Malls Suck

I dislike malls. All similarly unpleasant, they smell of bad expensive cosmetics and bad cheap food.
Many things annoy me there. Unattended, bored children running about, loitering adolescents, store attendants sizing up customers with "shoes'n'watch" approach. (They must not think much of my vegan footwear and I have not worn a watch in many years.) Old ladies marching around for exercise are, perhaps, the only ones really getting something worthwhile.
I don't mind shopping for baby clothes on sale. It is bearable. There are definitely good deals. But why should my experience be just bearable? Why buy clothing from someone who does not know where it is made, how it is made, or what it is made from? For that matter, I am yet to find an attendant that even cares if I buy anything at all. If they don't, who does? The corporation?
I'd much rather shop at a hardware store. It smells like metal and oil, it is generally very clean and organized, and I've never been glared at while picking through brackets or paints. Unfortunately they do not sell bras or dresses.
I'd much rather shop at the local summer market, where it smells like watermelon and incense, where I get dirt on my fingers while picking through tender juicy produce. I haggle ruthlessly, while trying to avoid offending the hard-working vendors with unreasonable offers. But summer markets are only there... well, in the summer.
I'd rather shop at a thrift store, where I find the most bizarre pieces of clothing ever made, where designer originals cost as much as Big-Mart cast-offs, and price tags are safely stapled onto the items. But some things ought not be acquired in used condition.
Perhaps, one day I'll find a store that carries beautiful clothing made by men and women I can meet myself and thank for that fabulous A-line. The store would have lots of carts with child seats and a juice bar. There would be a nursing room, a dressing room, a changing room and a very very nice bathroom with clean toilets and castile soap in dispensers. The store would have clothes for men and women from birth to 103, including maternity, nursing, juniors, petites, formal and swimwear, and still be a small neighbourhood place. Because for goodness' sake, as it is, if I need a bra, a onesie and a tie, I have to drive from one end of Chicagoland to another! One day. One glorious day!