Wednesday, April 30, 2008

The Target $1 aisle restores my will to live

My midlife crisis began a few months ago when I first realized I needed reading glasses. OK, I know everyone wears them but for me, at this point, this was just too, too humiliating.

Until.

Target made all these different reading glasses and put 'em in their dollar bin. I bought 10. Plus a pair of bifocal sunglasses. And I did this not because readers are so easy to lose but because I think these glasses are awesome. And cheap. And therefore fun.

It normally doesn't work like that, right? I mean, you're only supposed to covet things when they're rare or expensive. But I went to 3 different Target stores just to be sure I had all the ones I wanted. And now I'm like, check it out, I'm wearing glasses. They're kitschy so I might be wearing them ironically. Or. I might not. It's very liberating.

How does Target do that? Is it like a super-hero power that could be used for good or for bad? Should we be frightened?

2 comments:

Ad Broad, oldest working writer in advertising said...

Thanks for the tip, Irene, I'm making a field trip to Target today. Interesting article on the click through on boomer tricks to cope with aging eyes, like permanent marker C and S on bottles in the shower. Sadly, I find this idea brilliant.

Irene Done said...

I know -- I was relieved to find out that I'm not the only one who can't read the care instructions on clothes. And isn't it funny that restaurants are the place where everyone is forced to come to terms with the need for readers. This is exactly what happened to me.

Good luck at Target. The selection is still good in some stores and I just think the frames are cute. Sure they're not going to hold up forever but: one dollar!