Meredith and I spent an afternoon walking about the stores in downtown
historic Annapolis the week before Christmas.
The stores were filled with Christmas items, the street filled with people. It
reminded me of spending some time in England and shopping in York, in the
Shambles, just after Christmas nine or so years ago.
The atmosphere was so much the same.
Shopping in the cold-going from shop to shop- looking into windows and entering
into the hustle and happy bustle of capitalism on a local level.
This is why I quit shopping at malls.
If I’m going to be part of a crowd I want an authentic mercantile experience.
I don’t like to shop.
That’s why I make my own gifts.
But – IF- I lived where one could go to a tea shop and a jumper shop and a
Second hand Book Shop and a Yarn store- going in and out and breathing fresh, salty,
cold air- then I would probably go shopping.
Because it is invigorating and fun.
Come to think of it- that’s what shopping in Chincoteague is like, as well!
It certainly does look like an English shopping strip! Soo..how many books and balls of wool did you buy? 🙂 Hope the new year is going well!
I think you could do that in Medina as well.
I’m with you Heidi. Mall shopping frustrates me and I don’t enjoy it at all. An airless day spent going from fluorescent light to fluorescent light is horrid.
I like the look of these little shops though 🙂
LOL! Celia- you caught me out!
I did buy 5 huge skeins of hand dyed wool and a large shopping bag of books – not to mention specialty teas and tea accessories!
Lilly-
You are right. The streets are so broad though that it is a bit of a hassle getting from one side to the other. I like to shop in Medina in warm weather! 🙂
Brydie-
Little shops aren’t always as economical or at convenient – but they have a mystery and magic all their own.
I found the malls of Edmonton fascinating in a horrible sort of way when I was there. No windows on the street, airless and warm, containing skating rinks and cinemas, I fantasized about becoming a Rip Van Winkle sort of character, go in one day and come out 7 years later… Malls make my feet hurt with the perfect flatness of the floors. Give me a market any day and cobbled streets and noise and a little British grime and damp.
Absolutely, Joanna.
I spent a lot of time in malls when I was younger. Those were acts of desperation – there were small children to placate and keep busy and malls are free and open and have lots of distraction for little ones.
I haven’t set foot in a mall for many years and have no intention to do so in the future.
And I am so in love with little shops and markets in the open air.
It looks quaint and there are a lot of people. How many of the little shops did you go into? I love the pictures. Would you like to go to the mall with me? We could just walk and not be bothered by the cold, wind and snow. When the weather is nice again we’ll go back outside.
nope. Sorry – I HATE the mall experience.
I. hate .the. mall. .Period.