So, let's assume that you have a yen to go kite flying. It's windy. You'd like to go that day. There's not a specialty shop near you, but you have a big-box toy store and a Target somewhat nearby.
Would you be kite flying later that day, or not?
That would depend on your timing and which employee you ask at the correct store, but very possibly, you would not be kite flying that day.
It's such a basic toy, isn't it? Target has whole aisles dedicated to Pla-Doh and things that buzz and tweet and toot, but I dare you to find a kite in Target. Perhaps at the beginning of whatever season is considered kite flying season (I honestly don't know...but aren't there windy days in every season?) then there MIGHT be a novelty kite in the seasonal row, but you'll get nothing but blank stares from the (usually helpful, 'round these parts) Target employees if you ask.
We made a special trip (~20 minutes each way) to a Toys'R'Us and looked around on our own before inquiring with an employee, and we lucked out and picked the guy in the store who has a crazy ability to remember the locations of even the most incidental of items. He remembered two sorta goofy pseudo-kites that they only had in stock because they were character-branded, and they were stuck on an endcap in the seasonal section among the pool stuff. You actually had to look quite closely to figure out was in the packages. We bought them and went kite flying with mixed results (wasn't quite windy enough) but if it hadn't been for that employee and some buyer who stocked the item because it went with the other seasonal stuff for that franchise's characters, we would still be kiteless.
They're sort of cheesy kites, really, so we still are kind of kiteless. It's weird to think of such a basic childhood toy as something you just can't find anywhere but a specialty shop. I'm trying to look for something close by that I can get something sturdier, but I may end up buying one from Amazon or something. Still...strange. Who thought kites were so scarce?
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3 comments:
Kites are sooooooooo 19th century. Ya think Target or TRU make more money with an extra shelf of kites or with an extra shelf of DS games?
That said, maybe you could try a hobby store? In Stevens Point, one of the game stores also sorta-doubled as a Boy Scout supply-model railroad-RC car store. I bet it'd have kites.
It looks like there's a specialty kite store (yeah, just kites) in the area in Boulder I've been meaning to go to and walk around with the B. I'll get one there.
I just want to say that I love the title of this post.
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