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In the immortal words (spoken to the late Divine) of the late Edith Massey, immortal co-star of John Waters's classic film Polyester: "Francine — let's go SHOPPING!" We at the Café advocate patronizing small local businesses whenever possible. Yet, no doubt as a consequence of media brainwashing (too many viewings of George Romero's Dawn of the
Dead), we get the occasional shameful impulse to go to the mall, the Home Depot, or some other chain. (Though never,
never the despicable WalMart.) Fortunately, you can do that online, so nobody
needs to know. You can start in the Café
Store; then, if you have any money left, browse the venues below. Our
shopping links represent a mix of large and small online retailers.
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FreeCycle.org
We consider thrift-shopping and
scavenging (oops, make thatrecycling and/or repurposing as higher forms of shopping even than bargain-hunting, because it's
eco-friendly. As the old Yankee aphorism goes, "Use it up, wear it out, make it
do, or do without." in that spirit, we recommend FreeCycle.org,
because we admire not only their slogan ("Changing the world one gift at a
time.") but also their concept: if someone has something to give away, they post
a notice of it. If you want it, you have to arrange the pickup. Requires
creating a free Yahoo identity and joining the Yahoo FreeCycle group nearest you
(or starting your own). Presently 1300 cities and over 400,000 people
participate in this network.
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Mall of
America
Feel that mall
a'callin' you? Where better than the largest shopping mall in the entire world,
the Mall of
America, located in beautiful Bloomington, Minnesota -- just five
minutes from the St.Paul-Minneapolis International Airport? And here's the
beauty part: you don't have to leave your chair to get there, much less go to
Bloomington. Yes, the Mall of America has entered cyberspace with a bang. You
say you hate malls yourself? Then drop the kids off, give 'em $20 each, and buy
yourself some peace of mind this
Saturday.
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Strand Books
Thomas Wolfe
reportedly used to run through the stacks of the public library weeping over all
the books that he would never get to read. If you want to buy books (we find
ourselves almost constitutionally unable to leave the house without somehow
acquiring at least one before we return home), and want to do so online, we
suggest Strand Books. Back in the day, New York City's Fourth Avenue between 14th St. and Astor Place was a bibliophile's very heaven -- wall-to-wall second-hand bookstores, in which the Café's Executive Director spent many a happy hour (including playing hooky from Stuyvesant High). Alas, they've almost all disappeared -- with the exception of the 800-pound gorilla of them all, Strand Books, still in its original location on Broadway and 12th Street, just west of Fourth Avenue. Great prices, frequent specials -- and you can get on a waiting list for just about any title. They're even working on a room freshener replicating the indescribable, comforting smell of the distinctive dust that accumulates on old books . . .
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Amazon.com
When all else fails, there's no place better than the world's biggest on-line bookstore, Amazon.com: virtual miles of virtual aisles.
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