[Click on red x.
Unfortunately,
the plate is
square, not
rectangular.]
A few weekends ago, JoAnna and Eddie and I ate dinner at one of our favorite Madison restaurants – the Peppermill. JoAnna’s salad was served on a rectangular glass plate with a cobalt blue border, which made for a very attractive presentation.
“I wouldn’t mind having a set of dishes like this,” she remarked. “And I could use them for setting up some of my desserts on Bastille Day.”
This major social event of the year seems to factor into a lot of our decisions.
I didn’t give her comment much thought at the time. For the past few days, though, it has threatened to become all that I think about.
On Tuesday before Christmas, I visited a variety of stores where I thought this item might be in stock, even though a prior search of various websites didn’t offer much promise.
The Century House specializes in pricey Scandinavian furniture, gifts, and accessories. In fact, I thought I remembered seeing this type of plate in stock there. Wrong. I had recovered a false memory.
Macy’s in Hilldale Mall used to be Marshall Fields in a space first occupied by Gimbel’s when this shopping center opened in 1962. I found the right shape but not the right material. Macy’s specializes in “Fine China” dinnerware.
Orange Tree Imports is a specialty shop that stocks a variety of gourmet cookware and cutlery. I achieved the same result here as I did at Macy’s in much less time. The cramped-for-space store has very little dinnerware displayed on its overstocked shelves.
The following day, I continued my search.
After a promising search of Target’s website last night, I came away empty-handed today after a visit to their east-side Madison store.
Gordman’s, a department store based in Omaha (of all places), features aggressively discounted brand-name products. Their stores have a no-frills yet funky and hip arrangement of merchandise. I found a lot of Fiesta ware knock-offs here but not much else among the small display of dinnerware.
Bed Bath & Beyond. They stock the clear, rectangular version.
Linens & Things. I don’t what came first: the chicken (Linen & Things) or the egg (Bed Bath & Beyond). In the Madison area, it was the egg. Unfortunately, neither the chicken nor the egg were at all helpful to me. The two chains seem to order their merchandise from the same vendors. More skilful shoppers than I can probably tell the difference.
The Bombay Company. As I walked back to the car, the name registered as a result of an Internet search I did yesterday using the words “glass dinnerware rectangular”. Here’s what I learned about them.
The Bombay Company, Bombay Outlet and Bombay KIDS websites have discontinued online operations. We would like to thank you, our loyal online customers, for your business over the past years and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Actually, it appears to be worse than this announcement lets on. Bombay’s “bricks-and-mortar” operations also seem to be going under, as evidence by the GOING OUT OF BUSINESS banner I saw draped across the front windows of its Greenway Station store in Middleton. Greenway Center, a “lifestyle shopping center” which opened to much fanfare in the fall of 2003, has struggled to hold onto some of its tenants. The loss of Galyan’s, an upscale sporting goods store, complete with multi-level climbing wall, was bought out by Dick’s Sporting Goods less than a year after it opened. It’s subsequent closing – Dick’s already had an anchor presence at nearby West Towne Mall – provided the first punch to Greenway’s gut. The closing of an Oshkosh B’Gosh kids clothing store kept Greenway staggering on its feet, though it now seems to be regaining its balance with the addition of Marshall’s and (the possibly glass-plate-worthy) World Market. And according to a 6/22/2007 news release, Bath & Body Works will join the retail mix in March 2008.
Oh, by the way, I spent less than a minute making a circuit of Bombay’s surprisingly small store interior. As a result, I wondered how the business had survived as long as it did.
I had high hopes for World Market, more out of desperation than for any logical reasons. JoAnna and I always shop here to buy wine for our annual Bastille Day parties. The store certainly offers a colorful array of funky dinnerware – but not the plate of my dreams.
It appeared that my Christmas gift idea was turning into a bad dream.
As Christmas quickly approached and I was still no closer to my goal, I was tempted to wrap a picture of the plate and be done with it. (JoAnna did something similar for me for Father’s Day last year. She clipped a picture of an outdoor fireplace from a Menard’s advertising flyer and enclosed it with my card. We never did buy the dang thing, as I didn’t think we’d have enough opportunities to use it. That's one way to save money.)
In a happy turn of events, I had much better luck during my annual Christmas shopping trip to Talbot’s. JoAnna never shops here herself, as she’s partial to Jones Wear, a brand well-represented at both Penney’s and the Boston Store at West Towne, but she’s always pleasantly surprised with my choices. This year I bought a gray pinstripe jacket suitable for work or casual wear. It’s not the item I’d visualized for her. JoAnna already has an abundance of conservative blacks and grays in her wardrobe, but Talbot’s color palette this season is limited. Too many shades of brown and green, neither of which is particularly flattering to her. She looks great in reds and pinks and purples – it’s the French in her – but the style in these colors looked frumpy with their oversized buttons and large pockets. But then I probably wouldn’t recognize a woman’s fashion statement even if it screamed at me in the face.
No comments:
Post a Comment