Westfield Town Center Has Brain Fart

While frantically running around doing my Christmas shopping last weekend I ended up at my beloved Westfield Town Center to purchase some gifts cards.

I went to the stand located in the middle of the mall by Starbucks (where they have sold their gift cards for over a year) and asked to make a purchase.  I was told that they no longer sell them there and that I needed to go to the gift card sales center over by Sears.

Slightly irritated, I head back in that direction (that I had just come from) only to find that the gift cards are being sold from inside a shoe store.  Yes that’s right, from inside a shoe store.  So when the line for gift cards gets long, it forms inside a shoe store where people are trying to shop and try on shoes.

Gimme a break guys.  Why’d ya move the gift card spot there?  Could there have been a worse spot?  The location in the middle of the mall was perfect and if you wanted to avoid long lines there, hmmm maybe move the baby strollers over by JCPenney?

Thumbs down from me to whoever the genius was that thought of this.

City of Santa Clarita | Fine Craft Show

Spend the weekend of shopping for fine hand-crafted items, specialty foods, coffee and listening to relaxing jazz music. Browse through many one-of-a-kind gifts including hand-crafted jewelry, pottery, woodwork, ceramics, floral arrangements, and much more.

When: 6/23/2007, 6/24/2007, 11/17/2007, 11/18/2007
Time: 10 PM - 5 PM
Where: Old Orchard Park
25023 Avenida Rotella
Newhall, CA 91351

For more information email the Arts and Events Office or call them at 661-286-4018.
You can also check out the event website here.

Farmer’s Market

When: 6/21/2007, 6/28/2007, 7/5/2007, 7/12/2007, 7/19/2007, 7/26/2007, 8/2/2007, 8/9/2007, 8/16/2007, 8/23/2007, 8/30/2007, 9/6/2007, 9/13/2007, 10/4/2007, 10/11/2007, 10/18/2007, 10/25/2007
Time: 4 PM - 8 PM
Where: Old Town Newhall
6th St. and San Fernando Rd.
Newhall, CA 91321

This is a great place to shop for fresh flowers, fruits, and vegetables.

For more information email the Arts and Events Office or call them at 661-286-4078
You can also check out the event website here.

Pumpkin Patch Kids Clothing Store

There is a new store in Santa Clarita called the Pumpkin Patch. It is loaded with cute and trendy clothes for kids as well as some cute maternity clothes for moms-to-be. This new store is located in the Westfield Town Center and has been open now for about 6 weeks. The staff there is very helpful and it’s really a great store to get something different and very fashionable.

The Pumpkin Patch comes to us from Australia and has stores internationally. Before this one, the closest one to Santa Clarita was in the Glendale Galleria.

Checkout their website for more info.

Or for more cute and trendy baby clothes check out Ambajam.com. 

Westfield Town Center Expansion Project

Santa Clarita residents can look forward to watching their beloved Westfield Town Center add about half a million square feet over the next few years. The project proposes 3 phases that will extend the mall on both the Valencia Blvd side and the Magic Mountain/Citrus corner.

We can look forward to 30 new shops (Macy’s is also said to be expanding), 4 or 5 new restaurants and another 3 level parking structure coming in phase 1. Phase 2 and 3 (Magic Mountain and Citrus) will bring another two story anchor store and a five level parking lot.

Also included in Phase 1 is an ‘outdoor lifestyle center’. Sorry, but I really don’t know what this is. It is supposed to somehow link Macy’s and Sears.

Santa Clarita loses so much tax dollar opportunity to the San Fernando Valley, so expanding the mall is a huge step forward to keeping our residents spending money in our valley.

There was no mention of what shops or restaurants would be moving in, but I have all my fingers crossed that I’ll see a Nordstrom sign going up.

There will be a public hearing at city hall regarding this project on May 15th.

What do you think will be built first? New additions to the mall or Castaic High School?

Cobblestone Cottage No Longer Carries Radko Ornaments

Cobblestone Cottage no longer carried Christopher Radko ornaments. ?

I am so sad to find out that our Santa Clarita Radko connection no longer carries these beautiful collectible ornaments. Every year I relied on Cobblestone Cottage to supply me with a fabulous assortment of Radko ornaments for my collection. This year however, I was let down. They no longer carry them. The closest store that carries these ornaments is in Chatsworth according to a salesperson at Cobblestone Cottage.

I ended up having to drive down to Bloomingdale’s in Sherman Oaks to get my Radko’s this year. The selection was not comparable to what Cobblestone Cottage had, but it fit the need for the moment. Next year, I’ll have to order online.

Too bad…more tax dollars leaking out of the SCV.

Black Friday

My day started at 5am with the alarm waking me up.  It was Black Friday.  I didn’t really know what I needed or wanted, al I knew is I was going shopping. 

I drove into Best Buy at about 5:30am and it was packed.  I mean the entire parking lot all the way up to El Presidente was full.  It took a good 15 minutes just to find a spot.  By the time I got in, the store was already wrecked.  They did have some good deals, I suppose, but the line to pay was similar to a roller coaster line.  It wrapped down the length of the store, through the appliance section, then back through were the vacuum cleaners and car stereos are.  I got into the line at 6am and was out the door at 6:45.

Next stop, the mall.  Macy’s was open.  I really wasn’t impressed with the sales they had there.  We waited for Victoria Secret to open because they had a free bag give away with a $50 purchase.  The line in Victoria Secret was about 30 minutes.  Not really worth it when you see the bag.  I mean it was cute I guess, but where would you use it?  It was silver with a big SUPERMODEL on the side.  I couldn’t really see myself carrying that around town.

My favorite sales were Aeropostle-50% everything in the store (even though theirs lasted the entire weekend) and the Gap which had 30% off everything in the store before 12pm with a $50 purchase.  A $50 purchase is easy at the Gap.

The shops were packed, so Merry Christmas!