Christmas at the Mall

Last Saturday was spent in Minnetonka's Ridgedale mall, as I searched for holiday gifts plus a couple of things for myself.  Despite a long term career in retail, it literally was the first time in over twenty years where I've been shopping in a mall during Christmas time.  Concentrating on ecommerce all these years has kept me behind a computer instead, I guess.

A couple of things of note on the experience:

• For a joyful season, there wasn't much joy in the stores.  Everyone seemed to be wearing stern faces and not enjoying themselves much at all.
• The mall itself was packed.  Between the parking lots, aisles, and everywhere else, people were everywhere.  It was a wide array of folks, too.  Young, old, and in every race, size and language imaginable.  Ridgedale is no longer some lily-white enclave.
• Multiple stores were pumping out really loud, annoying, and terrible pop "Christmas music."  It was stomach-turning.
• I was surprised at the police presence.  I only saw a couple of officers, but both of them were loaded down for a major fight.  I guess the days of the unarmed "mall cop" are behind us.

Ultimately my trip was successful, and I was able to find what I wanted.  It just took me over two hours of distraction to do so.

Think I'll stick to this ecommerce thing in the future.