Linda says: Shop 'til you drop

The last two paragraphs say it all. Many people in this country, especially, have way too much of everything. It's become an addiction.

Linda. So nice to hear your comments about moving to my old home town of Columbus. I too live in Arizona now, but I do not see the same lack of Academic Standards that you describe early on in your Blog. We too live in Gilbert AZ (Gilbert Road and Elliot Road)and our children never seem to be any less developed academicaly than their cousins who live in Columbus.

Enjoy your stay in Columbus and we look forward to following your Blog input from Arizona.

Wake up Columbus! "Find it in Columbus" is so far from the truth. I am not saying that you have to go on a massive shopping spree to kill time – get a hobby!

What frustrates me is that the leaders of the community have decided to hide the fact that Columbus is lacking dearly in shopping options and hide behind the “Find it in Columbus” slogan. Maybe a study needs to be done on the number of dollars that leave Columbus every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. If you drive to Norfolk, Omaha, or Lincoln you are pretty much guaranteed to see others that you know heading the same direction while they and you are beating the path to better shopping options or you meet them on their way back to town. I am quite certain that the businesses and community leaders in those towns are just thrilled to see us parking at their malls, etc.

Experiences I have had in the past:
- School uniforms for your child – in a size other than 7-16 you have to order via catalog or leave town. If you do not shop during certain times of the year, you are out of luck. We had to hop in the vehicle and burn gas to Norfolk.
- You need a white sweater for your toddler to go with their Easter dress – the store that carried them did not have the size we needed and no other store carried them. I had to buy a size larger and roll the sleeves.
- A woman needs a dress for a special event. We have what, five choices and those five stores do not have much of a selection.
- Plus-size women have two stores where they can buy cloths. Really, do we want all these women wearing the SAME outfit?
- Men’s dress pants. Again, how many stores are there to choose from?
- Big and tall men? Hit the road!
- Book stores? None.
- Craft stores? Very limited. (If you get a hobby as I mentioned earlier, you are going to have to leave town to get supplies to do that hobby.)

I do not want “collectible” stuff packing my house, I want things that I need for day-to-day life. I am not buying to fill an emotional need; I want to buy because I need cloths for our bodies, books for education and souls.

Wake up people! Yes, we have small town people heading to Columbus but only Columbus can handle their shopping list. They go to Norfolk, Lincoln, and Omaha too.

We have several empty stores either currently available or coming available shortly, I hope that our city leaders use those opportunities to the communities best advantage.

Pure ignorance Michelle. Our education standards are much higher than AZ.

Find it in Columbus?

I am still searching!

I looked for jeans - either out of my size or so expensive I couldn't afford them.

I looked for kids shoes. Out of their size. Ordered online

I looked for items on sale as seen on TV. Not in local branch of store - ordered on-line.

Blackout fabric to line curtains - don't even try to find here in town. Ordered on line.

I looked for towels - Only one place in town for that...Right color not available - gave up and bought gift certificate.

I looked for children's swimsuits - ones available did not fit or were too brief. Went out of town.


I would say 80-90% of our non-grocery shopping is spent out of town.

Find it in Columbus...NOT!

to searching...where are you looking for jeans..are you kidding, columbus doesn't have too expensive of jeans if you can waste gas money going out of town for misc items then you can afford the highest priced jeans ($80?) that columbus has to offer...personally, thats not that expensive for a good quality nice pair of jeans that are comfortable, but i guess i am just picky that way....

I did however agree w/ the rest of your post...It KILLS me that Pennys move to a "bigger and better store" but don't carry anything for homes and DON'T get me started on the laughable shoe selection in this town!!

Hi Linda-

I am looking forward to your blog. I am in Florida but will be moving somewhere in the midwest next April I want a change.

I was considering Des Moines but as I continure to look at Columbus, it looks more and more like a nicer "The Villages" which is close to Orlando, Florida. At one time, The Villages was my first choice even if it is in Florida.

Of course, the winters will be a bit more brutal. If it gets to be too much, I will go hang out in the Sky Walk in Des Moines until it warms up. LOL

Linda--I have enjoyed reading your blogs and look forward to ones in the future.

More Selection Please--Very nice post. I think anybody from Columbus has been in those types of situations more than once.

As for myself...As a size 18/20, I am borderline womens/plus size. I want to commend Maurices for FINALLY bringing in plus sizes to accomodate the growing population of bigger size teenagers/women. It is great having clothing that fits us AND the current styles. Yes, there are going to be those that argue back that people need to lose weight and stop complaining...but the truth is, that there will always be people overweight and besides Maurices, Schweisers and Wal-mart...plus size Males and Females have very few options...ESPECIALLY big and tall men!

How about kid photography studios? Some people enjoy going to the area photographers and are financially able to do so several times a year...however, there are many others who drive out of town to have options like Portrait Innovations, The Picture People, Sears/Target/JcPenny's Photo studios, etc... These places offer less expensive pictures, specializing in children, and many of them you get the pictures back the same day (which means only 1 drive!). Yes, Wal-Mart has GREAT inexpensive picture packages, but it is the same backgrounds they have always had and it takes 3 weeks to get them back.

I was disappointed when Columbus first began building the strip mall because I thought "if you are going to do this...do it right. Build a Mall so that we are not facing the same issue 5-10 yrs done the road of people wanting/needing more options." Then there was an artical stating all of the planned businesses for the strip mall and so I thought "OK, I will give this a chance." I believe that all of those stores backed out and basically what we have is all our downtown businesses just relocating to the new stores, leaving behind empty buildings and still no new options for Columbus shoppers.

Every time we come back, there is excitement when I see new construction of buildings going up...only to find out "a new Walgreens"..."a new Menards"..."a new Hy-vee"..."a new Wal-Mart"..."Another JcPenny's"..."Another Schweisers", etc... is what's being built.

Finally, the example of a hobby store is another great example. Go to a bridal fair and question the brides-to-be and I bet that 90% of all who are doing their own flowers for their wedding, have to plan a trip out of town to hit up a Hobby Lobby.

Come on Columbus!! Even though a lot of money has been spent to improve shopping and the business have expanded and benefitted those East of town...people are still going to complain about wanting more options, because right now all they are getting is the same crap they had, relocating to the new stores.

I would love to see a hobby lobby hear in columbus, it does get quite old haven to run to norfolk or lincoln. Especially if they end up not having what ya went for.

Also to go with what a lot of others say, something other then wal-mart would be great, shopko, target something???????

heck look at norfolk they arent a whole lot bigger in population and they got so much more then columbus does, what is it that columbus isnt doing right??

I think even a gordmans here would be a great store, lots of cloths,ect. all at good prices!!!!

Wake up Columbus indeed! There will never be any shops brought into the area that might compete with WALMART! Unless you've lived in the area the past 20 years, people in Columbus don't realize what Walmart has done to that town. I clearly remember my father losing his job at the kmart he worked at for 25 plus years! Walmart ran kmart out of town and kept Target and Shopko far away! I say boycott Walmart and get some decent stores in Columbus!

No offense Former Columbus Res, but an 18/20 isn't "borderline" plus size. It is definitely in that category, and one thing Columbus does have is an ample selection of places to get active and exercise. Some of us who are fit find it even more difficult to find out size in places like Maurices, and out of town spots like Old Navy, Gap, etc, because most of what's there caters to the "standard" American woman sizes... which are, let's face it, way too large for all intensive purposes.

I think for the size of Columbus, population-wise, and the fact that the demographics of this town seem to only support certain things well enough (c'mon, any "mall" that could actually be a feasible build in C-bus would be even "crappier" as the stores you mention, and we all know it) we're doing just fine. Anyone who really needs a wardrobe/home decor, etc. overhaul IS going to go out of town to Omaha/Lincoln anyway.

Babs,

Maybe you should shop in the children's section. Then they can teach you a lesson on KINDNESS and NOT JUDGING OTHERS!!!

Gee Babs, how incredibly shallow of you. I have struggled with my weight ever since I had my first child who by the way was my smallest at 8'12 1/2 oz. & 22 in. long. I weighted 120 before I got pregnant and my metabolizism has not been the same since. Some people just aren't as fortunate to be as trim as you. I walk or ride my bike two miles a day but I still have problems with my weight and I don't think I eat a whole lot either. I guess if I had time to do nothing but go to the gym I would be just like you.

Interesting comments...I think the lack of more bookstores...although off the top of my head I'm not sure there are any...is a problem. A larger scale bookstore would be great. It would have to compete with uninspired children getting up off the couch playing video games though.

I wasn't being judgmental, only pointing out an issue that seemingly plagues America, especially the Midwest. I was correcting a statement asserting an 18/20 is borderline plus size. If that is the truth, then no wonder we have such an obesity problem in this country. Then to use the fact that this size is hard to come by to bolster an argument that we need more shopping options? It's like saying that we need more cigarette vendors or more bars. I was simply suggesting possibly using your shopping problems as motivation to get fit and fit into a standard size. No, not everyone will, but when someone describes a size 18/20 (this is considered obese depending on height/build) as a borderling to plus size, we have some bigger problems here than wher to go buy new jeans.

To GW...

I really needed several pairs of jeans and I bought 5 pair for under $100...out of town. If I spent $80 per pair for five pair of jeans...which is not affordable to the majority of Columbus, I would have spent over $400. The $300 I saved more than justified the cost of the trip. Not to mention the many other items we purchased while we were there.

I suppose we just have different priorities. My priorities do not allow me to pay $400 for the jeans I need, but if you need fancier items for your wardrobe, then by all means, buy them locally.