Each year, a few weeks before Father’s Day, I begin to notice my wife and kids shadowing me around the house. They pay exceedingly close attention to every little chore or job that I’m doing – all in an effort to catch me say something out loud, like ‘Dang it, these earbuds don’t work’ or ‘I can’t believe I spilled oil on my favorite t-shirt AGAIN’. This always serves as an opportunity for them to pounce and head out to the store to replace whatever I’ve got that’s broken…
Shopping for me (and Dads in general) tends to get harder and harder each year; I’ve personally spent a lot of time over the decades trying to find that perfect give for my own Pop with each year becoming more difficult. I found myself hitting multiple specialty stores to achieve that handful of perfect gifts that say – thanks for all that you do…
So instead of wasting an entire weekend driving all over the city (even though that sounds nice after spending a year and a half in our houses), I decided to take a chance and take the family on an afternoon outing to our local Belk just outside of Nashville – which happens to be no more than a mile down the road. If you’re unfamiliar with Belk – it’s an American department store chain founded 150 years ago. Belk (and Belk.com) offers apparel, shoes, accessories, cosmetics, home furnishings and wedding registry. It’s a one-stop shop and for a guy like me, that’s my cup of tea. There’s something to be said about a brick-and-mortar American retailer that can survive and succeed in our highly-evolved digital era.
This was an opportunity to point out (and pick up!) a few things that I might like. We shuffled across the Men’s watches and made our way to the cologne counter and I took a few minutes to show the boys how to apply a ‘spritz’ without going overboard – let’s just say that those few minutes we spent in the truck to get home will have my cab smelling like ‘date night’ for quite a while. They both found it somewhat funny that at the adjacent counter, a teenage boy was there with his Dad – trying out different scents, most likely getting his first bottle of cologne…
And one brother can’t do something without the younger needing it too!
After getting ourselves smelling sweeter than when we came in – we headed off to apparel (to replace a few of those shirts that got stained while working in the garage or doing yard work) and right away, I found a few things from Columbia, Salt Life and Saddlebred that I threw in the cart. And those weren’t the only men’s lines – they also have Nautica, William Rast, Champion, Adidas and Crown & Ivy Cabana. I scored a pair of Clark’s shoes and a bathing suit from Ocean & Coast…
Believe it or not, the kids were frothing at the mouth to move on – and explore some of the tech items. Belk carries Amazon Echo, Beats by Dre, Google Nest and a host of others, but I was sort of eyeing up a wireless bluetooth speaker that we could use by the pool or even on camping trips this summer…
I’m not a huge ‘in-store’ kinda guy, in fact, if I do happen to venture out to an actual store – I’m usually the one launching into a mission like a heat-seeking missile to find the ‘dad chair’ that sits in the middle of most sections. HOWEVER, when I do see a kitchen or cooking section, I’m all ears (and eyes). I sorted through a few Lodge cast iron pots, toasters, cookware and eventually settled on something that, alas, has been broken for years. Most Sunday mornings, I’ll get up and cook everyone pancakes, bacon and eggs on our plug-in griddle… that is, until it snapped in half during our move to Tennessee. Belk just happened to have a griddle by Dash.
I scored two new hats, including a Southern Bend Fishing Club ball cap and a handful of other things to bolster my summer wardrobe choices. And I couldn’t walk out being the only one that bought things for themself. My daughters and sons sneaked a few items into the cart, heck I even found my own dad a new tee and my mom a floppy pool hat. I will mention one thing though – I couldn’t believe some of the sale items. Never in my life have I strolled up to the cashier, had her hand me a receipt as long as my arm and say – ‘Thanks for shopping at Belk, you saved $620.00 today’. I nearly passed out – because my total bill didn’t even come close to my total savings! Plus, every dad needs and deserves to get a good deal once in a while…
EDITOR’S NOTE: This was a sponsored post on behalf of Belk retailer, however, all thoughts, opinions and early Father’s Day gifts are mine! Check out Belk online and follow them on Facebook and Instagram!
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