Baby Gift Registry
background image via Bambini
Short Version: Eric and I are registered for baby things at Bambini.
Long Version: Our story begins with E messaging me on Facebook.
"Get over to my friend Shannon's store right now! She's having a major sale on Ergobaby sample carriers!!!"
Immediately, I Maps the location of the store, jump in the car, make sure I have enough cash in my wallet, and drive over to Bambini's right away. There were only three carriers on sale and I wanted to have the first choice of which I wanted.
I drive past the store and pull into the parking lot. I'm struck by the sign hanging above my head that "violators will be towed at their own expense." A carrier that normally costs $170, even on sale, is not worth getting my car towed over and since I'm not sure which businesses have the right to their patrons' parking there, I decide not to risk it. I back out of the space and head back to the street, trying to scan for parking. As I pass by Bambini again, I notice people in the store and window shopping on the street outside, and I start to worry that I might have missed the sale. I spy parking with a meter and regretfully drop in a quarter and two nickels. Only about 23 minutes of time. Will it be enough?
I jaywalk across the street after looking both ways and speedwalk into the store. Instantly, calming music that reminds me of Enya, except with coherent words, wafts to my ears and I relax. I only see two people in the store and I rationalize that even if they've both already gotten a carrier each, that leaves at least one for me. Hopefully. As I walk toward the checkout counter where the saleslady is kindly helping a customer, I notice a markdown table with different percentage signs. My heartbeat picks up again when I see the '50% off' sign with nothing next to it, even though the '25% off' sign has at least two items near it. I start to worry again.
When it's my turn at the counter, I awkwardly stutter-mumble something about my friend, E, and the saleslady lights up.
"I'm Shannon. She told me you would be in today. Wow, you were really fast! Here, they're in the back. I'll go grab them."
Relief that I'm not too late has me smiling at her and I take the time to look around the shop while she's fetching the carriers. It's surprisingly large and has a lot of interesting, colorful things to look at. I'd passed a children's book table on my way to the counter and there were clothes off to my right. I shoot a quick message to E, telling her I made it to the shop. E advises me to talk to Shannon because she's super nice. When Shannon comes back, she has all three carriers in hand. Success! Made it! Fist pump of champions!
I comment on which one E told me to get, but lament because another one is so much cuter. The difference between star and leaf patterns. Shannon hands me the cute leaf one and says that it's all about what I want, not E. I laugh as I hand her the cash and we get to talking about E, the store, and her fur-baby, a dog. She's so nice and the sale on the carrier is so great that I want to buy something else from the shop to support her. I ask if she has any fox items in stock and she leads me over to the cutest onesie. I immediately pick it and a toy fox and get back in line to purchase them.
The grandma ahead of me talks about how she's going to ship her purchase items over to the east coast, so Shannon offers to print out a gift receipt for her. Then when the sale has been tendered and Shannon is bagging everything up, the grandma notices the cards on the counter for the first time. Shannon offers to throw a card in for free and I'm struck again by how nice and kind she is. When it's my turn again, I'm much more relaxed because of Shannon's personality and how she's handled all of the customers in her store.
After I get home and log my receipts in our budget sheet, I pull up Bambini's website and start our baby registry there. I figure supporting a local store and Shannon directly won't hurt anything. And it's just an idea of where to start. People are going to buy whatever they want, so steering a little custom Bambini's way won't hurt anything.