absence of a double-coupon war likely had much more to do with it. I would be sad to see double coupons go but I could live with that.
What I did not anticipate was the crowds. In the old days, less than a month ago, I never saw all of the registers open and there was no competition for parking. Now, even with all of the registers open, there are lines. The shelves often look picked over. Swarms of people wander up and down aisles looking lost�or worse, confused and grumpy. They mutter about the organization of the store and about the crowd.
I also did not foresee the loss of the more personal touch. I knew most of the cashiers by name. I knew whose line I did not want to be in even if I were the only person in line and who would greet me and ask about my family. I would laugh when my favorite cashier would say on the few occasions I used my cash card, �It goes THIS way.� I liked that she knew better than to tell me �to the left or to the right.� I knew which people to ask to get something down from the top shelf and who I really did not want to bother. But now, there are a lot of new faces and they are working too hard and too fast to learn who anyone is. �Next!� is the new motto.
I cannot believe that I find myself mourning the store I rarely shopped in, but I do. We never really know the importance of some things until they are gone.
LAST YEAR: Here I Am
TWO YEARS AGO: So Long, Farewell�For a While
IN CASE YOU MISSED THEM:
The Gift of the Little Boy
Blink of an Eye
So Big
Coming to That Confusion
What Price Glory?
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Copyright 2006 by Ellen |
