September 13th – Shop Locally

Shop locally they said! It will be fun they said!

Obviously, my ‘piece of my Mind’ for today is relative to shopping – everyone’s favourite pastime. Except mine. 😟 When I do shop, I definitely prefer to shop locally – and I avoid self-serve cashouts. If I am going to support local stores, I will support the employees who work as cashiers.

This weekend Dan and I went shopping locally for a toaster oven to replace our aging and failing four piece toaster.

Before we headed out I checked online for our best bet so we would not waste the entire day shopping. Specialty shops were rediculously expensive. Hardware stores listed every make and model at every price point – not available in stores and out of stock online. 🙄

We headed to Canadian Tire. They had fifteen display models – thirteen of which were a brand that is so consistently dysfunctional that I refuse to even consider it. The other two models were absurdly overpriced. They had two or three models that we liked and that were reasonably priced. They were packed away in boxes which did not display actual oven sizes. We were able to get a hold of a very helpful clerk who helped Dan open the most promising box to actually see and measure the enclosed unit. We liked it, but the dimensions were so close to our maximum space available that we decided to keep looking.

We went to Walmart and found the perfect oven on their display shelf! Perfect size, perfect price, perfect brand! There were no boxed units to match on the shelves below the display. Once again we were fortunate to acquire the assistance of a very helpful clerk. She spent some time searching their store inventory before advising us that they do not sell that model. 🤦 She checked the other Walmart stores in town for availability. The good news was that the south Walmart sold that exact unit. The bad news was that they were out of stock. 🥺

We went to Superstore. Nothing in their display, nothing on their shelves, no clerks to be found.

We came home. I cleared off the cupboard, scrubbed the counter down with bleach cleanser and Dan rearranged it to make room for our soon to be purchased new toaster oven.

We returned to Canadian Tire and picked up the model that we had initially liked, took it to the counter to pay, and my Canadian Tire card was declined. Seriously? No reason whatsoever why my card would be declined. Dan tried his card and it worked fine. Same account AND I am the actual cardholder. 🤨 When we left the store, Dan went to the Canadian Tire gas station and used my card to fill the Jeep. Now my card worked! 🙃

We came home and Dan set up the new oven. I put a few things away and straightened up the kitchen. Dan got rid of the packaging and I tried out the new oven by making a perfectly browned piece of toast. 😁

After tearing apart half the kitchen, scrubbing the floor, and checking every conceivable in place I could check, I found the oven knob under our paper towel stand. 🤷

So that is it for today. Another successful local shopping trip complete. I am really impressed with how good the service has been at most of the stores we have been to lately. I am almost excited about going shopping for a new microwave. 😧

Take care and have a great day! 💞 I have my catscan tomorrow morning but I will try to put out a new post when I get home. (It could be health and hospital related. 😂)