What Are Your Favorite Local Shopping Destinations? (Scranton, Harrisburg: middle-class, house)

[SteelCityRising]

Since we are now in the last shopping day before Christmas, I was just curious to see where folks in NEPA prefer to spend their dollars.

[poconosmama]

I like the shoppes at montage, but I chose Tannersville for the fact that there's a Coach store there lol.

[I LOVE PA!]

I like the Dickson City/Scranton areas....I'm not too much of a fan of the big box stores though. It seems like items are looking cheaper than they ever have!

[cathyde]

Being new to the area, we tried the Dickson City area first and, except for traffic trouble, we found almost all of our gifts there! I don't love big box stores either, but man, when you need to get a lot of different things in one trip, you really can't beat 'em!

Still like Steamtown, at least my son does, since they have the play area for him while his sisters shop!

Shoppes at Montage are good too; park by the place you need, in and out, no problems.

Didn't get down to Tannersville, but I like the outlets too. Finding a good deal isn't difficult.

After the holidays, we'll be out of the malls, and into the home improvement stores, as our remodeling projects begin!

Cathy

[irishLASSIE333]

I shop online, for the most part. It's the only "place" where I can get everything I need in one fell swoop at relatively little inconvenience to myself. And I am not saying that in order to complain about congestion in Dickson City or WB; I was born in and brought up just outside of NYC, so I know a thing or two about traffic. . .it's just plain EVERYWHERE this time of year, especially when so many people (like myself ), be it for reasons of carelessness, lack of time or lack of inspiration, wait until the last minute. For me, it was a combination of all three.
I love to patronize boutiques and Mom&Pop stores, but, as I said above, I just waited too long to do my shopping this year. . .and on my graduate student milk budget with my champagne taste, it just would not be feasible for me, unfortunately.

I like the idea of places like The Shoppes at Montage. The whole upscale strip mall concept is appealing to me in that at least there are windows in the stores to let in some light, and I get a bit of fresh air in the midst of my shopping. Those places all look the same, though. I have been to a similar "development" in Harrisburg that may have been designed by the same company, I'm not sure, as the people behind TSaM; it is nearly identical. And there is another near my hometown. . .it has Pottery Barn, J.Crew, Williams-Sonoma, Banana Republic, Anthropologie. . .all very nice stores, but it is kind of a like a cookie cutter version of a Main Street, with its designer lamp posts, fledgling trees and matching exteriors.
Really, though, I can't complain. I do prefer a setting like the one down at Montage to that of a mall.

Enough of my rant! Yay, internet shopping.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by irishLASSIE333

I shop online, for the most part. It's the only "place" where I can get everything I need in one fell swoop at relatively little inconvenience to myself. And I am not saying that in order to complain about congestion in Dickson City or WB; I was born in and brought up just outside of NYC, so I know a thing or two about traffic. . .it's just plain EVERYWHERE this time of year, especially when so many people (like myself ), be it for reasons of carelessness, lack of time or lack of inspiration, wait until the last minute. For me, it was a combination of all three.
I love to patronize boutiques and Mom&Pop stores, but, as I said above, I just waited too long to do my shopping this year. . .and on my graduate student milk budget with my champagne taste, it just would not be feasible for me, unfortunately.

I like the idea of places like The Shoppes at Montage. The whole upscale strip mall concept is appealing to me in that at least there are windows in the stores to let in some light, and I get a bit of fresh air in the midst of my shopping. Those places all look the same, though. I have been to a similar "development" in Harrisburg that may have been designed by the same company, I'm not sure, as the people behind TSaM; it is nearly identical. And there is another near my hometown. . .it has Pottery Barn, J.Crew, Williams-Sonoma, Banana Republic, Anthropologie. . .all very nice stores, but it is kind of a like a cookie cutter version of a Main Street, with its designer lamp posts, fledgling trees and matching exteriors.
Really, though, I can't complain. I do prefer a setting like the one down at Montage to that of a mall.

Enough of my rant! Yay, internet shopping.

I agree with your comments about the Shoppes at Montage. I won't lie in that I have eaten at Kildare's, shopped at the Christmas Tree Shop, etc., but by and large I try to avoid it whenever possible. The developers tried to "recreate" a Main Street setting, but I'd be more impressed if they spent their dollars to renovate a few city blocks in Scranton or Wilkes-Barre to house these stores in restored historic buildings. A lot of people I've spoken to shop at Montage because "it reminds me of the old-fashioned downtowns." I hate to sound like a cynic, but as you shop at this pseudo-downtowns, our real downtowns are struggling to keep their heads above water.

I'm proud to say that I did half of my shopping this year in Downtown Scranton at stores like Anthology Books, Poochie Dog Bakery, Lavish, and the Steamtown Mall. I'd much rather practice what I preach about "saving the downtown" by shopping at these merchants in the Electric City before heading on out to the 'burbs. Yes, this past Saturday I was in the traffic mess they call Dickson City, and sure enough my trip to Best Buy took about 45 minutes due to the traffic congestion just to get in and out of the parking lot due to the poor planning. I can't think of one local downtown that has any decent electronics stores, so I have to head to Best Buy or Circuit City to purchase PC software, video games, etc. for friends.

I always wondered why instead of trying to build "new" downtowns, like the Shoppes at Montage, to appeal to the nostalgic side of their target upper-middle-class Baby Boomer demographic, they didn't try to rebuild existing downtowns. I actually prefer the Barnes & Noble in Downtown Wilkes-Barre over the Barnes & Noble near the Wyoming Valley Mall, and furthermore I prefer the Tudor Bookstore in Kingston and Anthology in Scranton over the Downtown Barnes & Noble. I've worked in big-box retail for the past five years, and it is always depressing to have to treat our customers like cattle; we can't try to form a personal bond with any of them because then the ones standing right behind them starting looking at their watches and rolling their eyes. We've become a society of wanting everything "now, now, now" for "less, less, less," and as such the pleasure of shopping the way it must have been in the 1950s (long before my time) is now ancient history.

[Summering]

I love Dickson City, but............I find myself.......besides shopping online.
At........Boscovs, and Bon Ton.......TJMax........Pier One........Toys R Us......
Home Goods ( in New Jersey) Sams Club ( in NY) for yards of sparkling, wired ribbon......50 yds for 6 or 7 dollars!!!! It goes on and on forever........
I like a variety of different things at different places. So I choose Big Box Stores.
That doesn't mean I don't go to the outlets or the Malls........that I do too.

[MollyMe]

Went to Kmart today...PARKING--YES!! LINES-NO!! STUFF-YES!!