Erieversible

How times change.  Around 2001 (maybe 2002), while we were visiting Erie, a certain Mr. Spongebob Squarepants visited Millcreek Mall.  We were strolling around the mall with our then 3-year old (maybe 4-year old) son.  When he saw this ‘yellow thing’ he asked who the “big cheese man” was.  That was the extent of our exposure and knowledge as a family about Spongebob.

Oh come on…from a distance, not having any awareness of the character, he could look like a big yellow Swiss cheese.  And that’s just as likely as a sponge!

Fast forward to 2008 and I understand Spongebob is visiting Millcreek Mall again, in early December.  At least, so I am reliably informed by our 5-year old daughter who already has plans for the occasion.  In the years in-between our family has been invaded by this yellow peril.  Why?  I don’t know.  Anyone in their right mind can see that the character is pathetic.  Patrick should have the lead role

Over the last few days there appears to have been quite a sale battle building in Millcreek Mall - and thereabouts.  New goods are appearing and are immediately on sale, typically around 50% off.  I presume that much of this seasonal stock was ordered quite a number of months ago, before the economic climate got anywhere near as bad as it is now.  Are we seeing a little bit of panic?  Are shops looking to simply shift the stock at any cost in order to generate sales and preserve cash-flow?  I’d bet that back when all these goods were being ordered for Winter / Christmas, if the store buyers had foreseen the economic situation they’d have (a) bought less and (b) bought in more value lines.

In general the retail sales pattern in the US is totally different to that in the UK, so this may be normal October retail activity.  Maybe this is just how America works?

On a side note, I bought an item from a shop in the mall this lunchtime - around 12:30 - and the clerk happened to mention that my sale was the second one of the day.  The first sale was for $5.  So that’s a full $5 takings in two and a half hours of trading.  My sale wasn’t much more.  Things are getting tough.

The weather is getting cooler…colder, even…and all our winter things are in storage.  We could only bring one suitcase each on the transatlantic journey and we had (rather optimistically as it turns out) hoped to be in a house by now, surrounded by all the stuff we shipped.  Instead, it sits in storage just outside of Philadelphia until we get a permanent address.  And that has to wait for a job or two to turn up. 

So today we had to do some shopping.  The good thing is that clothes are a lot cheaper here than they were on the Isle of Man.  If I had taken the same amount of money shopping over there, I might have gotten one sweater (jumper in the UK).  Here I got four new tops.  And on the Island, of course, there was always a good chance that someone else would be wearing the exact same sweater every time you wore it.  (We only had a few shops, and they didn’t stock a huge amount of stock.)  Here there are endless varieties of clothes.  Almost too much choice…but I’ve talked about that before.

On a side note, I think the newly remodelled Millcreek Mall is looking really nice these days.  I remember when it was built.  In the middle section, there were steps down into sitting areas where the smokers would congregate.  There were also tons of pay phones within these areas.  (Presumably totally obsolete now that everyone has a cell?)  They were dark and smelly and seemed to attract a rather strange group of people who apparently had no where else to go…but maybe that is just my memory playing tricks on me?  Anyone else remember them?  Were they as bad as I recall?

I hope that none of those “strange people” are reading this!  But if you are, do let us know what it was like to be strange in Millcreek Mall