Shopping in Buffalo

Thanks to my dad, mom and I went shopping in the States this past weekend. For her birthday a hotel stay in Buffalo was one of the presents. So up we rose to be out the door at 7 a.m. on Saturday. We took the Erie way over to Walden Galleria and there was quite the line up at the border. The first day was spent at the Galleria, and we were quite disappointed that Bonton was no longer in that mall. We have enjoyed shopping there in the past and taking advantage of their early bird specials. We still managed to spend some money and wander around until about 4 p.m. when we checked in to the Millenium Hotel. After check-in we went to Target (or Targee as we like to say with a French accent) and spent the better part of 3 hours there and quite a bit of money later...Then on to Olive Garden for dinner. Oh how I wish Canada still had Olive Garden. I am not sure if they have it in Colorado but if they do, I am jealous Becky.

Day two we were off to the Outlets formerly known as the Prime Outlets (not sure of the new name). First we stopped at Fashion Bug, which neither of us had been to, but I had heard a lot about from Rosemary and Shannon. Lucky for us they were having this incredible one day sale and everything in the store was pretty much 50-60% off. I found a dress to wear to upcoming Christmas parties which is one of the things I didn't want to come home without. Then a few deals at Bass, Brooks Brothers and the Gap and we were on our way back home. There was no wait coming in to Canada but unfortunately we got a girl at customs (I find the guys to be much nicer). After answering her questions we were told to report to the duty office :( and so we did. They had pulled over so many cars that there was no parking in front of the building and people were double parked. There must have been some sort of blitz that day as customs people were roaming the parking lot in addition to being inside. Once we got inside we each paid duty on the receipts we had brought in with us. There were other people inside the duty place that were in big trouble. One gentleman was coming back with the wrong papers and looked to be of Indian decent. He had 3 female officers yelling at him. Another lady was being yelled at because she felt even though she just drove over the border to buy booze, and came right back, that she shouldn't have to pay duty for them. People were coming in to the counter, and then the officers would go outside with them to check their cars. It was VERY scary and the whole time I was in line to pay the duty (once my receipt had been looked at) my heart was pounding so hard I bet you could see it through my jacket. I learnt that next time I have to be more careful about my spending, and about disposing of bags and tags and multiple receipts with low amounts are probably a good idea. Once we were past the toll booths and a fair distance back in to Canada mom and I both declared we felt we needed a drink from all the stress we'd just been through at duty. And we did just that, came home and ended the weekend with a nice glass of wine.