Ghost Rock

I think you used some sort of computer-generated trickery to create that image, boomer.

You city folk sure know the tricks.

I'd pay more in gas to drive to one here than I would save once I got there.

Mostly I don't shop at all and I do buy most things at budget places. I LIVE in jeans though so when I do buy them there are many criteria that have to be met.

I just bought 3 pairs of jeans at Field's, which is a chain of stores under The Bay umbrella. I'm sure you American folks won't have heard of it.

Really good deal, I thought, for $25 Cdn a pair.

The Gap sells jeans for 20 bucks!
And Walmart is ruining your country as well Reyn.

I wouldn't shop in a pretenious place like The Gap.

As I posted above, I think that price is good.

Actually, I don't think your statement is correct. We've had Wal-Mart in our community for a few years now. I haven't seen stores go out of business here.

As a matter of fact, we have a proliferation of dollar-type stores here that are cheaper than Wal-Mart. One, within view of the store, has a really good selection of stuff, and we shop there as well.

I used to love the Gap. Then the teenagers took over and nothing fits right anymore. I'm not an uncommon size or shape but finding flattering jeans in the Gap is downright impossible. When they open Menopause Gap I'll try again

I don't think $50 is too much to spend on jeans and I am unapologetic about it, budget be damned. If I wear them twice a week for one year I'm at like.... less than .50 cents per wear. If I wear them for two years I'm at a quarter. Since I can usually keep them in decent shape and wear them for three of four years they will evenutally start paying me to wear them. See how simple that is?

Actually boomer, there is a 'Menopause' Gap. (that is TOO funny!) I'll have to look it up but they introduced a new store last Fall geared towards the older Gap customer.

Reyn, what's pretentious about the Gap? And if you say that Walmart is not putting the smaller businesses out of business then that's good but I fear that it's just a matter of time. They are a ruthless bunch.

My older daughter worked at The Gap here for a while, so I know what you say is correct.

Not all jeans are the same, regardless of whatever the price is. They're cut differently here and there. So, a pair of jeans are only as good as how well it actually fits. If you have to pay more, so be it.

One should never feel obligated to apologize for how much one pays for anything, or for that matter, where the item was purchased. It's your choice. No one should make you feel bad about that for sure.

For myself, I admit I shop at Wal-Mart. I know it's fashionable to bash the chain, and I don't like everything about it either, but I have to live with reality as well.

When I shop at my local BC-owned grocery store chain, it is not my preference to buy apples (for example) that come over the border from Washington state. It's not that I don't love my American buddies, but I would prefer to buy produce that is grown in our province.

No can do right now, as prices are ridiculous. So, we buy what's cheaper. That's a reality I have to live with. There are many other examples I could give.

I fear our posts are working at cross purposes....haha!

As mentioned in an above post, my daughter worked in our local one. Management treated her like crap, for starters. That's already a good reason for boycotting it.

Actually, I won't shop at places I don't feel comfortable at. I'm not a fashion kind-of-guy, so stores like The Gap (as one example only) are out for me. As posted above, I shopped at Field's (which is a general family store) for my latest jeans.

Yep, the menopause Gap has the initials of FAT, which is either unfortunate or code. (Forth & Towne, I believe, the ampersand doesn't hide anything though.)

I still love Gap kids and Baby Gap (sozlet's almost done with being able to double-dip, sob, growing out of 5T's) but I'm totally sick of Gap-Gap. Too many identity crises. Went there the other day and it was just jeans and sweaters in 80's colors. Utterly boring. My taste in jeans is more towards boomer's than the ultra low-rise, whiskered, yadda yadda crap. Old Navy has some OK ones but they go too fast, I'm mostly wearing Eddie Bauer jeans these days which makes me feel positively middle-aged myself but oh well.

If you want to feel even better about paying $50 for jeans, it's because a few years back the parent company of the Gap starting insisting that it's third world factories start paying a higher wage to the workers. They have one of the better reputations for monitoring their sewing sources.
Walmart has a reputation for bleeding their sources to the bone. It's usually a nickle and dime thing for Walmart, but it's life and death for the women in the Asian factories. Buying at Walmart is also the best way to make donations the repressive gov't of China. For almost every purchase you make at Walmart a percentage of the cost will find it's way into the coffers of the Beijing elite.


I think you should sell that rock on Ebay.

Believe me, Reyn. We all have loads of examples of buying what you can afford at the time. It is truly the reality we all have to live with.

Thanks Soz for the info on Forth & Towne. Couldn't find anything on the Gap sight.
I worked for the Gap for 3 days many years ago. And truthfully, I haven't shopped there for myself in quite awhile. But the last pair of jeans I bought did come from Old Navy. I wear mostly sweats in the winter and the last ones I got came from Family Dollar. 2 sweatshirts for 12 bucks!

They seem to be shooing their good, basic, cheap stuff towards Old Navy and their cool, interesting, well-designed (but expensive) stuff towards Banana Republic -- leaving nothing worth shopping for at the Gap itself.

Their design was looking good for a while there (~ two years ago?) then had some sort of corporate shake up and bleh...

I think that's part of why their kid's stuff remains good, too, since Banana Republic doesn't have a kid's line.

I'm not about to argue here over Wal-Mart. Those who don't shop there have made a choice, and others, like myself, have made one, too. If I go to Hell ( ) because of it, well, I know I won't be lonely.

BUT, I find it highly amusing whereby Wal-Mart gets condemned for buying goods from Chinese factories, and 3/4s of the rest of the world does it and escapes recrimination.

So, maybe we shouldn't buy any goods that come from China at all. Good luck with that search!

I wonder how many folks who don't shop at Wal-Mart won't think twice about buying a Japanese car.

You're right. Seems like they've stretched themselves a little thin, huh? Gosh. I remember when Banana Republic was a cheap, funkier version of Old Navy.

Old Navy sold my favorite Gap jeans under the name "Starlight" jeans or something like that for a few years. It was a real crisis when they quit making them.

F&T? No way.

That is not a name that will drag in any customers for sure.

It is hard to find just plain old basic jeans. I was amazed at the selection. - all the frills and dodads and whatnot.

I love Big Lots! Do you all have those stores in your area? They have some amazing deals.

E-Bay! That's brilliant!

Do they let you shop at Banana Republic if you wear a bra lager than an A cup? If you can find a blouse that will button around your boobs you end up with an additional 15 yards of fabric that you have to figure out how to tuck in.

Got a Big Lots right down the street. I buy mostly Christmas decorations, housewares and garden junkart from there.