I got a real taste of the America everyone loves to hate today, and I liked it. Kelley and I went to an outlet mall in Albertville, located about 30 miles from our apartment. An outlet mall is basically an architecturally criminal bunch of buildings that house name brand stores like Nike, Calvin Klein, Benetton... selling their wares at rock bottom prices. They're literally giving the shit away. To get there you have to travel beyond the seemingly endless suburban sprawl. Yes, it does end somewhere and fertile farmland survives beyond that point. Not for long. There is no shortage of space in this country and therefore no plans to slow the pace at which cities and suburbs spill out from their points of origin while devouring more and more green fields. The big cities are quite densely populated but go west and you'll see that even the poorest of people live in dwellings that enjoy a footprint much greater than their equally worse off European counterparts.
The outlet mall. It's ugly. It's soulless. It's full of annoying people, but my god it's good value. One pair of Levis, one pair of jeans from the Gap, a shirt and jumper/sweater from Benetton, another jumper/sweater this time from Old Navy, and about three other items since forgotten. How much? About $100.
I remember times at home going into town with a hard earned £100 in my pocket and hoping to exchange this for a pair of jeans and maybe a shirt or two, if I was lucky. What a fool I was.
The sweetness of a good deal is one of life's many pleasures.
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