I remember vividly when I was 12 or 13 (not the age, but the event), my grandma taking me to the mall and walking into a store that was to forever change my life. It was, The Gap. She bought me a denim jacket for my birthday (I think) and I was forever sold on the name brand, the style, the groovy feeling I had wearing clothes from what I thought was the hippest store around.
The Gap stuck with me through junior high and high school. I remember heading to the mall and just wandering through the racks, always happy to find something on sale that my mom would buy me and I could wear to school the next day. My friend Blake was also a Gap aficionado in high school and there were many occasions where the two of us would show up at school on the same day wearing the same shirt. Yes, in those days I shopped in the Men's department even more than I do now.
Through college, the Gap was my staple. If I needed a pair of khakis or jeans - could count on them. Need a new t-shirt - you betcha, they had one for me in as many colors as my brain could fathom.
The Gap had always been old reliable - Mr. Dependable - the go to in a crunch. I still reguarly wear a suit jacket and skirt that I got at the Gap at least 10 years ago.
Well, the Gap is now dead to me.
I realize that I'm old - gasp! 30 in a month so maybe I'm a bit tainted. Regardless of my age, I still need clothes because no one wants me running around in just my skivvies or my stretchy pants every ding dong day. I've had a hankerin' for some new skirts as of late so I ventured to my dear friends website and purchased two skirts that appeared to be adorable and screaming my name and an equally cute t-shirt.
My items arrived last week. As soon as I got them out of the mailbox, the Monkey and I rushed upstairs to try on the new items. Gasp! E gads! Crap! Things didn't go well. The skirts were too short, too wide, and too big. If I had saddlebags, they would have been right at home hiding underneath these skirts - with pockets. Who puts pockets in elastic waistband skirts? I was hoping the shirt would be my saving grace, that all was not lost...it was lost. Too tight in the sleeves and I could have hid myself and two babies into the body of the thing.
After two days of the yucky clothes sitting on my dresser I tried them on for Ross - I needed more humiliation I suppose. He agreed that the clothes must go back. I tired to return them but it seems that EVERY SINGLE GAP in the entire state is closing. Maybe it's because their clothes suck?
We finally got them returned and the crowd at the Gap was tell-tale of my woes. It seems that I have gotten older, fatter, and much less hip but the Gap has failed to get older and more mature with me. I had hoped we would be friends forever and ever. I was wrong. While the Gap grasps at straws, screaming at the American Abercrombie generation to bring their money, I sit with my money, and my desire for quality clothes that fit - at home. With no skirts and a bit of a bruised ego.
I guess it's time to shop for grandma pants at Lands End and skirts at Coldwater Creek. I hope they welcome me with open arms.
4 comments:
I hate to see you give up on such a good friend. Have you thought that maybe you just got clothes in sizes too big?
yeah, me too. Unfortunately, the articles of clothng were my size.
There's always Shopko
ok seriously i was always ANTI-GAP until that first time we went shopping together and you wanted to go in. i think that day i bought that pair of overalls and the rest is history. overalls ONLY because i was pregnant. i DO NOT wear them.....since then i have shopped the GAP as an old stand by and my kids have affectionately dubbed it the G - A - P. they always spell it out.....anyhow but after i had avery something just hit me wrong with their tee shirts and now i go to the JCrew outlet and i am MUCH happier. the stuff is MUCH more higher quality....ie: the seams don't rip out the first time you wash them.....
anyhow the point is....i'm sad. we are turning 30 and shopping at the GAP and the teeny-bopper stores is just weird anymore. i had one of the cute young women in the ward tell me she loved my outfit last sunday......that made me a little weary....
why are all the GAP's closing in utah? are they closing everywhere?? i can't imagine they are going out of biz....?
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