I don’t know about you but I’m a creature of habit when I walk into a store I know what aisle items are one and can tell you sitting inside my home which aisle you will find something on but then there are days when I walk into a store looking for one simple thing and leave wondering what in the world happened.

Lately, it seems like everywhere I go, something has changed. This is frustrating to me because most of the time I need to get in and out and don’t have time to search for things I need.

In the stores I usually shop at this has been happening more and more with aisles being moved. Displays have been rearranged. Machines are being replaced. Things I have bought in the same place for years suddenly aren’t where they used to be.

And honestly, it is driving me absolutely batty. I understand that stores have to change. Equipment gets old, technology changes, products change, and businesses are always trying to figure out better ways to operate.

But sometimes I just want to walk into a store and find the thing I came in to buy. My latest adventure actually started with QT. I finally got my QT app fixed. Thank the LORD because it was costing me money when it wasn’t working.

That was a whole thing in itself because I had been having trouble with it. Once I finally got everything straightened out, I was happy because I could take advantage of some of the deals available through the app.

And one of those deals is 49-cent Cokes. Now, if you know me, you know I’m going to take advantage of a 49-cent Coke. Of course, because apparently I am not allowed to have nice things, just as I finally got my QT app working, my phone got broken.

So now I’m going to have to call QT again, change the phone number, and go through that whole process again. It’s just a whole energy. Sometimes you have to laugh because otherwise you might get frustrated.

But the QT situation also got me thinking about how much shopping has changed. Some QT locations are changing out their Coke machines and moving toward more digital equipment. I understand why businesses do it.

Technology changes. Equipment needs to be replaced. Companies want newer systems that they believe will make things easier or more efficient. But after hearing some of the employees talking about the changes, I realized I wasn’t the only one who wasn’t completely convinced that every new change automatically makes things better.

Sometimes the old way worked just fine. You knew how to use the machine. The employees knew how it worked. Customers knew what to expect. Then a new machine shows up, and suddenly everybody has to figure it out.

That’s retail today. Change is going to happen whether we like it or not. For me more times than not I don’t like it. Neither does Charlie or David and more times than not my sister and mother in law also don’t like.

The real frustration started when I was trying to find baking supplies. I was looking for Betty Crocker baking supplies and things I needed for decorating cakes. Not just cake mix.

I was looking for the things you actually use after the cake is baked. Cake decorating supplies. Things like the supplies you need to make the cake look pretty and finish it off. And suddenly, something that should have been a simple shopping trip became a treasure hunt.

I went to WinCo and I couldn’t find what I needed. I looked around. I tried to figure out where they had moved things. And it was driving me absolutely batty. I finally left and went to Walmart thinking surely I would have better luck there.

Nope. I couldn’t find what I needed there either. And that made me even more frustrated. That’s when I really started noticing how much stores have been changing lately. It’s not just one store.

It seems like every store I go into has been changing, rearranging, remodeling, or moving things around. And when you’re looking for something specific, it makes a huge difference and takes up time I could be doing something else with.

If I’m looking for a box of cereal, I can probably eventually find it. But when I’m looking for a specific baking or cake-decorating supply, I don’t want to walk around the entire store hoping I happen to stumble across it.

I want to know where the baking supplies are. I want to walk to that section. I want to find what I need. I want to pay for it and go home. Is that really too much to ask? As much as I hate to say it I’ve begun to think having stores deliver my grocers might be easier and less time consuming.

But I wouldn’t be able to look for sales items so I guess I will just keep trying to figure out all the changes and deal with it. Because I would end up spending more money than I need to use the delivery services.

The funny thing is that Charlie and I were talking about all of this the other day. He told me he didn’t want to go to WinCo. Naturally, I asked him why. He said they were rearranging that store too.

Then he reminded me how much I hate the Walmart on Beach Street since they changed everything around. And he’s right. I hate that Walmart now. I know Granny doesn’t like it either.

There is something about getting comfortable with a store and knowing exactly where everything is, only to walk in one day and discover that somebody decided to move half the store.

Charlie basically warned me that I better be prepared when I walked into WinCo because I wasn’t going to be a happy camper. Boy, oh boy. Was he right. Yes, he was and now I don’t want to go back there which is sad because this is where I get a lot of my meat from.

I went into WinCo and started looking for the magazines. How hard should it be to find magazines in a store where you’ve been shopping there for years and years. Apparently, pretty hard.

I spent 20 minutes looking for the magazines. Twenty minutes! At that point, I wasn’t shopping anymore. I was on a scavenger hunt. I walked around trying to figure out what had moved, what hadn’t moved, and whether I had somehow forgotten how to shop.

You get used to a store. You know where the baking supplies are. You know where the everyday essentials are. You know where the snacks are. You know where the things you buy regularly are.

You develop a routine without even thinking about it. Then the store changes everything, and suddenly something that should take two minutes takes twenty. And that’s exactly what happened to me at WinCo.

Charlie knew it was coming. I just didn’t realize how right he was. Here’s the funny part. After all that searching and frustration, I didn’t leave WinCo empty-handed. I actually came out with three books for under $10. So I guess I can’t complain too loudly.

I may not have been happy about spending 20 minutes looking for the magazines, but finding three books for less than ten dollars certainly helped. And honestly, that’s one of the funny things about shopping.

Sometimes you go into a store looking for one thing and end up finding something completely different. I wasn’t planning on spending my time hunting through the store. But because everything had been moved around, I ended up seeing things I probably wouldn’t have noticed otherwise.

In this case, that meant three books. So maybe WinCo’s rearrangement wasn’t completely bad. I’m still not happy about it. But I’m willing to admit that I found a pretty good deal. Although them moving the store around cost me money I hadn’t planned on spending which I’m sure Winco would be happy about.

Here’s the part where I have to be fair to the stores. I know they have reasons for moving things around. Businesses want customers to see new products. Seasonal merchandise needs to come out. Departments change. Stores remodel. Equipment gets replaced.

Companies are trying to make the shopping experience better—or at least that’s usually the goal. But there is another side to all of that. The customer has to relearn the store. When you shop somewhere regularly, you aren’t walking through those aisles randomly.

You have a mental map. You know where things are. You know which aisle you need. You know how to get what you need and get back home. When everything moves, that mental map disappears.

And suddenly you’re wandering around looking for cake-decorating supplies, baking products, magazines, drinks, snacks, household products, or whatever else you came in to buy.

Here’s the other thing. I know that when everything is in the same place every time, I can walk straight to what I need. I don’t have to look at everything else. I don’t have to walk past displays I wasn’t interested in. I don’t have to stop and see what’s new.

But move everything around? Now I have to walk through more of the store. And while I’m walking around looking for the thing I came in for, I see other things. Maybe I see a new snack. Maybe I see a clearance item.

Maybe I see a baking supply I didn’t realize I needed. Maybe I see a book. Maybe I see something that makes me think, “Oh, we could use that.” And suddenly the quick shopping trip isn’t quite so quick—or quite so inexpensive.

I know that’s part of retail. Stores want us to spend money. That’s how they stay in business. I’m not blaming them for that. But as a shopper, I can still say that I notice what is happening.

There is another side to all of this, though. Sometimes the things you find because you got lost in the store turn out to be the best part of the trip. That’s what happened to me at WinCo.

I went looking for magazines. I spent 20 minutes trying to find them. I was frustrated. Charlie had warned me. And then I walked out with three books for under $10. That’s not exactly a bad shopping trip.

It just wasn’t the shopping trip I planned. And maybe that’s what makes unexpected retail finds fun. You never know what you’re going to discover. A new baking supply. A cake-decorating item.

A household item you needed. A clearance deal. A new snack. A book you weren’t looking for. Or even a 49-cent Coke through the QT app—assuming I can get my phone situation straightened out again.

I don’t know that there is a perfect answer. Stores are going to change. Technology is going to change. Machines are going to be replaced. Products are going to move. And businesses are going to continue looking for ways to get our attention and encourage us to spend a little more money.

I just wish they would give us a little warning sometimes. Maybe put a sign at the entrance that says: “Welcome! We’ve moved everything. Good luck!” At least then I would know what I was walking into.

Because when you have been shopping somewhere for years and suddenly everything is different, it can feel like you walked into an entirely different store. And if Charlie tells me beforehand that a store has been rearranged?

I might actually listen to him next time. Because when he told me I wasn’t going to be a happy camper at WinCo, he knew exactly what he was talking about. I just didn’t realize I would spend 20 minutes looking for magazines before discovering three books for under $10.

So I suppose there is a lesson here. Sometimes getting lost in the store can lead you to an unexpected bargain. But if anyone knows where they moved the Betty Crocker cake-decorating supplies… Please tell me. I’m still looking.

Grateful, Thankful, Blessed.

Thank you,

Glenda, Charlie and David Cates