Mark’s move to the Buckeye State officially occurs in 14 short days. He was headed to Perrysburg for the weekend to facilitate Round 1 of aforementioned relocation and invited me to tag along. A chance to get out of Dodge for a few days and shop on someone else’s dime? I’m in!
Armed with quite the list of necessities to make his new place immediately livable (Phase I of said repositioning), we were on a serious mission to deplete Mark’s bank account and store inventory. With a motto of “Affordable Solutions for Better Living,” our first stop was IKEA. Grab a shopping cart; let’s go!
The IKEA experience is designed around a shopping concept which encourages its customers to see the store in its entirety, as opposed to a traditional retail store which allows you to go right to the section in which the goods and services needed are displayed. I love browsing the furniture showrooms and seeing everything put together. On the downside, it makes me want to replace what I currently own (much of which ironically came from IKEA!) and purchase all the new stuff in sight. Good thing we weren’t shopping for my house, huh? But Mark found several things he was looking for in the market halls and self-serve warehouse section. Nearly three hours later we walked out with a TV table, two mirrors, a lamp, kitchen utensils, and a handful of other requisite kitchen and bathroom items. Hop in the car, cross the state line, and arrive at our next destination an hour later.
The IKEA experience is designed around a shopping concept which encourages its customers to see the store in its entirety, as opposed to a traditional retail store which allows you to go right to the section in which the goods and services needed are displayed. I love browsing the furniture showrooms and seeing everything put together. On the downside, it makes me want to replace what I currently own (much of which ironically came from IKEA!) and purchase all the new stuff in sight. Good thing we weren’t shopping for my house, huh? But Mark found several things he was looking for in the market halls and self-serve warehouse section. Nearly three hours later we walked out with a TV table, two mirrors, a lamp, kitchen utensils, and a handful of other requisite kitchen and bathroom items. Hop in the car, cross the state line, and arrive at our next destination an hour later.
Housed in the old Civic Auditorium in the heart of Toledo’s historic warehouse district, the Erie Street Market has specialty shops offering everything from art to fresh food. Our destinations were the Superior Antique Mall and Libbey Glass Factory Outlet. (As an aside, did you know that Toledo is known as the Glass City because of its history in all aspects of the glass industry? Several glass companies in addition to Libbey trace their origins there.) Though Mark had previously poked around these stores, quickly getting through one offering great prices and another great treasures of days gone by wasn’t meant to be. Nonetheless, we walked out of both empty handed.
The majority of our spending took place at Kohl’s. They always run sales and it’s definitely the place at which to stock up on bedroom, bathroom and kitchen linens. After quick detour to Meijer, we finally headed to Mark’s new home. It’s a good thing we stopped when we did. We couldn’t have fit one more bag in the car. We stayed long enough to unload, call in a pizza order (Mark has already determined where the best pizza can be found in his neighborhood—guy thing?), and headed to the hotel for the evening. My dogs were seriously barking and I was exhausted.
But we still had a lot to do. Why did I have the feeling that Saturday would be another long day?
But we still had a lot to do. Why did I have the feeling that Saturday would be another long day?
1 comment:
I love Ikea!
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