Retail Therapy, part 2

The clothing that I picked up in Shibuya only set me back ¥3150, including tax. Now I can start expanding my collection of tights/leggings. (Though it is true that Jenny Z would not be using them.)

Retail Therapy

The Tokyoites have certainly embraced shopping as a legitimate pastime, so with that in mind, I spent a couple hours shopping in Shibuya 109, which is a mecca for young fashionistas sporting the latest trends. If you are over 30, you will feel out of place here. Actually, I felt pretty out of place anyway since I was the only woman in the place whose knees were covered. The uniform of choice for a young Japanese woman is comprised of a miniskirt, leggings, high boots, and some sort of cute top. That's cute, not skanky; the emphasis is generally on feminine and sweet, rather than hoochie mamma. However, as you go further up in floors, the attire does get a bit edgier, with more black, leather, and particularly for men, chains and ripped jeans.

Downstairs at the Hello Kitty store, there was a display of rhinestone studded items, including a guitar, a miniature piano, cell phone accessories, notebooks, etc. The caption was "Bling Me!"

Since Asians are not well known for having curves, I guess it makes sense that there is so much focus on legs. I have never seen so many varieties of socks, high socks and tights in my life. I was going to buy a pair of Super Mario socks, but then I got distracted by something else (fleece overalls perhaps) and forgot to go back and get them. I was also really amused by the store called "American Casual Wear" which featured colorful varsity jackets, jeans and corduroys in bright greens, reds and yellows. Suffice it to say, not many Americans casually wear any of this.

Engrish is omnipresent on clothing, labels and signs. It makes me wonder if they bother asking someone to grammar and spell check writing before they rush off to produce clothing, or if the Japanese simply don't care. I saw a hoodie for "Chicago Univer" and considered buying it.

Most clothing was priced higher than I was willing to pay, but items on the "Price Down" racks tended to be reasonable. I choose a few things and tried them on. Whoa, everything fit perfectly! I hadn't even bothered to look at the sizing tags. All you people who are average size in the US should appreciate it.

The Japanese are ridiculously polite to the point of it being uncomfortable for me. Every retail transaction is a theatrical show, as the clerk makes a point of showing you the item you're buying, having you place your payment in a tray, gingerly handing back your receipts and/or change, all while smiling and bowing slightly. When you try on clothing, they undo all the buttons and take everything off the hangers for you before you step inside the dressing room. One time, after buying something, I reached for the package that I'd bought and the clerk waved me away. She walked me to the door, then presented me with the bag handle, and bowed until I'd left the premises. Is this really necessary??

They also love excess packaging here, with every item (already wrapped in several layers of paper or plastic) placed in a paper bag that is taped, and then placed inside another larger bag. Having said that, Tokyo has a great municipal recycling program. Every trash can has slots for cans, bottles and paper. If only this could take off in the US as well.

Despite my staunch anti-consumerism, eventually the neon lights, blaring pop music and entreaties of "Irashaimase!" from the store clerks got to me: I bought clothing in a store (so this excludes Woot t-shirts) for the first time in at least a year. This dress is definitely not my usual style, but I've decided I'll be wearing it for the Irony.

Things that I have acquired today

1. Wedding present for Emily: matching Woot Shirts. Normally this kind of thing would make me gag, and I have no idea if she + hubby would actually wear them, but I don't really care because this present amuses me. The Suess-y artwork is also a plus. Besides, I never buy gifts from the registry. Other items I was considering include a bloodied chef's knife and tickets to the Louisville production of A Chorus Line (the Oct run is not on sale yet, wtf).
   



2. Google Voice number: In case you haven't been following this, in an ever onward quest to take over the world, Google is moving into phone and voicemail services. You can get a phone number through Google and link your mobile/cell/office number to this number, then tell your contacts to call the Google Voice number. This thereby frees you to switch numbers as you please, and you could foreseeably use this phone number for the rest of your life. I finally got an invitation to set up a gVoice number, and then faced the quandary of what to choose for my number. Like any good nerd, I started looking for numbers like 314-1592. Unfortunately, all the good variations of pi, e and the golden ratio appeared to be taken. There were also no numbers with the words "crystal," "cyclist" or "foodie." So, then I typed in:
   True, it is a dirty Jersey area code, but this was better than being stuck with something from say, Wyoming or Mississippi.


3. Plane tickets to Tokyo: Singapore Air is doing a special on roundtrip airfare to Tokyo from LAX for $473. Yeah, that's right. Somehow in the last 24 hours after Liz discovered this deal, we managed to convince ourselves that not taking advantage of this sale would be a travesty, and perhaps even a crime. So, we'll be trekking to Tokyo and Kyoto in November. I've already got my "Japanese in 30 Days" phrase book. Fugu, here we come!
   

Zappos

After discovering that my current everyday shoes had holes in the soles, and that the padding was disintegrating into chunks, I decided it was perhaps time to go shoe shopping. But wait, I hate shopping, for it invariably involves an inefficient expenditure of time and energy as you case out the selections at multiple stores, desperately look for your size on the jumbled clearance rack, then go back to buy the first thing you saw, only to find that it has been snapped up by some other shopper. Pooh, screw that. This is clearly an information asymmetry problem that can be solved by (Drama Button) the Internet!

Katherine suggested going to Zappos, and I was immediately intrigued. They offer free shipping and one free return on your shoes, plus you can avoid paying sales tax online. Moreover, with the long tail of the internet, you can pretty much find any style you could possibly want, in the size that you need. They group shoes by "lifestyle" category, which lead to some deep introspection...am I "Urban Mix" or "Retro"?

For a while, I was scrutinizing selections in the "Vegan" category, particularly these EcoSneaks made with organic cotton and recycled car tire inner tube. In the end though, I bought the first pair of shoes I liked (of course). These hybrid Adidas ballet flats were too ironically hilarious to pass up.

Let's review:

1. No need to physically manifest in a store filled with angsty teens or pushy sales clerks
2. Free shipping and returns
   
3. No sales tax (a nontrivial 10.25% in Chicago)
4. Browse the ginormous selection with your mouse

Did I mention that my shoes were delivered the next day?

Deal of the Day

Either the economy is just that bad, or someone made a terrible mistake, because I just purchased a $120 peacoat for the low, low price of $6. My decision making process went something like this:

Me: But I don't need a coat. I don't even like peacoats!

Alex: Dude, six bucks. My lunch cost more than that.

Me: Excellent point. Dammit, I really wanted brownie. Quick, tomato or sunflower?

Alex: Red. Yellow looks bad on Asians.

Me: Fine, it's in the cart. Wait, do I really want this coat? Much less a tomato one?

Alex: But how can you pass something like this up? It's 95% off, almost free!

Me: Shipping is $5 so I am spending $11 that I otherwise wouldn't have today. Yeah, that's like free.

[For the next 20 minutes, I valiantly attempt to check out and encounter error after error as Tulle's servers are swamped by traffic from cheap bastards like myself. The endowment effect and loss aversion kicks in...]

Me (hyperventilating): Noooo! Why won't my order go through?? Wait, that worked! YES.

As with any arbitrage opportunity, the window with which you can take advantage of it is quite small. By the time I managed to check out, it appeared that there were no coats left in stock.

I figure if I don't actually want to wear it, I can always resell the coat for way more than its purchase price.

Shopping like it's my Job

Aside from talking, there is nothing my Aunt Binh likes better than shopping and finding great deals. Naturally, when I mentioned my new job, she immediately scented a shopping extravaganza opportunity and announced that she was taking me shopping for that business casual wardrobe. I protested weakly that I already went shopping and had a few pairs of slacks and appropriately professional attire in my closet. Also, I’m working at the Fed, not an i-banking firm or something involving sales. Nonsense, she said, we’ll set you up properly! Even brides aren’t getting this great a makeover! You will not get passed over for promotions because of any sort of attire slip-up! It's rather a shame (or a blessing, depending on how you want to look at it) that my aunt never had daughters.

So, the next day, my aunt (along with one of her sisters and my grandma) plopped me down at the nearest mall and went to town. I have to hand it to her, she has some kind of radar for clearance sales, and we picked up pants, blouses and jackets for absurdly low prices. Nice pants for $4.97? As she pointed out, even if you were a seamstress, the fabric itself is worth more than that. I hope some poor sweatshop worker is getting paid overseas.

At the end of the day, she eyed my (unprofessionally large, colorful, eye-catching, cartoon-playing) watch and hinted that I needed a nice silver one. I waffled and said I had one at home.

I now have lots of garment bags full of clothing of the type I haven’t worn since my hotelie days. My aunt has lots of bragging rights to stories which demonstrate her shopping savvy. “Your Auntie Lin was practically drooling over the phone when I told her last night!”