My sister is obsessed with storage. She is forever on the lookout for boxes and bags and bins and all other kinds of containers that will help her catalog and organize and sort and arrange all her stuff so she can put in neatly in closets and on shelves all neat and tidy, out of the way but easy to get to. One of the cable networks actually has a program devoted to storage solutions, and she watches it just like it was the Syfy channel or Fox or some other venue of real entertainment. I don't know where she got this unhealthy fixation. What's the big deal? You pile stuff in corners and stack them on flat surfaces, working from the outside in so you've always got a small space to actually live in.
And now she is in storage heaven. Near her in Indianapolis there is a new place called The Container Store, which specializes in all things for storage:
The store will offer 10,000 products in 14 departments arranged by rooms in the home — kitchen, laundry, bathroom, office, travel and so on. Hopper says 80 percent of the items for sale are priced under $20.
Good lord -- 10,000 product!. That is obscene. That is almost sick. It's container porn, is what it is. Just imagine what this says about the American spirit. Once there were outfitting stores where you could stock up with all you needed for the great migrations into the unknown. Now we have storage stores to help you stay where you are without being spotted as a hoarder.
Comments
hey, you didn't mention how I was going to camp out overnight for the big opening day of the container store....no camping out for a new smart phone or the latest tablet or the next star wars or harry potter movie...no, I want to be the first person at the container store....whoo-hoo...
Tent = portable temporary human storage unit
Judy, you could carry signs "Occupy 82nd Street"?
I can't find bread flour in supermarkets as good as the stuff at Costco - but it comes in a 50-pound bag. The problem? It's hard to find a container to keep the flour in that will keep insects out.
I end up lining a small plastic garbage can with a plastic bag, and sealing the bag shut with a twist-tie, but that's a pain.
If the discount stores had "burpable" containers that were big enough for 50 pounds of sugar or flour, they'd find plenty of customers for them among amateur bakers and canners.
They also could sell zipper-lock bags in a long size, appropriate for bread, and in larger sizes like maybe a 2.5-gallon size. You can find those online from packaging outfits, but you have to buy 1000 bags of a size, which can run $30 to $50 or more, plus shipping, in those larger sizes.
I guess I'd rather be a hoarder than a wastrel.