Yes, Longacres is a garden shop. They sell plants, and lots of other miscelaneous stuff too. But it's nowhere near as good as Target. It's not even as good as a fake Aussie Target. It's more like a beefed up 7-11 with a floral department.
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| Proposed Floorplan for the soon to be remodeled Longacres |
One of the best things about Longacres is that you can get your car washed while you shop by a guy who has set up a little "valet-ing" business in the carpark. This is very common around here. I have yet to see a real purpose built car wash facility, but there are these random "hand-wash" detail centres all over the place.
So I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone and have my car (which we have owned for nearly 2 months and have not yet washed ) cleaned up while I desperately searched the garden shop for a bus- driver-appropriate gift.
But, unfortunately, it was not meant to be. You see, there was a 2 hour wait for the car wash service. And here's the kicker: it was pouring rain today!
A 2 hour back up of cars waiting to be washed at the garden centre in the pouring rain. I couldn't help thinking to myself, "This just wouldn't happen in America."
yikes, no targert?!??! bummer it didn't work out.
ReplyDeletewhy get a car wash (let alone wait for 2 hrs) when the sky is giving a free one lol
silly english people :)
LOL our Targets in Australia are fake? to me Target is a shopping Mecca but I have not experienced shopping in the US and my husband says that once I do I will never look at Australian shops the same again :)
ReplyDeleteI don't think that would happen in Australia either, but we (as in our family, not Aussies in general) are pretty lazy with the whole car washing thing, once it rains we reverse the car outside the garage and let the rain wash it...perhaps I should be embarrassed admitting that?
My sister works for Target headquarters in Minneapolis. She told me that years ago, they just let an Australian use the name Target and the bullseye logo and that they didn't even ask for anything in return. Obviously, they did not anticipate the global economy that we have today, and I'm sure they more than regret that decision!
ReplyDeleteI dated an Australian when I lived in Seoul for a couple of years so I visited Australia a couple of times. Although it was slightly disappointing, I was thrilled none the less to shop at the fake Target and stock up on western products to bring back to Korea. A fake Target is so much better than no Target :)
Victoria- exactly! I've never even considered washing the car on a rainy day but mine is so grime covered right now that even an English downpour isn't enough to remove the dirt!
ReplyDeleteTEW-See how much you're learning about Australia from an outsider? ;) Believe me, I will never, never complain about the fake Aussie Target again. I'd give anything to have one here.
Melissa- Interesting! I always wondered how they got the bullseye logo. Underneath in small print it always says "Not affiliated with Target USA." (Which is totally obvious to anyone who has ever stepped foot into a US Target).
There are so many things to address here...
ReplyDelete1. A gift for the bus driver, they do an invaluable service yes, but we just met him/her and now we have to stress at the 7-11 for a gift.
2. Carwash in the rain? you get your money back for that in the States plus a new wash
3. So that's why Target sucks here? I bet the Target's(not their real name I know) are kicking themselves for that franchise agreement!
4. The shopping is worse???? Yes? Oh No!
Miss you!
Here in BC, Canada we have those mobile car wash thingy's too (and regular car washes as well!), and unfortunately we also have the crappy Target - obviously adapted from the Aussie's from what I gather from your readers comments - and you are quite right, it is nothing compared to the ones that you have in the US. Thanks for the interesting post!
ReplyDelete