October Challenge -- Day 21

I'm joining Ms. Kwiz for her October blogging challenge.

Day 21: My favorite shopping spots.

This one makes me a little sad, because my favorite shopping spots are gone. I loved shopping at Marshall Field's on State Street. It's a beautiful building, and it had higher-quality merchandise than the other department stores. Shopping there was an experience. The windows! The fitting rooms! The restaurants!

But then, in 2006, it became Macy's. It's fine, I suppose. But I don't get enthusiastic about Macy's like I did Marshall Field's.

And then there was Carson's. Twice a year -- spring and fall -- I shopped their Goodwill Sale. Every item I donated to Goodwill through their store got me a 20% coupon. I stocked up on skincare, sunglasses, clothes and an umbrella. (I'm always losing or breaking umbrellas.) It closed for good more than a year ago.

The empty Clinique counter at Carson's, days before the store closed for good.

But that was then and this is now. I find myself at Kohl's and the aforementioned Macy's. Target opened just blocks away from my home, and that's nice. There's an independent bookseller here, too, and that beckons to me.

But I'm shopping a lot more resale these days. A couple times a month, there's a fundraiser in a fabulous old Victorian and I always find something (a cardigan, a t-shirt) there. Last year I got a terrific find -- a like-new belted, hooded trench from Nordstrom that I got for $14. It's nice to shop there because it benefits local charities. And ThredUp is fun. It's the hunt, you know.