Shopping With Purpose

Since my DH is taking me to the USMC Ball this weekend, and since I am currently living out of a suitcase and didn't predict the need for evening wear, I had a little shopping to do over the past week.

I found a dress (more than I wanted to pay) and needed some foundation garments and shoes to complete the ensemble. I recently made contact with a gal whose been here for over a year and loves to shop. She insisted that she knew all the best stores for good prices. One of the Russian gals and I jumped into her tiny car and away we zipped.

First, she is such a fearless driver in Tunis traffic, I had to ask her, "how long did it take you to get used to driving in Tunis." "About 45 minutes" she responded. So. Fearless.

We took an exit off the main road that I'd seen but never followed and we drove and drove and DROVE down that road. I really thought we were going to run out of Tunis before we got anywhere. She pointed at a few shops, one she said was like a "local Pier 1" and another was her favorite 'housewares store'. I made a note of the storefronts for later.

Then we turned into the parking lot of the "Shoe Centre" which is not to be confused with "Shoeland". The Russian gal told me it was further down the road and we'd only go there if I didn't find what I needed in this store.

The Shoe Centre was set up like any discount shoe chain. Display models on top, and boxes and boxes of the shoes in all sizes and colors in shelves down below. We walked in on the street level to probably 10,000 square feet of boots and Fall styles. My eyes glazed over. I so do not need boots in this weather! My friend absently waved at a large staircase and said "all the dressy stuff is upstairs". All I could think at that point was, "there's more?"

The downstairs portion of this store is about four times the size of a Famous Footwear or DSW. The upstairs was twice the lower deck's size. Really. But not all shoes.

I didn't look too closely, just schlepped upstairs looking for shiny, strappy evening sandals to go with my very glamorous ball gown. They had a section the size of a normal shoe store just for evening shoes. And the prices were GREAT! But all the shoes looked a little tired and dusty. Just slightly out of date.

One of the gals wandered up behind me and noticed as I picked through. She said, "It's all last year's stuff". My response was, "Possibly the year before that!" It doesn't really matter to me. 1) Evening sandals are pretty much the same year to year; and 2) It's going under a long dress. I'll wear flip flops with no shame. No one is going to see them anyway. The only reason I fret about color matching is that it bothers ME. I'm not dressing to please anyone else. I want my husband's eyes to gleam, but that's about it for my ability to be shamed into uncomfortable fashion.

I found shoes that fit, were the right color and I could wear bare legged (see #2 above). Then I continued to pick through until I found a second pair that were 1/3 less than the first and still fit all my criteria. Score one for me! I saved enough money to make the matching purse seem realistic. I picked out one big enough to fit my digital camera... So, I'll have pictures of the Ball in a later post.

Once my quest was fulfilled, I really looked around this much larger upper deck, only to be surprised by the additional products. Shoe Centre includes a full section of kitchen appliances. I'm not kidding. I guess when you're picking through last year's shoe fashions, you never know when a toaster will also catch your eye. It's some kind of marketing, I'm not sure what kind. The picture is a little fuzzy, but maybe you can make out the light fixtures too.

There is absolutely nothing about this store that would indicate (in any way) that there is 'other than shoes' anywhere in the building. And yet, about 1/5 of the upstairs space, which I remind you was huge (like K-Mart sized) was devoted to items not even advertised in the signage below. Kind of like a little treasure hunt... I wanted shoes and a purse... but Look: Chandeliers! Shiny.

I'm going to have to drag DH back to check out the men's section (that I didn't even bother to look through). The prices were great--and hey shoes! Plus, you never know when a toaster will come in handy.

--Sandee Wagner