the rix mix

Labels: New Jersey, postcard, shopping

Utterly wasted trip yesterday in Jersey steam heat to main library. Included encounter with one of the patronizing dimwits some libraries hire to staff checkout counters, a job requiring one-third the training & none of the energy needed to work a McDonald's drive-thru window.  My library card had expired end of June. No expiration date on card. No prior notification. You renew it & keep the same card. I show current photo drivers license. But they wanted a second proof of address. I don't happen to carry around a utility bill with me, although I have plenty of other identity proofs in my wallet. Because I had no valid card, I could not sign on to a library computer & print out or even point to an online bill or my bank page. The library requires money in library account to make print outs, & I have  money credited to the  account.  I left in a really lousy mood, vowing to myself to take  some kind of revenge if opportunity offered. Walked up to a store that advertised cheap sneakers, didn't like the sneakers, Waited for a bus & came home. I took my Senior  bus discount card out (Eligible as SSD recipient or age 60, I keep it in my wallet but tuck it into a shirt pocket when I plan on using it) & saw it had my address printed on it. DAMN! If had been in my wallet I would have seen it. 

Labels: Elizabeth NJ, shopping

Fair afternoon  mid-forties. Walked to Family Dollar for supply of various size ziploc bags. Also where I get cans of Margaret Holmes seasoned green limas,  not stocked at the supermarket with the other brands of generally over-priced "southern" style beans. Family Dollar, & its mirror competitor chain Dollar General are not "dollar" stores. They're "variety" stores, actually heirs to the last generation of  so-called Five & Ten stores, what downtown Woolworth's, Kresge & McCrory's were evolving into. But those chains made horrible corporate decisions. I was particularly sorry to see the last Woolworth's go; there was a classic in downtown Linden NJ up to the end, complete with the lunch counter section & the downstairs with the awful  smelly pet dept. selling hamsters & fish. But even for me it became more of a museum, except that it provided me with a supply of cheap black canvas sneakers that now sell for ridiculous  prices although they are  no longer "hip" fashion. I used to stop by the last McCrory's in downtown Rahway & Keyport NJ just to admire  the   layouts, with the second floor offices overlooking the main retail floors. It' was like being transported back to the 1920's & 30's.

Labels: Elizabeth NJ, shopping

Labels: New Jersey, postcard, shopping

Late afternoon bus to main library. It's the most convenient bus in town for me, frequent,  runs from Kean University through downtown to library where it turns around,  stops a block away, uncrowded,  usually don't wait long for it at either end. Checked out some books, printed out a few docs. Then over to the big Latino-oriented supermarket near the library  for some celery & bananas. It's the only supermarket I know of that sells Campbell's condensed chicken won ton soup. Why anyone around here buys it is a mystery since if you have a craving  you can get a quart of genuine won ton with the rubbery pork filling for under $4 at any of the dozens of Chinese take-outs.  Just about everyone goes through a take out won ton & fried rice phase in college.  Besides stocking produce popular with Hispanics,  big selections of bagged & canned beans, super sweet  drinks, varieties of chorizo,  Latino supermarkets around here are  known for cheap prices on large qualities of meat.  They're  where you find  the rest of the cattle & chicken & pig, the parts us anglos only eat ground up & disguised in hot  dogs, bologna & olive loaf, & probably any meat filling at Taco Bell. Except for being called cheese, I've always thought head cheese one of the more honest-looking conglomerations in the deli display.

Labels: Elizabeth NJ, shopping

The man who gave Daffy's its name, and its fame

Off-price clothing chain Daffy's will be a bit less "daffy" with the passing of the man who gave the chain its name, Irving Shulman. Shulman, who died Friday at age 96, was a merchant clown prince who knew that to sell merchandise you first had to draw a crowd.

After he opened his first Daffy Dan's Bargain Town in Elizabeth in 1961, he combined showmanship with salesmanship to promote his store. He attached a giant U.S. Navy balloon to the roof. Newark Airport complained that it was interfering with flights, but it got shoppers in the door. For his Daffy Dan's Bargain Town store in Elizabeth, Shulman would spend the first part of the week hunting for bargains in New York's garment district, and then sell his finds on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. "He was basically a one-man show," his daughter said in a statement. "On weekends and during school vacations he would bring my brothers and me to work, sharing his love of the business."

Generations of Union County NJ teenage girls mourn. During the Sixties & Seventies, Daffy's original crowded store in downtown Elizabeth (later expanded to a big box on Route One - still there, & a chain of 17 stores) was a mecca for fashion-conscious young women on minuscule clothing budgets. Daffy Dan's Devotees. Sure, the "rich" Lord & Taylor girls from Westfield & Summit sniffed  around Daffy's. But Daffy's was a magnet for the middle & working class girls I knew. These girls (like my first serious girlfriend, eldest of six siblings) believed it was better to have one killer outfit than a closet full of ho-hums. They would go to Daffy's as often as they could afford, on Friday after school or Saturday, with baby-sitting & allowance money, searching for THE dress or blouse. Daffy's even sold prom-worthy dresses.  Daffy's was madness. My girlfriend Karen brought me there once. After 15 minutes of being shoved about by girls wearing perfume that made my nose itch (had to browse quickly & pile up  bargains for the changing rooms) &   asked, "How's this one?" (A rhetorical question, I was required to adore whatever Karen ultimately chose, & usually did, she wore everything well), I told her to meet me at Vogel's Record Store  & fled the daffy place.  Not every trip to Daffy's resulted in a major purchase - it was a hit or miss  selection, sometimes only a belt or flashy designer scarf to prove she'd been there.

Labels: culture, Elizabeth NJ, growing up, obituary, shopping

Sheesh, it's winter out there:  44 degrees & windy.

In a tough economy, old stigmas fall away

PARAMUS, N.J. – The Goodwill store in this middle-class New York suburb is buzzing on a recent weekend afternoon. A steady flow of shoppers comb through racks filled with second-hand clothes, shoes, blankets and dishes.

A few years ago, opening a Goodwill store here wouldn't have made sense. Paramus is one of the biggest ZIP codes in the country for retail sales. Shoppers have their pick of hundreds of respected names like Macy's and Lord &Taylor along this busy highway strip.

But in the wake of the Great Recession, the stigma attached to certain consumer behavior has fallen away. What some people once thought of as lowbrow, they now accept - even consider a frugal badge of honor.

The Great Recession is over. Now Wall Street Journal calls it an "underperforming recovery."

There 's been a large Goodwill store located on busy Route 18 in South River NJ for years.  A former girlfriend used to shop there, so did I  when I went with her, & I never noticed the customers generally looked "downscale."  It was a regular stop for many mall-hoppers & bargain-hunters.

Labels: New Jersey, shopping

ShopRite veggie section is o.k., but the bananas are always very green, & they still look like the person who unpacks them bounces each bag off the wall before putting it in the display bin, every bag has bruised bananas. & speaking of bananas, I pay small attention to the rantings of Fox news personalities, but this is priceless:



A few days ago, sports radio station WFAN ran a promo for Fox TV business channel that ultra-right nutcase rocker Ted Nugent would be a guest that evening - I think he  lives in a luxury cave in Michigan & eats raw meat  - & among other topics Ted would be offering his opinions on the Gulf oil catastrophe. I doubt Ted took a beating on BP stock; he probably has his fortune invested in gold bullion & diamonds  he keeps in a secret vault somewhere, the same place he ages his moose steaks.

Labels: in the news, media madness, shopping, TV, video

The next time I need to take a taxi to a location one block past the city line, I'll take it to a location one block inside the city line & walk the two blocks, I think it'll save at least five bucks. Ridiculous. But it saved me a trip to Newark. Just glad I had all phone & fax numbers the walk-in test lab required or it would've been for nothing.

All in all, I was out & about longer than if I'd gone to Newark, & spent more money. I walked all the way home by increments. First to Home Depot to price snap-together plastic shelving & buy a basic extension cord. Then on to Dollar General store where I bought a cheap pair of jeans that looked well-made of a very soft denim, purchase inspired by the name brand but stiff denim cloth jeans I was wearing. Have to use softener in the rinse next time. Skipped the library. Dropped into 7-11 for a 79 cent bag of my fav onion rings. The another block to Pathmark, which reminded me why I never patronize that store anymore for weekly food shopping. Cashiers too few & too slow. Mine didn't even notice I'd requested cash back. Unusual number of cans on shelves dented or with yucky leaked stuff on them. The store hasn't improved much since A&P bought the chain. But the six pack nutrition drink I use as the basic smoothie ingredient was on sale. At that point I saw no reason not to walk the rest of the way, enjoying fine weather that could have been a day in early May or a morning at the Jersey shore before the heat cranks up.
***

Labels: Elizabeth NJ, shopping

The ShopRite cashier used 8 plastic bags (4 double-bags) for what I could pack into the single heavy duty canvas bag I forget to bring.

Labels: shopping

Went to the new Dollar General store today over in Elmora. It's a slightly more suburbanish version of the Family Dollar chain. Both remind of what now-defunct 5 & 10 chains evolved into by the '70s & '80s when they moved from Main Street to the strip mall. The charmless Woolco without the lunch counter & bins of doo dads. Dollar General has more "name" brands. It was bright, with roomy aisles, easy to browse but dull. Prices were fair, few sale items. Around here, the store ought to stock less human food, more dog & cat supplies & gardening stuff. I bought Hanes underwear, house brand Tylenol PM, & a box of envelopes.
***
Connecticut 53, Stanford 47
Close game? Depends how you look at it. For a UConn game, very close. UConn trailed 20-12 at the half. They were getting creamed. Sort of. Stanford wasn't quite as bad. But the second half was a completely different game. Huskies scored 41 points, 17 of the first 19.

Had Jayne Appel not been playing on a bum ankle, Stanford might have hung on. There's hope for next season, Big East women.

Labels: Elizabeth NJ, shopping, sports

From Hank Kalet's blog:

Annie decided she wanted a real Coach bag for her birthday, which was last month. At 47, after owning a couple of knock-offs, she decided it was time to splurge. Personally, I just don't get it, but it was her birthday and so here we are at the outlet in Jackson where the line to get in the store reminded me of the line for a general admission concert.

The experience is strange, at a time when job losses have mounted, for so many people to be swept up by the desire for what essentially is just conspicuous consumption run amok.

Annie has demonstrated unusual, & unnecessary, self-restraint. Coach isn't some in today - out tomorrow brand or look. I lived with a woman for 17 years who was never without one Coach bag. We were always poor, & when her bag wore out she saved up for another, sometimes soliciting donations from her family in lieu of a birthday gift (then she usually received them in addition to a gift). It isn't conspicuous to want one quality, conservative, well-made, all-purpose accessory that won't go out of fashion overnight (assuming they're still well-made). Who can blame Annie for getting tired of knock-offs? The Kalets are doing alright & she's looking for a deal at the outlet store.

I've carried a small, black Eagle Creek backpack for ages. Eagle Creek is a mid-priced line of packs & travel bags, heavy canvas, reliable zippers, has a tag sewn outside, & when I bought it (at a discount) was a preferred, understated brand for artists, writers, & students who didn't want to invest in a trendy-looking book bag every semester. Wasn't quite the Coach of book bags, but you couldn't find Eagle Creek in Walmart; you had go to a luggage, sporting goods, or art supply store. I'm not embarrassed to plop it down on the check out desk in the library.

(Hank backs off a bit. What annoyed me wasn't his point about conspicious consumption, but that he wrote & messaged it while his wife was shopping. So I popped off about it right away because I had the means, which made me no different than Hank).

Labels: culture, home furnishings, shopping

Labels: New Jersey, postcard, shopping

Enjoyed a browse through Radio Shack although they didn't have what I wanted. Then, just to be perverse, I walked across the street to the most frightening store in the world, Bargainman. I knew this two level emporium of slave labor clothes, crap plastic battery toys, ugly home furnishings, & astonishing kitsch dust collectors would be a madhouse. It was. Nothing in Bargainman is a bargain - because everything is worth what you pay for it or less. I buy six-packs of black cotton socks there. I regret not recording the cacophony of 500 plastic battery demonstration toys from China any one of which, should you be foolish enough to buy it for a child, will be broken at this time tomorrow.

Then I walked up the block to Shoppers World, an urban dept. store chain that picks up where Bargainman leaves off. Some of the same clothing & kitsch, but also name brands. The Fruit of the Loom underwear is not seconds. I found exactly what I wanted; an inexpensive, small, well-rated Proctor Silex electric mill that, hopefully, won't grind nuts & pumpkin seeds into butter. Merry Christmas to me & my smoothies. Why is Shoppers World open on Christmas Day from 9 to 5?
***
N.J. father David Goldman and son fly home from Brazil

I feel for Sean Goldman. He doesn't want to return to the United States. He hardly knows his dad & he's coping with the death of his mom. It's a Solomonic emotional predicament. But the law is clear enough. His mother abducted him to Brazil. His natural father appealed to international law in gaining custody. Nothing has come to light about David Goldman that would make him appear an unfit parent. This should have been resolved quickly, after he was taken to Brazil. The only reason Sean didn't receive earlier press attention was because Sean stayed in a middle class lifestyle in an open, westernized nation. Had he been taken to China, or Uganda, or Saudi Arabia, he would've been a Nancy Grace cause célèbre all along. Rep. Chris Smith assured his reelection with this, not that he was in danger of losing; he also happens to be an expert on this kind of matter. But there's talk that NJ Sen. Frank Lautenburg finally got pissed off & brought the hammer down on Brazil just by shuffling some of the inbox appropriations committee paperwork on his desk.

Labels: Elizabeth NJ, holidays, in the news, New Jersey politics, shopping

Last evening, my friend Gina, who lives a couple of blocks away, picked me up & we drove to the library & supermarket, five minutes away by car. Gina's offered to do this for years for my convenience, & we rarely get to socialize (we'd also enjoy hanging out & watching TV on a weeknight) & I never took her up on it. She's heard me gripe about not being able to check out enough books & carry enough food at one time. The whole errand trip took about 90 minutes door-to-door, & I can knock 30 off that by choosing & reserving books ahead of time, & having a shopping list for Shoprite rather than Pathmark. Shoprite has a much faster checkout & better deli counter. My list wasn't much longer than when I walk, but it had heavy stuff & bulky stuff. I also checked out five books. I may not read them all. Gina got some essentials & I'm sure paid less than she does at the pricier supermarket near her business. Plus something tasty her other store doesn't even carry. It'll really be worth her while if her brand of cat food is on sale.

When we carried the stuff up here, I showed her the other room, where the ceiling had to be repaired, disorganized storage now but can be turned into useful space with the addition of the same heavy duty snap-together plastic shelving she uses in her basement. If I just separate the boxes of books from everything else in there, it'll fall into place. For all my clutter, I once had a simple filing system that allowed me to locate any document & paperwork. The individual files were messy, but I knew a desired document was in a specific labeled file & all I needed to do was dump it out dig a bit.

With a little more effort I could usually locate a book. Mainly I want access to my art books, small collection of rare poetry & Jerseyana, & books by friends. I've carted boxes of fine books to poetry readings to find them good homes. Just take 'em. I 'm not a true bibliophile, never was. When you read & have lots of interests, you find books you want at cheap prices. Before the Internet, I valued reference books of all sorts. But it's been a long time since I've been tempted into Bag Day at a large library book sale.

Labels: Elizabeth NJ, home furnishings, Mahalo, shopping

Last fall, Campbell Soup started an ad campaign that said its Select Harvest soups were “Made with TLC” while labeling Progresso soups, from its rival General Mills, “Made with MSG.” Progresso responded with its own campaign, and then both companies complained to the advertising review division, which recommended withdrawal of some ads from both sides.

The damage was already done. Unit sales in the General Mills category that includes Progresso (called, unappetizingly, ready-to-serve wet soups) rose in the fourth quarter of 2008, compared with the same quarter a year earlier, said Information Resources, a research firm in Chicago.

But since then, unit sales of wet soups at both companies have declined every quarter. A UBS analyst, David Palmer, attributed the drop largely to the advertising battle.

Best Soup Ever? Suits Over Ads Demand Proof. New York Times

Like the campaign for governor in Jersey this year - more advertising, fewer voters. Progresso now says no MSG on cans, & introduced "high fiber" minestrone, which just means they put more beans in it & it's less watery. The "TLC" in Harvest soups went into a label redesign. (Guys still prefer Campbell's Chunky varieties, advertised during NFL games.)

Article doesn't mention that these soups are about $3 a can, & canned soup eaters do like to stock up, so just maybe the economy hurt business in 2009 & more consumers are dumping frozen veggies & shaking parmesan cheese into house brand condensed.

My two supermarkets are in working class neighborhoods, 1/4 mile apart on the same street. Both are the kinds of stores where many shoppers have the weekly flyer spread out on the cart's baby holder, & a frequently heard phrase is a budget-conscious wife saying to husband, "Not that one, get the one on sale." Pathmark sells a lot of $3 soup when it's for sale under $2.

Labels: shopping

I am so glad to be home. I am cold & hungry. The stars misaligned for a simple plan. I walked four books to library. Heavy. I am wearing a Foley catheter - I'll write on the pros & cons of that later this week, but this one chaffs a bit & I don't enjoy the walking for the heck of it so much. & I'm underweight & I need to keep more food around - any food, junk food. I liked having several books around to choose from as my next read. So I decided to take out four books, go to the supermarket, which had good sales, get some extra snack & canned stuff plus 1/2 gallons of juice & milk, indulge myself with a cab home. Pathmark bakery has crullers half the price of Dunkin' Donuts & just as tasty, I nibble through one over the course of day, dipping it in cold milk.

In the checkout, I got caught behind a young couple who presented the cashier with a stack of coupons plus two six month old rain checks from another Pathmark that were ultimately determined invalid. When I was done, I called the only cab company on my cell list & was told it would be 1/2 an hour. Not the usual ten minutes. This was for a 5 minute ride at most. I had to wait. But I figured I would sit on the bench outside, start reading one of the books, & it would go quick enough.

An idling armored truck was parked in front of the bench pumping exhaust. It was there for a long time.

The cashier who'd rung up my order went home. The air became chilly.

The other person waiting for a cab, an old lady with a cane & enormous amount of groceries filling two shopping baskets was picked up by another company.

A car from the Latino Cab arrived for someone, the driver gave me his card. I said I'd try him next time.

I called Yellow Cab again. The dispatcher didn't remember taking my call. I said it had to be Yellow it's the only taxi number on my phone. He said, "Sorry, I'll send a Red Cab right now."

A few minutes later a red Latino Cab showed up. Nice driver, they usually are. He helped me load my groceries. "Are you Yellow Cab?" I asked.

"Same company, " he said, "but we're Latino, we're red."

"I don't care where my drivers come from, " I said. But with the huge Hispanic population of Elizabeth, there has to be a cab company that guarantees Spanish speaking dispatchers & drivers. (Now I see in the phone book they have identical ad size & copy, but in English & Spanish).

Five minutes later I was home. Too much money for the distance, I think. Definitely too much for the wait.

Labels: Elizabeth NJ, shopping

Wanted to walk to CVS for a few items, three very long blocks, so took it slowly. They wouldn't refill my Ambien, & i didn't get straight whether or not they would call the doctor for approval. I can't even get through to the guy on the phone, & I have to see him soon anyway. But they did print out some necessary records I have to submit, & I had gotten that deadline extended earlier. Decided to walk on to Pathmark, pushed on by a combination of essentials & cravings. As I left the store, I knew I was exercising more than I ought to have permitted myself today. Chatted with my sister on the phone (A few of you will be surprised & glad to hear that). She has laryngitis & expects to recover enough by Sunday to hit a high note in choir. As a Reform Church protestant, there is no Saint to whom she can appeal - it's Saint Cecilia, I keep a portrait of her on the wall here, playing harmonium as an angel holds the music. I take a more ecumenical view of early saints.

I must get to the library.

Labels: Elizabeth NJ, music, religion, shopping

Wasn't feeling well, didn't need library books (always incentive), but I ran out of coffee, bananas, & peanut butter today so there was no getting around a walk to supermarket. The guy front of me had bought a lot of family type groceries but the scanner had not run up the two cans of coffee at the half-price sale he insisted was on the shelf tag. The cashier, one of the store's veteran battle-axes, was giving him a real hard time. I happened to know he was correct. It was an odd Entenmann's brand, had been on sale for weeks as a closeout, probably decent, I'd considered trying it when it first went on sale except it's a light roast & I'm committed to dark roast. I'd just been in the coffee aisle & noticed it was still there. He did the right thing. He had the coffee taken off the bill, paid for the rest of the groceries, left his shopping cart filled up with bags nearby, & as I was finishing paying for my stuff he returned & handed the sale shelf tag to the cashier. Glory be, the scanner is wrong! A wrench in the gears. Was it worth it? Yeah, they had to give him the price, he saved himself six bucks & went home without the annoyed feeling you get when you surrender the high ground on some minor matter only because it's too much of a hassle to defend it.

Labels: Elizabeth NJ, shopping

Contact Us form concerning my recent shopping experience.

At this ShopRite, a police officer at the door orders me to check my small knapsack. Since I walk everywhere, I always have my knapsack. I would not mind this, as many stores nowadays require bag checking. But here is the process for me:

I hand the knapsack to the person at customer service. I do not receive a bag check receipt. My knapsack usually holds a digital camera & often a library book.

When I've purchased my food items, I leave them unattended inside by the front window, retrieve my knapsack - sometimes from a different person who assumes it is my bag.

I retrieve unattended food, carry it & knapsack outside, place both on dirty sidewalk, pack the food into the knapsack, & throw the plastic bags away - in view of the police officer if he or she is outside.

This doesn't happen at Pathmark, where I often pack the food directly into my knapsack at the self-bag checkout, or do so quickly inside the store.

So you can understand why I rarely shop at ShopRite anymore. Tonight I was there after being in Home Depot, where I was not asked to check my knapsack.

Solution: At least post sign at door that all bags must be checked, & issue bag receipts.

Sincerely,

Labels: Elizabeth NJ, shopping