There are a few stores in my town where I have recently bought clothes. Three are in the same shopping center and one is closer to the downtown area. I’ve written about one of the stores at the shopping center before — that one is my favorite. I like all three though, and like the parking situation.

Those stores have people who work in them that are kind, honest, empathetic and non-critical. They help me find exactly what I am looking for and tell me if something is not exactly right for me. They also at least recognize that I shop there often.

The store nearer downtown is a different story, and I’ve spent my last dollar there. I’d noticed it years ago, but since it seemed to only sell underwear, I never went it. Finally, though, when I saw a sign outside mentioning Cut Loose, one of my favorite brands of clothing, I stopped in. The front of the store holds tops and the back of the store has a rack of jeans — one brand I like is featured there (NYDJ). The rest of the store has underwear and pajamas.

I have found a couple of items that I really liked and wear there — a pair of jeans and a top. I prefer it when no one helps me, when I can look through the store on my own and decide if I like something or not. However, usually either the owner helps me or her associate does. Once I had both helping me when I was trying on bras. They also grabbed a bunch of tops for me to try on and exclaimed how wonderful they all looked on me. I ended up buying a number of tops, plus the bra that day. At one point during my fitting, one of the woman suggested I exercise. I’d never had anyone tell me that (except doctors and my kids and husband). I was offended, but still purchased the items.

Of the items I bought that day, the only thing I’ve worn much is the bra. I keep trying on one item, but it just is not me. The others, well, I have worn them once or twice, but they are not me either.

I’ve continued to go to the store, sometimes buying items, usually not. The most recent visit was my last though. I’d been to lunch with a friend, and parked in the parking lot where this store is located. I figured I had some time left on my parking stub, so went to check out what was on sale. The owner was there and asked if I’d shopped there before — I was masked, so I understand that she didn’t recognize me, but when I dropped my mask, she still didn’t. That’s okay. She asked my size, and pointed me to what she called cute tops in the front. I found nothing cute, in fact everything was pretty tacky.

I mentioned that the jeans I were wearing (same brand as they carry) were size 4. She told me they were too long. I countered that I liked my pants long and she argued if they were shorter they could be rolled up to become capris.

Anyway, I’ll stick to the nicer and easier (and free) parking shopping center stores and forget this one exists.