I have a pretty long list of stores and restaurants I wish would open locations in Memphis. Trader Joe’s, Kiehl’s and Urban Outfitters top the list; all are places I make sure to visit when I’m in New Orleans or Birmingham or St. Louis.
Last weekend we were in Nashville for a show so of course a stop at TJ’s was a must. As we drove past Panera Bread, a place that inspired so much envy until a location opened a mile from our home, I thought of all the things that lost their lustre once they were easily accessible.
Five years ago I spent a couple weeks in Florida where all anyone drank was Yuengling. For years all I could talk about was how great the beer was and how I wished it was distributed in Memphis.
Then Anheuser-Busch started distributing Yuengling. It showed up in every bar in town, and then suddenly I no longer cared for it.
When we were last in Seattle I just had to shop at Sephora. Now Memphis has two Sephora locations and I’d rather just buy my bliss products online.
So I’m forced to ask myself: are these places really that great, or am I enamored with the differentness and the exclusiveness of having something I can’t get in Memphis?
If we get an Urban Outfitters here, will I change the way I dress?
If we get a Trader Joe’s will I stop eating bananas?
I’ll probably never know.
Urban definitely lost its appeal for me when it came to STL. Almost instantly, it was weird. When it was only in Chicago I would go crazy there.
STL still doesn’t have an Ikea but now I live in a town with one and haven’t bothered to visit yet.
Can’t explain it but I can relate.
I just want Ting (from Jamaica). A store that sells Ting!! It’s good – it makes me happy.
Funny comment @ Yeungling – when I moved to Memphis from FL a few years ago I asked at every bar and got very perplexed looks! Now, as u said, it’s everywhere. (I still drink it though.) I like that there isn’t a UO here, b/c I’d be broke – although maybe not… I also thought I’d be eating at Panera every day & once the novelty wore off I haven’t been back. I agree Janet – I too can relate, albeit inexplicably.
The two Panerae in town are both wicked inconvenient to my normal lunchings and/or dinners, although if I still worked in East Memphis it would be regular on the lunch rotation (especially with the demise of the ABC).
That said, I’d hit a Trader Joe’s even if it was in Collierville.
East Collierville.
Your comment that you would rather buy your Bliss products online made me think about my shopping habits. I realized that pretty much I am only shopping for perishables and a few basics in Memphis.
Most everything else I just go online for. Whenever I need makeup (Perscriptives Online) or shampoo (aveda.com) or books (powell’s) or kitchen appliances (various) dishes (Crate and Barrel) or even funiture (2 Emeco Navy chairs), I don’t even try to find it in Memphis but go online first.
I recently went to Atlanta to go to Trader Joe’s and IKEA but that was because TJ’s does not sell anything online and there were serveral IKEA items I wanted that were not available online. I tend to buy clothes at Nordstom’s in Minneapolis beause I like to try on before buying, there is no Nordstom in MEM, and there is no sales tax on clothes in Minnesota.
big fan of panera and i didn’t like it when i lived in atlanta or care it was moving here. Yuengling sucked when i tasted it elsewhere (as did Fat Tire) so it’s not even on my radar screen. I would hit Trader Joes weekly and my wife would spend a lot of time at Anthropologie. She’s from Jackson MS and they have one there now so it’s not as big of a deal. Based on the number of her friends who spend money there it would make a killing here.