When I was a kid growing up in the heart of Wisconsin, the one thing I dreaded more than anything was going shopping with my mother. It didn’t matter what kind of shopping it was either; grocery, clothes, Christmas, odds and ends or just browsing — I hated it all. And not because my mother wasn’t pleasant to be around, because she was lots of fun. But, she liked to take her time in stores and I was impatient and easily bored. I mean, how long can any child play, ‘don’t touch the lava’ by themselves before they start to feel their very lives dripping away one minute at a time. I know this is universal too, because I see my kids now going through the same process of gloom whenever I mention we have a few things to pick up at the store. First you get a sigh, then you get reluctant obedience. At the store you get a few minutes of ‘don’t touch the boiling acid’ (a more modern version of don’t touch the lava I can only assume), that quickly devolves into I’m bored. To which I reply, ‘So am I. Now go in aisle 3 and get a 2 pound block of chedder… And stay out of the boiling acid!’
There WAS one store that I loved; K-Mart. Let me be clear, I didn’t love K-Mart more than any other department store because it had better products or design. Because it didn’t. I didn’t love it because it had a larger toy section or better video games. Because it didn’t. It didn’t have cleaner bathrooms or nicer employees. For all intensive purposes it was the exact same store as any other store in my mind. Except for one important factor.
MacKinnon Honeycomb Fountain Pen in Red
Blue Light Specials.
I lived for Blue Light Specials. And when we were in that store I prayed for blue light specials. In most stores, my mother kept a short verbal leash on me at all times while shopping. It had been a policy adopted early in our shopping relationship. I was to stay within the same aisle as her at all times and never stray from sight. But in K-mart, the rules were different. From the moment we entered that store I would be circling her cart looking for the mobile pole with its blue light firmly affixed to the top. I would stay in a near constant state of panic, ready to hear the favored phrase, “Attention K-mart Shoppers, we have a Blue Light Special in aisle…”. When this phrase was uttered over the crackly loudspeaker my mother would calmly smile at me and say, “Go ahead.” She would utter this phrase with a sort of relief, as if HER prayers had been answered.
At her allowance I would bolt off into the store, careening through aisles like a dog on the hunt, trying to catch a glimpse or flicker of blue light off the ceiling as an indicator of proximity. Dashing and dodging in and out of shoppers I would simultaneously look left and right down long sections of goods while at the same time scanning customers body language for any signs of where that sale-giving pole and light were located. Sometimes I found it by sight or sound. Sometimes, just through pure luck. But mostly I found it because they wanted me too. Regardless, I was never disappointed. And when I’d report back to my mother that we could get $1.50 off a 250 count pack of paper plates, she would smile and tell me we didn’t need that. And I would nod my head, catch my breath and hope we stayed long enough for the next blue light announcement. Good times.
Here at Executive Essentials, we don’t have the Blue Light Special, but we do have a clearance section that has much more to offer than $2 off a king size pack of plastic silverware. In fact, right now you can get up to 60 percent off Waterford Pens like the Kilbarry, Arcadia II and Glendalough. In the fountain pen clearance category my favorite choice is the Honeycomb Fountain Pen in Red from MacKinnon Pens and the Cross Townsend Fountain Pen in Slate. There are also limited edition pens available as well as pen sets. But, the clearance section isn’t just limited to pens. A great deal of seasonal leather goods are on sale now including attache cases and laptop bags.
So take the time to wander over to the clearance section here at Executive Essentials and see if we have something to complete a collection you started long ago or just to find a new purse pen. You probably won’t have as much fun as I did in Wisconsin all those years ago, but your bound to find much better deals.
