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Holiday Shopping Madness

Posted by Tim / December 23, 2008

18 Comments

IndigoWhat was that about the recession? I made the mistake of venturing into the Eaton Centre yesterday only to be confronted by holiday shopping madness. The Apple Store was completely jammed but it was nothing compared to the line-ups at Indigo. For the privilege of buying a book at full price (they'll be discounted next week plus they're always 30% off online), shoppers had formed a line snaking through the store that staffers were re-assuring would only take about 15 minutes.

Seriously, this line was something like 120 people deep. I counted. To buy books. Toronto is not exactly devoid of bookstore options. I happened to go by Type on the Danforth later in the day and I was the only customer.

Elsewhere, Blacks on the floor below was promising no quicker than 2 hours for their 1 hour photo development service. I guess that was at least better than West Camera who told me they were too busy to even offer the service on the day I called.

Do you have a crazy retail experience of your own to share? If so, please add it to the comments below.

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18 Comments

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newsflasher / December 23, 2008 at 02:04 pm
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This Just In:

Large Amount of Gift Buying Two Days Before Christmas
Malls Crowded

Inside: Chicken eggs show signs of being animal byproduct.
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Rajio / December 23, 2008 at 02:07 pm
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shocking.
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ramanan / December 23, 2008 at 02:40 pm
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Maybe no one told you, but it's Christmas. People tend to buy shit at this time of the year. And since Indigo won't ship before the holiday, I'm guessing people are sucking it up and paying full price in the store.

HOLY SHIT!?
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Sameer Vasta / December 23, 2008 at 02:54 pm
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For what it's worth, during <a href="http://squandrous.com/post/66407579";>my little adventure at the Eaton Centre yesterday</a>, I stood in the Indigo line (at around 7pm) with a lady that needed help carrying her bags while she bought her books.

The line was at least 70-80 people deep, and it only took about 10 minutes to get through the line and pay for her purchases, just as the Indigo employee had said it would. That fifteen minutes they quoted you was probably pretty accurate.
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westender / December 23, 2008 at 02:57 pm
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Indigo/Chapters has been issuing 25 percent off coupons all over the place. People are Boxing Day shopping before Christmas this year because they're getting Boxing Day sales already.
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Diane / December 23, 2008 at 03:06 pm
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I was in line there yesterday around 12:30, and I counted about 100 people ahead of me. It only took 10 to 15 minutes to get out of there though.
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Justin / December 23, 2008 at 03:16 pm
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120 people lined up at the most popular bookstore during X-Mas? Surely sounds like a crowd of literary giants...

I can almost hear someone in that photo exclaiming, "The chapters were so short, it made me feel smart completing one!"
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Jenelle / December 23, 2008 at 03:20 pm
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Pages Books & Mags desperately could use the money people are spending at big box Indigo.
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Rich Lafferty / December 23, 2008 at 03:50 pm
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I was at the Indigo at Bay and Bloor on Sunday, and the lineups there were bizarre: at the front cash (one register), a lineup of easily 25 people; at the downstairs cash (five or so registers?), a lineup of 5 or 6; at the upstairs back cash (easily eight registers?), no lineup at all, and a couple of bored cashiers.

I said "The back cash has no line" on my way out the front, but no-one seemed to take the chance.
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Munzz / December 23, 2008 at 03:53 pm
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We live in such a materialistic society.
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MER1978 / December 23, 2008 at 04:20 pm
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I think the point of the post was... after weeks and weeks of non stop bad economic news... it's amazing that stores are meeting if not exceeding traffic levels of previous years.

Globe & Mail December 23, 2008
RE: November 2008... "Canada lost 71,000 jobs, the largest monthly loss in more than 25 years."
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Loozrboy / December 23, 2008 at 04:58 pm
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I think the real story here is: people still use "photo development services"? I thought the only people with film cameras these days were hardcore photography nerds with their own darkrooms.
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ES / December 23, 2008 at 05:22 pm
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Ok, head out to the Danforth where you might not be able to do all of your 1-stop-shopping just so you can get a book from a smaller retailer 2 days before Christmas, or suck it up and wait 15 minutes at Indigo?

I hate the Eaton center, and if possible I'll try and do my Christmas shopping in other parts town before earlier before hitting up the mall. But, when I have 5 people to shop for and 2 days left to do it - the mall is where I will end up.

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Timothy Eaton / December 23, 2008 at 06:35 pm
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I was there yesterday, the lineups were awful but browsing wasn't so bad. People were generally cheery, it was good people-watching. The Bay store displays are beautiful this year, as well. You should to a photo feature of them.

Efficient Christmas Shopping protip: hit the LCBO.

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Melissa / December 23, 2008 at 07:57 pm
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Pages is only about ten minutes down the street from indigo and there are so many independent bookstores in Toronto. I try so hard not to go indigo anymore, Christmas or not. The smaller stores are more helpful, even if they can't offer the discounts that indigo can.
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Lisa Marie / December 24, 2008 at 01:40 am
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For the privilege of buying a book at full price (they'll be discounted next week plus they're always 30% off online), shoppers had formed a line snaking through the store that staffers were re-assuring would only take about 15 minutes.
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jojo / December 24, 2008 at 08:42 am
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Indigo is destroying small business in Toronto, they send out their "buyers" to small independent business to poach new gift lines only to discount it after it doesn't sell the first week - and do not even get me started on the fake green store "Pistachio" they claims to use local designers when in fact they do not
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ssssssssssss / December 24, 2008 at 09:23 am
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What stinks is that it's generally easier to purchase gift cards/books for family at Indigo instead of Type or Pages for easy return/redemption if the fam lives scattered throughout the burbs of southern ontario like mine. It makes me sad to shop at the mall, but it ends up always being easier.
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