Shopping
Story Stream
We're Drowning in Gift Guides December 04, 2024
On the r/deadmalls Reddit page, photos of linoleum-tiled halls and emptied ornamental fountains proliferate. Some of the malls aren’t totally abandoned, still boasting the husks of universally familiar storefronts — Auntie Anne’s, Kay Jewelers, JCPen...
Shoppers Find a New Outlet (Center) December 04, 2024
A few years ago, Simon said that Flemington, New Jersey’s Liberty Village outlet center was going to close for good. Judging by its high vacancy rate and the condition it had been in for years, this announcement came as no surprise....
My Quest to Make Shopping Fun Again November 29, 2024
On a leaden day in October, I stood in front of a mirror on the fourth floor of a townhouse on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, getting my measurements taken for a pair of pants.The space was elegant and cozy, scaled as though for an intimate conver...
Malaise at the Monoprix November 26, 2024
Michel Houellebecq’s characters spend a lot of time in supermarkets. In the opening pages of The Elementary Particles, the depressed main character scarfs down a prepackaged fillet of monkfish, sold under the “gourmet” line of the French supermarket ...
Why RealClear Needs Its Readers November 22, 2024
Dear RealClear Reader,This is RealClearPolitics’ seventh presidential election. More than two decades ago, RCP set out to provide one-stop shopping for those who care about campaigns, elections, and governance.Fulfilling this mission means showcasing...
“Agita”: Talking with Alexander Sammartino November 08, 2024
Alexander Sammartino’s debut novel, Last Acts, is a tragicomedy in two acts. The first is set in an antediluvian 2014. David Rizzo, the owner of a faltering gun shop at the tumbleweedish edge of Phoenix, brings on board his son, Nick, a recovering he...
Let’s Get This Party Started November 05, 2024
The $30 ticket to Maria Bruggere’s election party in Los Angeles guarantees attendees an unlimited number of both “Pina Kamalas” and “Kamalaritas.” An open taco bar will be on-site, alongside photo booths, a dessert menu, and a merchandise shop brimm...
Fashion Girls Are Shopping via Substack March 27, 2024
“Friends, what’s a good dupe for that beautiful Khaite cardigan I definitely can’t afford?” one person asked on a thread in biweekly Substack shopping newsletter Magasin’s group chat, which quickly filled with commenters offering affordable alternati...
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Nowhere March 20, 2024
Four years ago this month, my northern California county closed the schools, offices, and shops, and went into pandemic lockdown. I was four months into being a national humor columnist for The Saturday Evening Post.This is my story.When I began writ...
What Independent Bookshops Really Sell March 07, 2024
America’s independent bookstores may look like the tattered, provincial shops of a bygone era—holding onto their existence by the slimmest thread. And booksellers may appear genial and absent-minded, like characters out of Dickens. But in reality, th...
Tomorrow, We Will All Be Memes March 01, 2024
Sometime last year, I tried converting my girlfriend to Girls.1 Towards the end of the series, we came upon that scene where Hannah (Lena Dunham) and Adam (Adam Driver) are at Kellogg’s Diner in Williamsburg. They’ve just spent the day sort of gettin...
