Sandy was the driving force behind my "recession shopping" after Christmas. She got great deals in Dallas, so I thought I'd see what Michigan had to offer. And really, who wouldn't want to drive to Michigan in the middle of winter?
Tony picked me up at 7 AM, and we picked up Shopaholic shortly after that. Took us 2 1/2 hours to get to Port Huron, on the other side of Sarnia. The "bleak factor" really picks up once you cross the border. Boarded up buildings, sad houses, and the standard crappy roads that you find in all but the nicest parts of the US. You have to feel sorry for Flint; the auto industry has treated that town terribly. At least they have an outlet mall.
We made it to Birch Run a bit after noon, and headed straight for the Pottery Barn outlet. There was a big sign just inside the doors that said "Take 50% off Last Ticket Price"! That, combined with another discount, made the stuff practically free. We spent several hours at Birch Run, and I picked up things here and there, then it was back on the road to Troy.
Now, Troy, and specifically The Somerset Collection, made us wonder if there really is a recession. The stores were packed, as were the restaurants. The only signs of economic turmoil were the sales. Deep discounts everywhere you looked. At Cole Haan, the boots I bought in August, before anyone knew the sky was falling, were now less than half what I paid for them. Karma made up for that in Barney's, however. On the shoe rack was a pair of peacock blue Christian Louboutin pumps that had been $565, marked down to what you'd pay for shoes at the Rockport store in the Eaton Centre. Oh yeah, I bought them!
Flush from my purchase, we went for dinner at a very nice Italian restaurant nearby. Tony ordered the 1/2 size of the spaghetti and meatballs. A few minutes later the waiter brought what looked like a serving bowl full of spaghetti and sat it in front of him. "Excuse me, but how big is the regular size?", he asked the waiter. "Twice the size of that", the waiter said. Welcome to America. Luckily, we had all ordered the small size of our dinners, which turned out to be very large indeed.
We took the Detroit/Windsor tunnel back to Canada, and ended up in a snow storm from London to Toronto. A complete lack of visibility was made tolerable by the fact that there were so few cars on the road. About 5 cars drove in a line, with the bravest as our leader. We did have some comical moments, though:
Shopaholic- Tony, turn on your high beams.
Tony- Uh, don't know how.
It was a fun drive. Got home 19 hours after we left. I hope the recession ends soon, though. As much as I like discounts, I'd rather live in boom times, so my shoes and I will have somewhere to go in 2009.