J.Crew, I Love You

Lynchburg, Virginia is known to most as the town that spawned Jerry Falwell’s evil empire. And that, of course, is true.

What many out-of-towners might not know is that Lynchburg is also home to the distribution center of a certain little retailer by the name of J.Crew.

I used to think that this was awesome simply because items shipped via regular shipping made it to my house in two days or less. But then I discovered the clearance store.

HOLY GOD, people, the clearance store is my boyfriend.

I have known of its existence for quite some time but never got around to visiting until today, when I stopped by over my lunch break. And I turned all bargain basement crazy woman trying on pairs of pants in sizes nowhere near my own just because they happened to be on sale for $9.

As it was, the stone suit pants ($24) in my size did not have an accompanying jacket, and although my coworkers tell me that if you’re tenacious and keep going back, the accompanying suiting tends to show up eventually, I was afraid to risk it. This particular color and cut of pants wouldn’t work well without a jacket.

I did have a really, really hard time tearing myself away from the Deauville heels. A really hard time. Especially considering that they had exactly one pair, and it was exactly my size, and fit me perfectly, oh and did I mention that this pair of heels was on sale even at the clearance store? $26, down from its normal $40, which is still quite a steal considering that they cost $138 in the catalog.

I don’t know why I didn’t just go ahead and get them. If my tax refund magically arrives this week and I go back and they’re magically there, I will definitely get them, because at that point it’s fate and besides, I’m going to a conference in two weeks and those shoes would be perfect with my Ann Taylor suit and besides, it’s really important to make a good footwear impression in professional settings – don’t you agree?