I love shopping just as much as the average 20-year-old girl, maybe more. In my eyes, there's nothing a little retail therapy can't fix. In recent years, online shopping has began monopolizing the way we shop; if someone can pick something out from the comfort of their own couch, why wouldn't they? But I don't, as bizarre as it may be to some people, I'd so much rather go out to a store and be able to riffle through racks for exactly what I want, see the quality of a product between my own two hands, and try something on and not have to deal with hassling returns.

Recently, I've been noticing the disregard stores have towards their customers and the overall shopping experience. Today I went to the mall and felt completely overwhelmed and uncomfortable in almost every store I went into. As someone who used to work in retail, I understand how hard it is to keep a store in perfect condition, but these stores looked like a tornado tore through them. The stores were messy, dirty, and unorganized. The staff, when you finally found them to answer a question or open up a dressing room, were rude and cranky. The mall corridors themselves were not well attended to either, I felt like I was dodging trash at every corner.

Optimists would stop me right now and say "Perhaps it was just that one mall!" but it isn't. As an avid shopper, I don't limit myself to just traditional shopping malls. I'm always down for the challenge of tacking outlet malls and off-price retail stores. I've found that off-price retail stores like Burlington Stores and T.J Maxx are among the best kept and best staffed stores.

Now I don't mean to sound like a brat; I'm not expecting stores to be spotless and every salesperson to be acting like they just won the lottery, but an ounce of concern for the well-being of a company's image would be nice. Decades ago, going to a shopping mall would have been a privilege. Nowadays, the decline of the american mall seems inevitable. I never thought I'd say it, but I may start transitioning into an online shopper...