Good Stuff Cheap

When I was a kid my mom used to drag us, (and I mean drag us) to a discount department store chain around these parts called Building 19. The 11 stores, located in MA, New Hampshire and Rhode Island are housed inside a huge warehouse. The basis of Building 19's business plan is an off priced buyout chain. Department store castoffs, clearance items, and inventory other department stores deem, "dead" or "un-sell-able", soon become a major player in Building 19's sales plan . Dirty, dusty and crappy are the three adjectives that come to me  off the top of my head, and the store's famous slogan is and has always been "Good stuff Cheap". Building 19 always had a sense of humor about their stores, and off color jokes can be found on handwritten on posters on the cement walls.

Needless to say the joint is a junk pile, but one that I remember spending a bit of time in as a kid. My mom loved it! Having 5 kids, the endless rows of books, toys, tools, clothes, and any other kind of junk you can think of appealed to my mom. Plus, when we got there, we would disperse from my mom and traipse all over the place. Looking back now she was brilliant. In those days, you could let your kids run rampant through a department store and she got a much needed break from us with some retail therapy as a bonus.

Yesterday my mom and I went back in time and went to Building 19 together.

It was the same old dirty junk pile that I remember but this time I was a woman with a wallet and a different out look on their junk. My mom and I split up, some things never change, and I ended up getting a few great bargains. Tommy Bahama irregular t-shirts (that hardly looked irregular) were $6.99 ea. I buy those t-shirts for My Guy quite often and they retail for $49.99 and up. I bought six at the discounted price of $6.99 which is less than the retail price of one. I found boxes and boxes of greeting cards. While I had to sift through them, I managed to buy all of my mother's day cards for both mothers, grandmothers and several hilarious random birthday cards for .33 cents each! A real bargain there, because now a days cards are expensive.

I proceeded to find funky, cheap readers for $1.99, (cuz remember I told you I'm blind) and generic name zip lock freezer and sandwich bags for a few dollars. I was quite conscious of price, because when you are shopping for a bargain you want to be able to brag about it, but as I proceeded through the store I found that all their good stuff wasn't so cheap. Or not as cheap as I remember. I'm thinking it may have something to do with the down economy, and that vendors and department stores are unable to take huge losses on overstock like they once used to.

In any case I manged to do my part to support Building 19. I ended up with a several bags full of junk, for a grand total of $55.49. None of it, I really needed, but it afforded me an opportunity to bond with my mom doing something we have always done. Shop till we drop.

Gotta love "good stuff cheap".

The Kohl Truth

Sorry about yesterday Bloggers! I left for NYC on Sunday for a buying trip and got back late last night.

Being in the city energizes my business sense and gives me lots of mojo to move forward with plans. I love the buzz of the industry. Being around vendors, craftsman and industry sales people is invigorating and optimistic for a business owner like myself. I met a woman there who forecasts industry trends and we talked a bit about keeping up with the curve in fashion. That whole idea of a "think tank" is soo interesting to me. What if they are wrong? Do they get fired? The fashion and beauty world is so fickle. Things can change in an instant.

The best thing about the trip was that Frick came with me! I LOVED showing her every little aspect of the business and she mopped it up like a Bounty paper towel on a kitchen counter. ( I told her that when I write my book, she will HAVE to star in the movie. Who else could it be??) So the plan was to stay at my best friend's apartment Sunday night and come home Monday. Frick (who is on Winter break until Jan26th) had to stop by her dorm on third to pick up something and while we were there the security guard asked us if we were, "spending the night?"

"We can do that?" I asked.
"You paid for it, didn't you?" her said.
"Yes, I did," I responded.
"You can do that anytime. Lots of parents do. The student just has to sign you in overnight."

So guess what we did?

We stayed overnight in her dorm! It was just her and I and it was a blast!! I would have never done it if school was in session and her roommates were there, but seeing as it was just me and Frick? Hell yes!

We were exhausted from a long day on Sunday, so we had dinner nearby and came back and watched the best, female bonding movie ever made. Bridesmaids.

This has to be our favorite scene:
This is Annie after a roofie, and you may want to keep the volume down a bit if you are at WORK. Kristen Wiig, you are a genius!!!