Monday, June 13, 2005 - Abercrombie & Fitch: We love to hate them, yet we can't resist them (well who can resist a guy like that ? )
So Jason and I survived our weekend of "hot" fun (and I was referring to the 30+ degree weather - so get your mind out of the gutter) in Buffalo/Niagara, NY ! It was primairly a shopping trip for both of us - though of course it was also our nice little getaway. Since Jason hates camping, going to the "wilderness" is pretty much out of the question - so the alternative (as if I'm complaining) is to spend 3 days shopping and maximizing our credit cards ! woo-hoo !
To begin, let me just say that Jason is an awesome driver. Not only can he drive stick, he drives it well (puts me to shame that's for sure). I haven't been to Buffalo in years (cross -border shopping was never a huge thing in our family) and I certaintly was ready to visit the outlets.
First, the city of Buffalo (gotta do my planner thing): it's depressing. Abandoned buildings, deserted downtowns, confusing streets and highways that lead to nowhere, the city seriously need a turn-around. After taking a few wrong turns, we ended up in the heart of downtown Buffalo, yet there was nobody around (literally no one). It is definitely a textbook case of the "donut" effect - where the downtown is in decline while the suburbs are flourishing (though I wouldn't say the Buffalo Area is flourishing - period). One worthy note though - the city does have some really amazing buildings. One building (I believe it was city hall or some civic building) was built in grand art deco style and has been pretty well maintained, considering half the city is crumbling. Too bad I didn't bring my camera along...
Ok now back to the shopping: Abercrombie was a bust. The A&F store at the Galleria was closed due to renovations and the kids Abercrombie was a dark, stuffy, sweaty store filled with rude young college salespeople and bad teeny-booper music (if I say it's bad, then it's gotta be bad). Jason and I did spend some time there - but he definitely didn't enjoy himself (he called it the worst store he has ever been into! ). Not to mention the pictures of the "boys" hanging on the walls were definitely a distraction...I feel wrong even typing about it now.
Other than that, the mall lived up to my expecations, though I think Jason still managed to buy more than I did. We also hit some of the key big box stores: Target (which was awesome), Walmart (which was ok), Circuit City (cheap DVDs) and some other ones along the strip. The Barnes & Noble near our hotel was also cool and considerably cheaper than Chapters.
One rant: those really big American servings. Seriously, those portions were way to big for an average person - who eats that much mashed potatoes anyway ! The result: over half the people we saw were over-weight. Pretty scary eh ? Anyway, of course Jason laughed at how slow I eat !
Overall, it was an awesome weekend (thanks Jason !). Considering it was my grad trip, I enjoyed every minute of it (except the stuffing yourself with food part). There were also a few neat things too, such as the partial toll highway - which I have never even heard of - and the connections between malls (which Jason was quicked to point out). Things are cheaper in Buffalo, especially with the US dollar to our favour, so that made spending the $ a bit less guilty...though I know I will regret it come the end of next month.
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