DD
D. Jennifer Dawson
Feb 22, 2026
It is sad, witnessing the slow demise of retail. The Age of The Department Store is all but gone. The General Store, The Mercantile, The Trading Post, in reverse chronology, all met their end, as well.
Which is why, the tiny oasis of Belk, Charlottesville, is a refreshing change from the experience of intangible, faceless, online retail and eBay/Poshmark/Etsy haggle-market-shopping.
I miss in-person shopping. I miss the clerk asking if I'd like to confirm my proper shoe size; who'd then haul out the metal device that aligned with my heel, toe, bunion from years of dancing. S/he/they would bring shoeboxes until, somtimes with their input, a style was chosen. The brief relationship between clerk and customer ended with mutual 'thank you's', and often, satisfaction for all parties.
I miss personal service and polite conversation and a lot of other things that have nothing to do with buying bed pillows, yesterday. The 50% discount was an unexpected plus!
Yesterday's visit to Belk was a rare pleasure: to leisurely browse beautiful items, impractical and pragmatic, and be helped by friendly people. For a moment, I remembered life the way it was before someone decided we all needed to be remote, online, and disconnected from each other.