Confessions of a Kmart shopper

I must admit that since moving down here I have become a K Mart shopper.
Hello, my name is Sheri...and ... I...shop at Kmart.
It could be more convenience than anything…but I’m just finding it to be a ‘better’ place to save.

Now, let me explain. I’ll admit right up front that Kmart is really a Target that just needs a scrip for Zanex. The interior leaves much to be desired. The floors are old and scuffed. The set up of the store doesn’t make a whole lot of sense either. but I do know where to find things..so that isn’t so much of a problem anymore.

Last summer (after we got here) I decided that I needed to up my wardrobe a bit since I’d be making new friends. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money #1 I have short arms, #2 I’m still holding onto baby fat, #3 my shopping trips needed to be quick since I was usually trying to get it done between naps. I had been over to the Kmart when we first moved here – my parents came down when we moved in and we went there to get odds and ends for our new place. I remembered that they had ladies clothes - that Charlies Angel Lady.

So I ran over to check out what they had. I will admit that part of my interest in going over there was I felt that IF I went over to the Target I would get distracted. I can rarely enter our Target without going up and down that damn Dollar Spot…and you know..I always spend more than a Dollar!! I felt that I could remain focused at the Kmart and walk directly to the clothes and stay there.

And, that is what I did. And you know what??? I found great items for great prices. If I were about 50 pounds lighter I would be looking for the latest in trends – wearing exactly what was hot for the season…but seeing as I’m NOT..i usually try to stick with basic traditional, conservative styles. (I’ve always had a fantasy of throwing away all my clothes and ordering an entire new wardrobe from LL Bean) That is exactly what I found at Kmart. Conservative walking shorts with belt loops and no cuffs. Slash side pockets and slit back pockets. They came in probably four colors. Blue, green, khaki and black. I got three pair at I think $6 bucks each!! I found simple t-shirts both collard and scoop necked for under $8 bucks. COME ON>>>>who in their right mind wouldn’t at least TRY these. I wasn’t sure how they would hold up in the wash…and I knew that I’d have to IRON them (my favorite Tuesday activity) but for that price…I couldn’t resist.
They held up great!! Really really great! Didn’t shrink or have seam compromise as I washed them over and over again!! I felt like I had discovered a secret!

Since then, I’ve been back to pick up flannels for hubby, athletic shorts for the girls, sleepers for Lu and Thomas stuff. All for reasonable prices!

Yesterday, I decided that I was going to get the battery in my watch replaced. The fun pink watch that I got at MOMS Chinese Gift Exchange a couple years ago! THANKS URS!! It is the first time I have needed to replace it and the back doesn’t say what type of battery you need…hubby suggested I go to Target to their watch area. Off I went.
Yeah, when you walk in….it is CLEAN. CLEAN and BRIGHT and their shopping carts aren’t made out of that cold metal that reminds you of the grocery. Red just happens to be one of my favorite colors…so that ain’t bad either. I do know where everything is at Target. NOT That I would arrange it the way it is…but hey, they pay people lots of money to tell us which way to direct traffic. I head right on to the ‘watch/jewelry area. Now of course there is NO ONE standing inside the little circle made of glass counters…I wait for a minute and then decide to go ask for an associate to be paged.
I do…she comes….i ask.
‘I need to get the battery in this watch replaced. can you help me?’
‘ Did you buy the watch here?’
‘ NO’
‘ I can only replace batteries in watches that were purchased here’
‘ ok, do you have the tool that pops the back off of the watch and I’ll open it’
she picks up the tool and shows it to me…looks like a cheese spreader!!
‘I don’t think I can let you do that’
‘why not?’
‘ because of liabilty’
she is hesitant….
‘how about you call a manger and ask them if I can use the tool’
she calls…’hu um, I have a guest (TARGET has Guests) that would like to use the tool to take the back off of her watch’
she hangs up the phone
‘i’m sorry, I can’t because of insurance’
isn’t that EVERYBODIES EXCUSE FOR NOT HELPING YOU???

I’m agitated at this point.
She smiled and said.
‘you can go to walmart’s jewelry department, they don’t have as high of standards as Target’.
Hmmmmmmmmm sounds like something I’d throw out in a sales training class…ha!
Then she tells me,
‘you can go over to automotive and see if they have something’
oh yeah, now she’s being HELPFUL.
But she is right…maybe I’ll find something to open this darn thing.
Want to Call Ursula right now and tell her of my drama!!
I head over to the automotive/tool sections.
Up and down the isles I go looking for something to pop the back of the watch off.
In the hand tool area there is only one screw driver that has the end sticking out of the package. I try like hell to get the back off while trying to look casual…it didn’t work. So I head over to housewears thinking I’ll find a cheese spreader. NO…no cheese spreaders and no knifes with the ends sticking out of the packaging.
I’m thoroughly disgusted now.
I decide to give up on the watch battery and go look at short sleeve tops.
It has gotten warm here and I realized that I don’t have any ‘nice’ tops to wear with my kakis.
There are only T shirts and these tops that look like Maternity tops on anyone over a size 2.

I spot the sales girl again.
She walks over to me and asks me if I had any luck and I tell her ‘no’.
I then look her straight in the eye and say,
‘how about you leave the tool on the counter and walk away?’
she gives me this ‘you ARE kidding right?’ laugh, turns and walks away from me.
I don’t blame her…I would have looked at me funny to.

I walk right out the front door. And I think to myself that I don’t think I’ve ever NOT purchased something while in this store! A First!

To get to Kmart I have to wind my way down a busy street and then cut through the mall and then another busy street. But…I get there just as it is starting to rain.
Oh joy…I’m at Kmart and I’ll be wet and I’ll probably stink because invariably there is an employee standing right by the door smoking! One of the boys in V’s class told her that Kmart is the Hillbilly Target.
Yee Haw!!! I think to myself.

I once again find myself standing at glass cases that form a circle. There of course is no one working the Jewlery Dept and I wave over at the service desk to page someone for me. I hear an overhead page and pretty quickly a young girl walks up. As I’m walking around the counter to the watch area I see a sign taped to a watch band display
‘due to liability we no longer change watch batteries’.
OH GREAT.>>>>>>>Now I’m really going to have to call Ursula!
So when the girl asks me if she can help me..i just out and out ask her for the tool to remove the back of my watch. She giggles and says.’.i don’t know where that is..i’ll have to get ‘so and so’’. It really didn’t take that long and an older lady came into the glass circle…as she was walking up to me she is took out a utility knife from her pocket and reached out for my watch.
I remain quiet as I watch her pop off the back and free the teeny tiny battery.
She holds it up to read the number.
She spins the little display thing that has the sign taped to it.
Neither of us say anything about That.
There were none there that fit my watch. She says we need to go back to electronics. As she comes out of the circle I follow her back to electronics.
I do know where that is because I brought R here to get her i penguin.
She in no time flat finds the correct battery; un wraps it and pops it into my watch.
She puts the back on and there you have it!!
A working watch…I’m so excited….and thanked her…and as she walks away from me I hollard:
“hey, what time is it”

I had a zip in my step now!! I have my spring/summer watch all ready to go…
I walk up to the women’s department just to see what was on sale.
Low and behold….short sleeve tops!!
Cotton button ups – short sleeve and sleeveless
And they are $5 bucks!!!
I picked out a couple in each style!!!
Ooh, I’m so excited…they will be perfect with the walking shorts I got last summer and of course my khakis for church…and then the white sleeveless will look smart with a denim skirt!!

I wander over to vacuum cleaners to see if they have the filter style I need!
Nope damn it…but I doubt Target has them either…it is an odd filter.
I wander up the paper isle and grab a big pack of TP…

I then make my way up to the check out line…there is a girl at the cash register but apparently her light is out but she is looking at me like she will cash me out..
I walk on up…ignoring the spilled pop on the floor that had obviously been there a while!!
Gross.

I know…I know……that wouldn’t happen at Target.

I leave the building…the rain has stopped. and there are no cigarettes smoldering in the ash tray!

SCORE!!!