Post-Christmas Shopping

Today Jerilyn, Danny and I ventured down to the South Side shops here in Pittsburgh to see if there was anything worthy of our coveted after-Christmas cash. I had $100 to spend on some pants, so that was my main mission. The South Side is a redevelopment retail area that used to be occupied by all sorts of manufacturing along the Monongahela river south of the triangle in Pittsburgh, but was long abandoned by the decline of industrial business in the Pittsburgh area.

The first store I went to was H&M as suggested by my wife as a place to start looking. After about 3o seconds of looking around in this ridiculous array of trendy metro-looking mens clothes I decided that it just wasn't for me (as if the price tag wouldn't have deterred me anyway). The second store we went to was trusty American Eagle. I remember shopping in American Eagle when I was in college and it not being too unbelievably expensive, but I guess times have changed. I didn't see any single pair of pants in this store that were under $60. Call me a cheapskate, but $60 for a pair of jeans that in my opinion aren't even that great of quality is a little absurd. **Disclaimer** - I did find a pair of jeans for $30 on the clearance rack but they seemed like they were cut for some girlie man with skinny thighs.

On to REI. For the last couple years I've been shopping at REI both at the stores and online. I've always been impressed with their selection and quality of clothing (especially their house brand clothing). I went to the mens section and found 2 pairs of pants for 30 and one for 60 that has zip-off pant legs, now that's what I'm talkin' about!!! I walked away with 3 pair of good-quality pants for $120 that will probably last me 2-3 years. Maybe I'm just getting old, but I don't understand spending more for clothing that has no functionality to it other than just looking good.

So for all you guys out there looking for decent prices on good quality clothing, look no farther.