On the plus side, it's convenient and some of the people who work there are entertaining. There is an older women who works in the morning. She has worked there for at least 10 years, but complains about working there every time I am in the store. Her latest complaint a few weeks back was something along these lines: "I am restocking the candy aisle this morning. I hate the candy aisle. It's all because people buy our candy and smuggle it into the theater. When the theater was shutdown during COVID, nobody bought candy."
One women sings along to everything on the intercom and there is a college girl who dances to everything on the intercom. If there was a lip-synching competition that revolved around only Haim songs, they would win.
The store manager reminds people to fill out the customer surveys so he gets a bonus at the end of the year. At least he is honest.
In the 10-plus years I have owned my house down the street from Walgreens, I have never seen a current year pack of baseball cards in the store. I like those $5 repacks. Always fun to see all the 1980s and 1990s junk wax in the packs. Recently pulled a 1988 Topps Dodgers Leaders card out of one of those packs.
Cardinal legends Pedro Guerrero and Fernando Valenzuela on the card.
A few weeks back I went to Walgreens at 10 at night. My wife and I sat outside on our patio while our daughter was playing in the sandbox and our son was hitting some wiffleballs. She got bitten up by something and sent me down the street after the kids went to bed to buy some Caladryl. I walked through the store to the back corner where all the First-Aid stuff is located, found what I came for and started walking to the checkout counter.
I went through the toy aisle and was shocked to see a pack of 2021 Topps cards.
A little Walgreens magic.
I have bought single 2021 cards, but this was my first actual pack of Topps. Pretty amazing to make it more than half a year without opening a single pack of these cards. Even though it's August, I am going to post the first card I pull out of a pack along with the first Cardinals and former Durham Bulls player as well.
Here we go. First card out of a Topps pack in 2021 is.....
former Duke Blue Devil Marcus Stroman. Long time fan. I am old enough to remember when Marcus was a second baseman at Duke. Almost positive I went to an NC State/Duke game at some point where the starting second basemen for the two teams were Marcus Stroman and Russell Wilson. I like the action shot on this card. I also like that he looks short here. If you were not aware, Marcus is really short. He has a whole line of merchandise he promotes based on the fact that he is short.
Next.
Jordan Hicks is my first Cardinal. The yellow bordered cards are Walgreens exclusives. Hicks is diabetic and did not play last year. Nice to see Topps still include him in the set.
Last one.
These aren't my favorite cards by any means, but I am happy that I finally got to open a pack of cards from this year.
Hopefully there were more than three cards in there! :)
ReplyDeleteThere were more than 3 cards, but I did not have the motivation to scan more than 3 cards.
DeleteIt's so hit or miss for me finding cards at Walgreen's. It's like there's no rhyme or reason as to when they get some. It's been empty the last few weeks, but I always check when I am there, just in case.
ReplyDeleteSince finding those cards, there have now regularly been cards in the store. Weird that they suddenly appeared.
DeleteI miss the days of going into stores like Walgreens and Longs and becoming acquainted with regular employees. Most of my shopping takes place at Target, but since I only go there once (maybe twice) a month... I rarely run into a familiar face.
ReplyDeleteI think that Walgreens store next to my house is an exception to the rule with retail stores these days. I don't shop often, but I stick with the same few stores. All the other stores never have the same people. Especially the grocery stores near me.
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