Todd Stadler's blog

ye olde shoppe-ing

I went to a wedding in Sturbridge recently. What a funny little town. It's located more or less in the middle of the state they call "Mass". As in "Sturbridgemass". Or the "Masspike". Or massvisit.net, massvacation.com, or massiveattack.co.uk. Whoops, strike that last one.

Apparently, everyone was having such a good time shopping at Basketville that they forgot how to spell "Massachusetts".

But who can blame them? That part of the state is your one-stop location for all ye olde shoppes. You can buy ye olde yuletide crappe at the Christmas Barn. Or if it's ye olde chock-o-lat you seek, you can jaunt over to Hebert's, famous up and down the Masspike as "America's first roadside candy store". They mention that fact several times in their jingle, so it must be true!

But then, not everything in Sturbridge was expensive and antiquey. The gas station near our hotel had a fine selection of sunglasses in the ugly gas station style. And unlike most sunglass retailers, who know that their dumb products appeal to ironic folks like myself (and price their wares accordingly), the fine folks at Citgo sold me these fine shades for only $6.

Of course, as with any fashion purchase, I immediately started doubting myself. Maybe I looked more like a police officer or member of the Village People than an ironic Gen X'er. What if the irony went too far? I might look ... uncool!

Fortunately, all these doubting thoughts were cut short when I spied the fabulous Hostess product selection at this gas station. Not only did they have a full spread of Hostess Zingers (I bought the "new!" raspberry kind), not only did they have pink Sno Balls (bringing my collection to 71% complete), but they had "new!" Devil's Food Twinkies, which I'd never seen before. (According to this site, I should also be on the lookout for Hostess Boston Cream Cakes - ooh, I'm so excited!)

In short, it was a pop-culture-consumer's dream world. Some people go to Sturbridge to relive the past. I go there to revel in the present, with all its technological, or at the very least gastronomical, marvels.