Shopping Online Versus Waiting In Line

I did not break a sweat once during 4 days of trying hard to resist the numerous sales that littered the malls and city blocks like pigeons. However, I have grown weary after 4 days of incessant emails from every store I was ever stupid enough to give my email address over to at check out. While I love J.Crew and Ann Taylor dearly, if I get one more email announcing a percentage off and free shipping, I may have to drown my Blackberry in a vat of leftover turkey soup.

Apparently, Friday's shopping hordes will pale in comparison to Cyber Monday's throngs. I love a good Internet search for the perfect cashmere cardigan as much as the next person, but I just can't climb aboard the online shopping bandwagon. (Granted while I was away at college in Central New York, miles away from the nearest mall, I received my fair share of packages from .com websites such that the mail room staff began to call me by name, and ask what I was buying this time.) But for those of us who live in shopping meccas, is Internet shopping really preferable to the real deal?

I think of Carrie Bradshaw in the mid 90's when Miranda was explaining the benefits of creating an email account and online shopping. Carrie declined the offer of cyber buying, explaining that shopping was her cardio. Though I frequent the gym, shopping is a sort of health-boosting activity that stimulates my imagination, my emotions, and gets my creative blood flowing. I do however, see the appeal of foregoing the streets and enjoying the buying high from the comfort of a good leather easy chair and a trusty MacBook. Between the crowds of shoppers who leave their manners at home, and the desperate sales persons thirsty for commission that smell your wallet from 100 feet away, it can be a bit much. (My Husband and I visited Bloomingdale's on 59th and Lex yesterday for a pair of leather gloves and had to leave after being assaulted by countless hungry sales persons who hadn't seen their last meal in days.)

Just as I prefer beautiful stationary to emails for certain communications, meeting for coffee to instant messaging (I still don't really know what Twitter is), and tactile inspection to a mere cyber image, I choose hitting the pavement in search of that perfect party dress over an Internet quest for thumbnail images of skinny girls who would look good in burlap sacks. But for those who fancy being online to waiting in line, today's .com sales will make your head spin. For extra savings and free shipping, be sure to visit Saks, Bloomingdales, Loft, Bluefly, Nine West, Banana Republic, and L'Occitane today.