Brett and I are off work this week and decided to spend a day shopping for after Christmas bargains. We had never been to Whole Foods and Trader Joes in Beachwood. We left early and began our daylong journey. We first stopped at the Stouffer’s factory outlet store in Solon and picked up some Lean Cuisines for my lunches.

Trader Joe’s was a cool store. We picked up some bargains on healthy food. Our friends Nikki and Matt love Trader Joe’s because of the healthy alternatives at a good price. I am sure we will return. Our next stop was Whole Foods, just a little down the road. It’s a little pricier but had some nice items too. I picked up some pistachio crusted tilapia and basil, spinach and feta fresh salmon burgers. They had chefs making fresh sushi that we could not resist. It was yummy.

Corky and Lenny’s Deli is in the same plaza. Years ago when I worked in Beachwood we would lunch there. It is the best Jewish deli that I have ever eaten at. It looked the same 20 years later. I wish my diet could handle that deli, but we knew better.

Since we were almost there, we took a trip to Legacy Village. It’s a nice place to visit but expensive place to shop. Brett did pick up some nice martini and drink glasses that were on sale. We had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen. CPK is a tradition for us when we visit Vegas. We didn’t go this year because I thought my lapband would not tolerate the pizza. I decided to try their thin crust Neapolitan on my usual Greek Chicken pizza. It went fine, but I ended up bringing half of it home.

We then went to Beachwood Place and Pottery Barn (a gay man’s must-do). We stopped at Filene’s Basement where I got a nice pair of Calvin Klein jeans. I figured I had Brett shopped out, but he wanted to stop at Staples and Target in Streetsboro. The Christmas shop at Target had so much left for it being 5 days after Christmas. With everything 75% off, we bought a variety of things we needed.

We noticed that the economy has really affected shopping these days. All the stores had ample amounts of Christmas merchandise left at big discounts. People are just not buying stuff they don’t need. In Legacy Village there were maybe 4 empty store fronts and 2 stores going out of business. I suspect this will happen more in the coming year at shopping centers like this one.

It was a fun day. I got a lot of bargains. If you know me, then you know I love my bargains!