Dear Pier 1 in the Building with the Movie Theatre, the Ice Cream Place and the DMV in my Hometown,
We were really there for the movies and the ice cream – it was just about the only thing to do on a Friday or Saturday night before we could drive, our parents dropping us off outside and picking us up again three hours later – but for me you were a magical, wonderful bonus. A few extra minutes before the movie and we could walk through, touching all the small toys and the bins of cloth shoes and the bright, soft dresses. That smell! So much rattan.
You made far off places seem attainable. I imagined when I was an adult I would furnish my entire home with wicker papasan chairs and I would lounge in them wearing batik baby doll dresses. In this dream I was an incense scented, tea drinking, vaguely shaped dreamer. It was lovely to think about.
I read yesterday that all the Pier 1 stores are closing. It’s a little sad, but not really. They are no longer like you, Pier 1. They are more expensive, somehow more cluttered and also more bland. All about holiday-themed tabletops. I’m not into it.
Stepping through your doors was like entering a different world. You never would have guessed the mean ladies of the DMV were just downstairs.
-e.