This view should give you an idea of just how deserted this store was. It was certainly a bit awkward to be here with the store like this, especially given the cultural history of this place that I mentioned earlier. Even in normal times, I probably would have stuck out like a sore thumb in this place, and at this point with no other customers to provide distraction while I was clearly not buying anything (not that there was much of anything to buy), I must have been a weird sight indeed -- if anyone actually noticed me.
I felt the same way you did here when I went to the Foodtown store in West Palm Beach (which I blogged about a few weeks ago). However, that store was much busier than you describe this store as being, but I feel that being busier made things even more awkward.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I feel a bit more awkward in empty stores like this, since there's no crowd for me to try to blend in to. Of course, if a store is particularly busy, that can be awkward too since there are lots of people to look at you! Since I'm generally much more concerned about employees than other shoppers, I tend to be more comfortable in moderately busy stores where I can blend in, but I totally get it that other people have different comfort levels.
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