Face it; Athens shopping is limited to one street - Court. Although passerby may drool and marvel at the window glitz in Artifacts and The Other Place, Athens seriously lacks variety.
Enter online shopping. There is a marvelous cornucopia of clothes online. An endless mall - what could be better?
Your enemy: The endless click. It takes five minutes to get through the process of checkout to confirmation e-mail. Your bank account can travel from the $200 range to $50 in a few heartbeats.
Here are a few tricks to forget that demon we call Shipping Tax and realize your purchase will be worthwhile.
1. Register to receive e-mails from your favorite stores on its Web site. My Inbox gets flooded three times a week from J.Crew with wonderful phrases such as ‘free shipping,’ ‘spring sale’ and ‘final blowout sale – lowest prices ever.’
2. Make purchases with a friend. Beat the system and don’t let that store make money off the both of you.
3. If you have a plus-sized figure you might not find your size in stores like American Eagle. If you are over an XL in women’s and over a XXL in men’s then the store only offers those kinds of clothes online. Don’t fear – you can look just as cute in the girl in the size 2.
4. There are millions of codes online! Before you make your final purchase, google (store name here) codes. Sites provide you with special codes for free shipping, 15% off, 20% off etc. You can sometimes cut your final price in half.
5. Check if your favorite stores have a Facebook or Twitter page. Stores like The Other Place take pictures of their recent shipments so customers have a reason to come to the store.
Don’t fear the Internet. Buy what you really want and spend your money wisely. Buy the perfect Old Navy Sweater or Hunter rain boots without traveling 2-4 hours to the mall at your house.
Last Thought: According to The Post, the number of mail delivered dropped 17 percent from 2006-2009. Since snail mail is apparently dying, the unusual package on your doorstep will surely brighten your day.
April 15, 2010 at 9:43 PM
Another trick I learned is if you can hold off on buying something online but place it in the "shopping bag," the website will send you a reminder and a potential discount after a couple days.
April 18, 2010 at 7:11 PM
So, I must say that in a desperate need to get some formal attire, I had my first experience with mentioned "Other Place."
I ended up getting a really nice dress, but not before being blatantly insulted by one of the girls who was working there and having many noses raised to me.
It was not pleasant.
Thank goodness for the internet. I'm probably never going to go back there.
-Cassie