Long weekend afterthoughts
So, how do you prefer to spend a long weekend?
680News morning show editor, Elizabeth Harrison, her daughter and I went to New York City for a shopping and touring trip. I bought some cool stuff you can’t get here at home and walked so much that I have blisters the size of quarters on my feet, even on some of my toes! My lottery dream of acquiring a Segway could really help me get around right now.
Here at home, I hear a lot of people spent much of the weekend in stores as well, but the province still thinks big department stores and others should not be allowed to open. I think it should be up to each outlet, frankly. If a merchant decides he or she wants to stay closed, that should be their right, too. I walked around Harbourfront Centre on holiday Monday and some places were open and some weren’t. Merchants in and around the Eaton Centre were allowed, because of the “tourism” designation, and they were hopping busy.
As I write this, the province is saying police need to decide whether to charge Sears for opening some of its stores for an invitation only fundraising sale that competitors have said is just a disguise for breaking the shopping law.
New York City - the city that never sleeps - has it right with Times Square, which is clean, safe, and incredibly busy all night long. And where did I see the most young kids hanging out? The M&M’s superstore! It’s three floors of candy and M&M related merchandise and it has some interactive stuff that looked like a lot of fun. But I couldn’t get anywhere near them.
Slews of Canadians were in the Big Apple this weekend. I’m not a cross-border shopper per se. If something’s available here, I will buy it here. But there are some things we can’t get, like certain clothing designers’ wares and some other things. And when we can’t shop at home it really takes the choice out of it for many people.