Merchandise changes daily, and will be refreshed according to themes. Fall colors is the current theme; upcoming themes include Chinoisserie, Holiday Decor, Made in the USA, Palm Beach Style, and more. See new merchandise photos on Facebook; if you are looking for something in particular the owner has a request list.

Store hours: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Shopping can be stressful when shoppers are many and parking spaces and cashiers are few. Going to the market the day before Thanksgiving or going to the store the day after Christmas can mean subjecting one’s self to uglier sides of the human personality. At a Walmart store a couple of years ago, an employee was trampled to death by the mob which rushed in as soon as the doors opened. Such extremes are rare, thank goodness, but virtually every time I shop, I do see a violation of the rules of common sense and courtesy.

I would like to offer a list of rules of shopping etiquette to help make shopping a pleasant experience for customers and businesses alike. The first eight rules apply to customers, and the next four apply to businesses.

1. When looking for a parking space, don’t hold up traffic while waiting for someone else to pull out. Most parking garages have multiple levels for parking that have plenty of space even on the busiest of shopping days. These levels are connected with bridges and elevators so it is not a physical hardship.

2. While shopping, try to avoid looking at the same item or area that someone else is looking at until they are done. I sometimes see shoppers look at items just because they see someone else looking at it.

3. When you have a shopping cart, park it in such a way as to not block the aisle. Sometimes I park my cart very considerately, only to have someone else come and park their cart in the area which I had left clear. I then end up having to move when someone else comes along.

4. Do not expect people with more items than you to let you cut in front of them in line just because you have a few items. Go to the express line or just wait your turn.

5. Where there is open but limited seating such as at a food court, do not sit to reserve a table while someone else in your party goes to get the food. Someone who already has a tray of food in their hands should be able to sit and eat at the table while you are only waiting for your food.

6. Remember that your time at the cashier’s is not social hour. Too often I have seen customers and cashiers engage in unnecessarily long conversations. Discussing with the cashier at length how the color of the blouse looks on you or whether it can be work for a formal party is not appropriate when others are waiting in line.

7. Except when it can be done promptly, customers should not expect to leave a line and come back to the same place by asking someone to save their spot. Leaving means going to the end of the line upon return.

8. Stores are not playgrounds for kids. Some hyperactivity is to be expected, but a tag game in and out of aisles with loud yelling and laughter is not. When a customer feels they have gotten in the way of a child, it is the child who is in the way.

9. With the exception of supermarkets, cashiers should be instructed to have customers form only one line if there is more than one cashier open. They also need to continually reinforce this between sales because customers WILL try to form a second line as it gets them to the front of a line.

10. Cashiers must not wait till their line grows very long before asking for a second cashier to open. If there is only one person waiting, and the current sale is dragging, then that is time the cashier should request help from a second cashier. It is the first person who has been waiting a long time for assistance and the customer at the end of the line.

11. Businesses need to respect their customers’ space. One store I visited had 3-4 salespeople continually ask me if I needed help. While I told them that I would let them know when I did, they did not refrain from continually checking on me to see if that time had come. I eventually just left that store.

12. Businesses must be careful with the music they choose to play in stores and the volume at which they play it. Especially offensive are some of the teen-age clothing stores that play especially bad hip-hop music almost as loud as you would expect to find at a party. Even if this were to bring in business, which I doubt, it contributes to the numbing of a customer’s aesthetic sense. Our country is on such a campaign to save our bodies from the harms of smoking, we can’t we do the same for our ears from bad music? Of course the ultimate offense was when I saw a young girl walk into a store with her own music player, having the volume turned on high enough so that the rest of shoppers in her vicinity could also “enjoy” the “music.”

Let us put the courteous and thoughtful treatment of others at a premium so that shopping can be both an efficient and enjoyable experience for all of us.

Ani Bogosian has been a Glendale resident and shopper for over twenty years, meeting the all the material needs of a growing family.

Environment California, a big backer of the bill, held five press conferences Tuesday and organized a phone campaign to assembly representatives on the fence. The campaign now moves on to the Senate.

According to the bill’s author, 41st District Representative Julia Brownley, Californians use over 19 billion plastic bags annually (approximately 552 per person), while only 5-6% of plastic materials are recycled in California.

Brownley’s website noted that:

The California Grocers Association and the United Food and Commercial Workers joined a long list of supporters of AB 1998 today, taking a sound, fair and effective approach to eliminating single-use bag litter, which pollutes oceans, beaches, parks and communities and endangers wildlife.

Petroleum products are fouling the oceans before they are refined and manufactured, and afterwards as well. The “disposable” consumer culture they foster needs to change, and this is a step in the right direction. Yesterday’s blog post on single-use bags has links to inspirations and ideas for reducing use of plastics.

For the latter, the city published a request for proposal from firms with experience in helping cities craft an image or “brand.” Bids on the consulting contract are due this Friday, July 31st. Link to city’s RFP page is below:

RFQ# 071309 – Request for Qualifications for Marketing Consultant Services [Closes: 7/31/2009 5:00:00 PM]

The Glendale Redevelopment Agency (“Agency”) is requesting qualifications for a Marketing Firm to assist the Agency with drafting and implementing a comprehensive citywide marketing campaign. The Agency is seeking qualifications from qualified firms for professional consulting services with experience in the research, design and development of marketing plans with an emphasis on economic development.

If successful, this program would have a much greater impact than the Kenneth Village or other neighborhood farmer’s markets, or even the “Buy Glendale” campaign, which have the limited goal of attracting residents to a local retail area.

Promoting Glendale’s hotels should raise Glendale’s visibility as a business destination. Coordinated marketing efforts to attract businesses to locate here could build on tourism, retail strength, and Glendale’s location (which the Kosmont-Rose Institute cited as preferred in Southern California).

If Glendale can attract more successful businesses, especially currently sought-after and (presumably) recession-proof “high-tech/green” businesses with educated and skilled employees, some of that well-paid daytime workforce might decide to live close to where they work, and spend close to where they live.

A holiday-sized crowd arrived for the July 3 launch of the event in northwest Glendale. The following week there were far fewer shoppers, while the 17th and 24th saw a constant but not heavy stream of visitors.

The vendor who sold two perfectly sweet watermelons to me on each of the last two Fridays said business was just “OK” but said he planned to continue and hopefully momentum would build.

The merchants’ association and the event organizer are working with Development Services to get a permit to hold the market on city sidewalks in front of merchants’ stores (the original permit was for 1425 W. Kenneth Road, private property next to Ivy’s Flower Station).

As of Monday, the City Clerk and Development Services didn’t have a permit application in the works, but a Scholastic Gardens representative says they are “working on it” and plan to be back with vendors this Friday.

Its 126 stores in the United States will remain open as it “executes a reorganization plan to improve its prospects for future growth and profitability, which include reducing its number of “loss-making stores” through store closures and lease terminations, strengthening its brand, and restructuring its debt.” (from Costar News).

One of its stores occupies a prime spot at the Glendale Galleria, just west of Nordstrom’s main entrance on the inside of the mall. A salesperson today commented that foot traffic through the store is “normal.”

I walked toward the Downtown Farmer’s Market today just in time to see several smartly-dressed students picking up clipboards from a table in the Chess Park and walking toward Brand Blvd.

I stopped to answer the survey myself and learned that Los Angeles Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising students were recruited as volunteers by the city’s Economic Development Department to conduct a survey for the new “Buy Glendale” campaign (discussed in this Glendale News Press Q&A with Development Services Director Philip Lanzafame).

The survey will gather information on perceptions of and visits to downtown Glendale, the Americana, the Glendale Galleria, and the downtown dining, shopping, and entertainment venues.

Figuring out what working people who are already out and about at the lunch hour like about downtown Glendale isn’t likely to increase their numbers in this economic environment. If downtown retail establishments aren’t attracting enough customers to remain profitable, the city should focus its efforts on attracting more high-quality jobs to the area.

Instead of “Buy Glendale” why not “Locate in Glendale”?

During shopping trips to the Galleria over the years, I’ve tried to avoid The Disney Store. When kids along with me on shopping trips have persuaded me to walk inside, I’ve usually marveled (and despaired) at the goods available for purchase. What can a child actually do with most of these (Made in China) products once they have them, other than wear princess and other costumes over and over (which I see children doing), or use the totes or lunch boxes as such?

Disney does market high-tech interactive toys, such as robotics toys based on last year’s movie Wall-E. The top-line toy in this 2008-released series was Ultimate Wall-E, which retailed at $189.99 and featured 10 motors, remote control, and touch programming. These robotics bloggers considered it a challenge. This LEGO blogger/robotics fan decided to just build his own LEGO Wall-E with electronics (proving my point below).

LEGO also has a brand retail store at the Galleria. This store is easier for a weary consumer to endure. Open building areas with bricks invite children to play in the store. Shelves are filled with construction kits for all ages. Kids can build LEGO sets according to directions, or construct an original scene, building, vehicle, or creature. They can sort, calculate, deconstruct, rebuild and assess the results of their experiments. LEGO is the ultimate low-tech, high-creativity interactive learning toy. This is a great strategic move for Disney Consumer Products.

The Cars and Toy Story franchises will be LEGO Duplo sets geared to younger kids – these sets have larger (and fewer) parts. Prince of Persia will feature standard LEGO system building bricks.