City Shopping

City shopping has always fascinated me. Growing up we either lived in a small town, where you had main street type stores and had to drive to "the city" to get to a typically suburban shopping mall, or we lived in suburbia where strip malls and shopping malls were everywhere you looked. So when I went to college in the outskirts of Chicago, the idea of downtown shopping was a fascination for me.

College itself lived in a quaint mix of suburbia and small-town hominess that I've only ever seen outside Chicago. But the first time I ventured downtown with friends and walked in and along Michigan Ave. I was enthralled. Normal stores like Barnes and Noble - in my mind little one story events that are part of a mall - soaring multiple stories into the air. A cornucopia of books and mystery. The Nike store. Really, do you need to say more? (It's indescribable - if you haven't seen the Chicago Nike store, you're missing out.) And even grocery stores for those who make their homes in the concrete and mirror jungle of the city.

Since moving away and slipping back into suburban life in various forms, I find myself missing the opportunity to shop in a city. I miss walking down Michigan Ave. and window shopping. And I hanker for a chance to give New York City a try. So at lunch today, I slipped into the office supply store that's in the bottom of a nearby office building, hoping for a little re-charge of the joy of city shopping. It was disappointing. The feel was all wrong. It was just like when I go to the same store in the strip mall near home. So now I think Tim and I may be needing a field trip up to the City sometime soon. We're off to Boston in March and maybe I can get a fix while I'm there.