Another One Bites the Dust

2011 has proven to be a shocking year for me as far as retail stores go. I know the economy is not fantastic. No one has to remind me that this is not the 90's,  but I have been surprised when big retail stores takes the bullet. I was surprised when Borders went down. For months I had been talking to my friends about the inevitable demise of large bookstores, but I was still caught off guard when Borders made their big announcement. I went to Borders only once during its closing sale. Something about the disheveled shelves and haphazard merchandise made me too sad. Borders looked like it had been overturned by burglars. I didn't know I could be so sentimental for retail chains, but something about big stores going out of business gets me. It feels un-American. In the consumer-American sense, that is.

This week Filene's Basement took the hit and closed its doors. I was never an avid shopper at Filene's but I did do the Running of the Brides with a friend a couple of years ago. The tradition of the Running of the Brides was such a rite of passage for some women. It was an intense event, and maybe even ugly at times, but it was so fun to see so many women find wedding dresses. My favorite part of the day - other than the camping out and the anticipation for the doors to open - was hearing women and their "running team" cheer and squeal when the perfect dress was found. It was invigorating and very bonding when fights when were not breaking out over dresses.  Maybe Filene's could find a way to still host a Running of the Brides. America needs it.

Before doing the Running of the Brides we read an article about good tips. One tip was for everyone in the group to wear shirts or headpieces so they could easily be seen by each other. We chose these bunny ears because they were $1. When we got to Filene's at least 50 other women were wearing the same bunny ears. We should have guessed that women who were looking to get good deals on wedding dresses would also look for deals on headpieces. 

I think the Running of the Brides was the first time I really experience true mob mentality, where I had to keep moving forward or else I risked major consequences to my health and well-being. Thank you, Filene's, for that experience. 

I was thrilled to see so much camaraderie.

Ironically, this was taken at the end of the morning, after a lot of the chaos had died down.