It’s July in Southern California. It was around 100 degrees outside and according to my new Charger 2 Fitbit, I was another 5,000 steps away from my newly established daily goal of 10,000 steps. I had already finished 35 minutes on the treadmill and the house was clean from efforts to reach the prior day’s goal. While there is always gardening to be done, I’m a wimp when it comes to heat and so I only garden when it is cool, meaning early morning or early evening. So, I did what seemed reasonable: I headed for the mall.
My intention was to simply walk the mall and enjoy the free air conditioning. I didn’t “need” a thing. In fact, I’ve been actively spending time during this month off getting rid of things I no longer need or want. Honestly, I didn’t think I’d be tempted to purchase anything since these days I do most of my shopping online or at TJ Maxx and Home Goods. What I discovered was that walking in the mall for a woman who loves bargain shopping is never free. Mall marketers are a smart group of people who know that women like me are excellent targets. They were able to create needs where none actually existed and to remind of those desires that do. The words “sale” and “clearance” really turn me on and I found myself stepping inside several stores to see if there were any real bargains to be had. And there were.
My walk began in Macys at one end of the mall, conveniently located just off the shady parking structure. As I’m walking through Macys, I recalled my desire for a new pair of black 2″ heeled sandals for when I return to work next month. The ones I found were not only perfect, but they were on sale and at a better price than I could find online. Of course, they would ship the “never in stock” size 11 pair to my home for free. I was really thrilled. As I walked away, my roaming eyes spotted a sign in the fashion jewelry section that is adjacent to the shoes that read: “Final look”, boasting 65-80% off. With my love of jewelry, and nothing but time to kill, I had to take a look. Of course, I found some really cool fashion earrings and a matching Lucky Brand necklace, earrings, and ring that are in colors that would compliment my casual weekend wardrobe.
I finally made it out of Macys and into the mall where I was going to complete my 10,000 steps. Without much thought, I spotted some cute blouses and entered JC Penny. I managed to bypass the blouses, reminding myself that I had too many of those as it was. I was planning to make a circle around the store when I spotted some beautifully “cool” looking boxer pajamas on an end rack. I purchased four pairs of $44 Liz Clayborne boxer pajama sets for only $16.99 each. Truth be told, I only realized that my old summer pajamas were old and inadequate and needed replacement when I saw the fashionable, soft fabric, summertime cool, and just my size boxer sets in JC Penny.
I finally made it across the length of the indoor section of the mall, refusing to go out in the heat of that new outdoor section. As I circled around, I noticed that Charming Charlie was having a clearance sale, too. I entered the store and purchased three earrings for my long red maxi dress (which I had purchased online). One was dressy, one was medium nice, and one was strictly casual. The three together cost less than $15.
I kept walking and was again at Macys on the second level this time. I had such good luck finding my black sandals that I thought I would take a quick look to see if I could find the perfect black jumpsuit that I had been searching for online for several weeks without success. Again, I saw one of those clever clearance signs. This one read “last look” and boasted 75-80% off and more! Naturally, I decided to see what I could find. I was shocked to find no less than three jumpsuits to try on. I was not only thrilled that I found the black jumpsuit of my dreams, but that I only paid $14.16 for it, down from $99.50. I also purchased a nice summer dress for $20.03, down from $69.50. This was a truly created need as the dress would go perfectly with the Lucky Brand jewelry I had purchased downstairs.
On my way to my car, I glanced down at my Fitbit to discover that I had exceeded my daily steps goal by nearly 4,000 steps. Those 8,000 plus steps at the mall cost me $259.03. That was $259.03 more than I intended to spend. But I was happy with my great bargains and at the same time, I learned a great lesson. Mall marketers are smarter than me and so next time it’s this hot and I need steps, I might do better to take my Fitbit to the beach.
Another good one!