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As I chopped celery, diced onions and otherwise transformed clumps of bread into stuffing for a 20-pound turkey early Thanksgiving morning, I was entertained by the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade flashing on a large screen across the room.
Just like those Thanksgivings when I was a child and it was my mother who spent her holiday mornings creating the stuffing while watching the parade flicker on a smaller kitchen television, the floats, giant balloons, marching bands and pop singers crawled to a stop on the big green carpet in front of the giant New York City retailer that sponsors the traditional parade.
This year giant, sparkling cursive letters spelling out "BELIEVE" adorned the front of Macy's store in downtown Manhattan.
Macy's, of course, has been doing this for decades. I wonder if the marketing genius who thought up the idea back then could have ever imagined the value of the media exposure and amazing PR the store would be receiving with it a scant 90 years later.
Tens of thousands of parade goers and New York City visitors certainly would be visiting the enormous store to get started on their holiday shopping list.
Who says shopping in bricks-and-mortar stores is dead?
We hear so much these days about online shopping, but I believe there is an excellent reason why local stores -- not just the giant retailers in downtown Manhattan -- have been crowded since the start of the holiday shopping season.
Have you ever ordered something online only to discover, once it arrived, that it wasn't at all what you expected? Or that it's the wrong color or it doesn't fit because you couldn't try it on.
I helped my mother-in-law with the online purchase of a shower curtain recently. It arrived the standard five-to-seven days later, with a flaw in the fabric. Now, she may be 79 years old, but I know her eagle eye still would never have missed that flaw had she examined it in the store.
So, we returned it.
That brought on the next challenge. Have you ever had the pleasure of returning a product you purchased online? Several days later, a replacement shower curtain arrived. This one is too short.
Exasperated, she hung the curtain on the bathroom shower, seemingly more content to deal with the water seeping out from under the short curtain than with the struggle of making another online return.
A spokesman for Niles-based Cafaro Company, which owns Eastwood Mall and dozens of other retail centers around the country, has pointed out that with online shopping, there is no opportunity to feel the fabric, really examine the color or smell a cologne's aroma online. And I'll just add that you also cannot examine the fabric for flaws.
Likewise, online shopping also does not come with the assistance of a helpful sales clerk.
And, of course, you can't visit, be entertained and socialize while shopping alone on your couch with your laptop or smartphone.
I say take the time to get into the holiday spirit and head out to your hometown stores. In particular, visit the ones that are locally owned. Remember, it's those stores that support our local economy by providing thousands of jobs and whose owners and managers usually are the first to step up to make community contributions when asked. Good luck calling on an online retailer for such a donation!
No, I think it's unlikely, that we'll find tumbleweeds blowing through Main Street anytime soon. Bricks and mortar stores will survive. And they'll especially thrive if we all remember that when we get down to serious shopping business this holiday and every day.
blinert@tribtoday.com