Competitive Shopping

I love to shop at places like Marshalls, Ross, Homegoods, Tuesday Morning, Goodwill and garage sales. You never know what you will find at these places, which is what makes it fun. Plus I am always after a good deal. Um..hello $0.50 Le Creuset baking dishes at a garage sale! I normally like to take my time a browse the isles for little treasures. But lately I have noticed something. There is always another woman at these stores, not the same woman...but the same type. This woman happens to have the same taste as me. Here is an example of how the problem occurs:

Recently I was at Marshalls meandering my way up the homegoods section. I was looking at the Le Creuset items they had. Then a woman and I went to grab the same ramekin set. I was kind and told her to go ahead and look at it and went on with my browsing. At the same time we both spotted the colbalt cast iron soup oven. We glanced at each other then darted to the item. I got there first. I wound up passing on the item due to the enormous chip in the lid. But she kept it. We both realized that we were looking for similar things and suddenly we were in a competition. Who could find the items first. I now had to rush down the isles to look for the things I wanted so this woman wouldn't take them. We were almost racing down the isles trying to beat the other. I'm sure it was a ridiculous sight, but so many items at these stores are only there once. You gotta be the first to find them or you are SOL.

So now you understand my dilemma. It has been happening so often lately. When did the relaxing experience of shopping become competitive? Will I always have to be looking over my shoulder to see if someone is trying to steal my great deal?