Shopping for the Shopaholic

It being Christmastime I have been spending a fair amount of my free time shopping. And one thing is for sure - shopping in the US (all the time, but especially around the holidays) is a shopaholic's dream come true!

Parking: Even when I go to the mall during peak times (Sat/Sun early afternoon) I haven't had any trouble finding a parking space. Don't get me wrong, there have definitely been more cars in the parking lot recently, but it hasn't taken me more than 2 minutes to find a spot - ever.

Crowds: Once inside the mall, it isn't crowded in the stores or the aisles. There aren't long lines at cashiers, and it isn't too hard to find a sales person to help you. The malls I have been going to around here (Holyoke & Westfarms) are less crowded during the holiday season than Yorkdale is off-season!

Hours: The stores are open a fair bit later here to help serve their customers better. For example, Yorkdale Mall's idea of extended holiday hours is closing at 9:30pm each night instead of 9pm with 2 extra hours on Sunday. My new favourite mall Holyoke Mall is open until 9:30pm regularly and has extended their hours until 11pm during the holiday with 4 extra hours on Sundays.

Returns: In Toronto stores never accepted returns during the holiday season because they were struggling to serve all the customers making purchases. In the US this isn't the case. You can do all the same transactions during the holidays as you can any other time of the year.

Cyber-Space: We have been taking full-advantage of all the online vendors available to US residents. Back in Toronto there was a limited number of merchants that ship to Canada. And then there was always the hassle of paying duty and taxes which pretty much ate up whatever savings you made from ordering online in the first place. But since we've moved State-side we've been buying lots of goodies online - books, CDs, and electronics are our most frequent purchases, but we've also had some great savings with kitchenware and luggage. And each time we make a purchase it's from a different vendor - there are just so many to choose from! Another major benefit of online purchases is that they don't bear any tax! Which brings me to my next point...

Taxes: Okay this one is HUGE - in Toronto we were paying 15% in GST & PST, which was later reduced to 14%. In Connecticut the state sales tax is 6% and in Massachusetts it's 5%. So you're already saving about 8-9% just on tax alone. And in addition to this, there are several handy exemptions to these state sales taxes. In Massachusetts there is *no* sales tax on gas as well as shoes & clothing under $175. I think it's fair to say that I use this exemption at least once a week ( I work in MA so it's very convenient for me to gas up here). In Connecticut any clothing under $50 is tax-free and of course like in Ontario, groceries aren't taxed either.

Taxes - part 2: For the most part, taxes on income are lower in the US leaving you with more disposable income to go shopping with. 'Nuff said :)