By Michelene Ough
I was trying on some clothes at Eaton’s in the Rideau Centre the other day, when I noticed a big red “SOLD” sign on the chair in my change room.
In addition to feeling a little guilty for using someone else’s chair, I was overcome with melancholy about the quickly increasing tackiness of the liquidation sale.
In a late-August article, the Ottawa Citizen called the Eaton’s sale a “sedate 20- to 40-per-cent sell-off.”
The article indicated that Eaton’s locations across the country were determined to keep things that way, without the kitschy bargain-basement ambience that haunts so many closing-out sales.
Either something has changed since then, or I’m too sensitive, but my Eaton’s shopping trip felt more like a visit to Big Bud’s discount store on Bank Street than the going-out-of-business sale of one of Canada’s largest, proudest and longest-running retailers.
When I stop at Big Bud’s for a few items, I expect a certain atmosphere.
I expect to search a little to find what I need, manoeuvring down narrow aisles, squeezing past other customers.
I know that everything I want will not always be in stock.
If I’m looking for pants, I’ll find a size two and a 12 and nothing in between.
If they happen to have my size, I’ll have to try them on at the back of the store, pulling them on over my own pants, hoping I’ve calculated the extra-pants-differential accurately.
From Eaton’s, I expect something different. Bargain prices, no. Selection, yes. Pulling on pants in the middle of the store, no. Change room with a chair that still belongs to the store, yes.
Of course, like anyone, I love a good deal. At 60 per cent off, how can I complain about the shopping experience?
Because, sale or no sale, I want Eaton’s to retain its pride, even in the throes of massive debt and forced closing-out. I want to see the shelves full (and not for sale). I want the huge display bottles of Calvin Klein cologne not to be marked “$500.” I want to see the lingerie neatly hung, unmarked by the dirty fingertips of every bargain shopper in town. I want the mannequins clothed (and also not for sale).
I can’t have it both ways. Given the choice, I’d have Eaton’s back to its former, dignified self in a second, sacrificing even the sale prices, if for no other reason than to avoid witnessing its depressing downward trajectory.
From now on, I’ll keep my discount shopping to Big Bud’s. At least there I don’t have to feel guilty about what I buy — or where I sit.