Once, a reporter from a major newspaper asked what I thought about buying clothing and groceries at the same place. I told her I had no problem with it and had actually worn a Walmart top to Fashion Week in New York. She was not impressed.
But unlike people who care what other people think, I just like cute stuff. Sometimes, it comes from places like Nordstrom that have piano players and pretty dressing rooms; sometimes it comes a few aisles away from lawnmower tires and fire ant killer.
It's not that I go looking for clothes at Walmart, it's just that on the way to the ridiculously low-priced bags of dark chocolates, I pass steals like the adorable dip-dyed T-shirts (one in ocean blue, the other in cotton candy pink) for $4 each that I bought last week. How can you pass something like that up?
Last month, I picked up a pair of hot pink reading glasses with crystals for $10, and I've been stocking up on basic black leggings – at less than $10 a piece – from Walmart, too.
I don't limit my bargain finds to just Walmart. I snatched up a cute little Target clutch with zippers for $15; a designer at the apparel market I attended loved it and wanted to make one just like it. My friend Michelle also fell in love with it and when I told her it was from Target she made me promise to get her one next time I was there.
Unlike snobs, I'm always thrilled to tell you exactly where I bought whatever you are coveting. I used to think maybe I delighted in being an anti-status fashionista. But it's not entirely true because I still love designer goods. Instead, I think I'm more of an opportunity shopper. Frozen peas and peep-toe studded flats in the same basket? Why not?
If cheapness equaled value, I'd probably buy cashmere and dog food from the same store. Unfortunately, just because it's a bargain doesn't mean I've actually saved that much money. For example, the $25 denim jacket I bought last month from Target shrank up so badly on the first wash that the sleeves are now ¾ sleeves and it is too tiny to button. At the other end of the spectrum, in all fairness, buying expensive doesn't always indicate quality as evidenced by my fading Marc Jacobs' bag.
But the real reasons I'm shopping at the same places I buy my groceries are because a) it's easy and b) I'm there. It saves me time, and frequently, it saves me money. And those are two things I can always use more of.