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Afternoon, Part 1 (Stakeout on Fifth)
October 24th, 2008 | Dean Arrindell
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It seems the general public is cutting back on spending and focusing its money on the essentials. I wanted to see consumer restraint in action (people NOT shopping is actually "inaction"). So, I headed to Fifth Avenue.
Fifth Avenue is like a high-end mall between 50th and 59th streets. It has everything from Louis Vuitton and Tiffany on 57th Street, to The Gap and Abercrombie a little further down. And there's Trump Tower in the middle of it all. Conveniently, there also are several churches if shoppers need to repent for their frivolous over-priced purchases.
I had been meaning to stop by the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue to check out a few things. After that, the plan was to walk down Fifth Avenue to see if it was crowded with shoppers or if people were staying away because of the Credit Crisis.
But first the Apple Store. It's very cool. After entering the glass cube that comes out of the ground, I descended down into the store. It was packed. It's always packed. I've been there at 11pm on a Friday night and it was packed then, too.
Most people were testing out various sizes and tactile types of iPods and iPhones, shopping for other Apple products, getting help at the Genius Bar, or just hanging out. There were a ton of people at the 90 or so computer stations in the store. They were checking email, MySpace pages, reading the news, and playing games. It's basically a free Internet cafe.
I began browsing by checking out the iPods. My iPod recently died after about 3 1/2 years. So, I need a new one. ("Need" in the sense that the one I have doesn't work and I really want another. Not need in the sense that I can't live without one.) How am I going to do this while trimming down? It's either going to be a Christmas gift or I'll use credit card points. Either way, I'm not getting it for a while.
After not making a decision on an iPod (I'm impressed with the iTouch, but don't like its keyboard. And the iPod Classic is much cheaper.), I browsed around the software section. Then I went over to a Mac to play around with some software and surf the Web. As I turned to walk away from the computer, a woman leaped to grab my spot at the Mac. She looked like she was going to run over anyone who got in her way. Those stations are highly in demand.
Then I began my stroll down Fifth Avenue. I quickly realized my surveillance wasn't going to tell me anything. The area is my old stomping ground since I used to work there, but how could I compare that day to any other day? Maybe tourists are staying home before the holiday season gets into full swing. Maybe it was a busy day at offices and people couldn't shop during lunch. Or maybe I missed the lunchtime crowd. While my hunch is that Fifth Avenue looked empty, I abandoned my experiment.
With no decision on an iPod and my shopping stakeout canceled, what did I do with the rest of my afternoon?
Go to a Maserati Dealer.
Related Topics: Buying, Financial Crisis
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Dean Arrindell | No Comments »
Afternoon, Part 1 (Stakeout on Fifth)
(via Facebook, MySpace, Digg, email and more)