Convenience Welcome Tradeoff To Sprawl

I love Christmas and this year the holidays are an especially happy time for me.

And to think I owe it all to the commercial sprawl along the Sullivan corridor.

Until the Spokane Valley Mall and the rest of the new retail development along Sullivan Road popped up, Christmas shopping was always such a burden.

My husband, George, and I would pick one night to tackle it all. We bundled into our little car and braved North Division Street just to get to NorthTown and Toys “R” Us. (My friends laugh because I gauge everything on the North Side by whether it’s north or south of Toys “R” Us.)

At Toys “R” Us, we would trudge from the farthest end of the parking lot, feet wet and cold, to fight other mothers and fathers in search of that perfect Christmas gift. After having run the gauntlet up North Division, the spirit to find our children’s most desired items rarely remained.

At overgrown, overcrowded NorthTown, we’d complain and shop, complain some more, eat dinner and complain even more because we were always getting lost.

Because it’s so close to home, the Valley Mall is familiar enough that we never need to pull out our compass to find JC Penney or Sears.

I have heard the blasphemy about the “California look” of the Valley Mall and I’ve heard the ridicule of the palm trees, but, frankly, I love the place.

I guess I’m still enough of a rube - blame it on those formative years in Wenatchee plus the last 13 in Greenacres - to get a kick out of the glass bridges with the neon “bricks.” I like the skylights. I even like the fact that the place looks like it’s decorated for Christmas 365 days of the year.

In spite of that sign that stood for so many years along Interstate 90 promising that a grand retail complex would soon fill that empty field, my family and I sometimes doubted that the Valley Mall would ever arrive.

We certainly never expected that along with the mall would come so many other stores - some even closer to our home - such as Wal Mart and Toys “R” Us.

In my 13 years in Greenacres, I have observed incredible transformations in the Sullivan neighborhood.

Like many other Valley residents, I have complained bitterly over some of the changes.

When Wal Mart first opened and hindered our route home, George and our son, Morgan, took to calling its shoppers “Wal Martians.”

We couldn’t fathom the lines of cars that waited to enter the overpopulated parking lot and fight the shopping cart battle inside. But after the traffic subsided, we grudgingly learned to take advantage of what’s inside that store on a quiet day.

After all, it has what we look for most in a store - it’s close to our house.

Progress - and I know many would disagree that’s the best way to describe the changes along the Sullivan corridor - is always a tradeoff.

I think malevolent thoughts about the traffic engineer who has timed the lights on Sullivan near the mall. I miss my old “mom and pop” video stores, which have been run out of business by nationwide chains. We have given up much of the rural tranquility which attracted us to Greenacres.

But the convenience is hard to knock.

Now it’s Christmastime again and this year there are even more places close to home for me to do my shopping.

I’m entering the season with a relaxed and peaceful spirit knowing that I don’t have to travel clear to the North Pole to do my Christmas shopping.

Happy holidays!