The only kind of shopping I truly enjoy is grocery shopping, and even that can get to be a bit of a slog on the weekend, when the whole world is out thumping melons and squeezing the Charmin. For all other forms of shopping (with the possible exception, now that I think about it, of hardware), give me a cup of coffee and a catalog – no, not the Internet, but an actual paper catalog.
When it comes to buying stuff, I’m as happy as the average toddler to look at pictures, but oh, what a joy it is to slouch down on the couch with a catalog that ventures beyond materials and technical specs in its product descriptions.
I love a catalog with a sense of humor, a story or simply a whimsical approach to its subject. And why should it not always be that way? Sure, the product descriptions inhabit a modicum of space, but what does size matter: no copy was ever so avidly read as the predictive aphorism we find on the 2″ x 1/4″ slip of paper tucked in our Chinese fortune cookie.
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