One of my coworkers went to Mr Mac and so far has been very happy with everything but her son has only been on his mission for a few months. Another coworker was happy with the Missionary Mall and said they replaced her son's backpack for free three times. Okay, that is where I paused. Three Times!!? Seems like a lot to me, and a backpack is an essential piece of a missionary's equipment. She also said that they ordered his bike through Missionary Mall, and that they will cover the costs of any repairs needed on the bike wherever he is. That sounds pretty good, and Mr Mac, at least as far as I know, doesn't offer anything like that on bikes. I do like their replacement policy, and they keep a record of all of our purchases so if we need to get say another shirt just like the ones we purchased they can look it up and send it right out to him. Of course, many retailers at least in the Utah area have something along that line of service, so, again, the jury is out on which retailer is better at one thing or another.
I haven't even done much comparing to the major department stores, like JC Penney, Macy's, Sears, etc etc etc. I'm sure if I did I would find that one is better at this and another is better at that, and do I really want to do all that running around. Uh, no. We are only half way through his list, and so far this is what we did.
We took our Bishop's advice and stopped in at Mr Mac yesterday. Immediately we were impressed with them. At the Missionary Mall (http://www.missionarymall.org/) we stood around for fifteen minutes waiting for someone to help us. They acknowledged us once or twice, but were sorely understaffed and it wasn't really busy. There were maybe four other missionaries in the entire store that day, so, we weren't too happy about having to stand around and wait. Even when they did help us, the clerk was divided between us and some other customers that they left to try things on. We had to have a second clerk measure Matt for his shirts, as the first one was too busy. When Matt tried on the suit jacket there was no discussion of the fit or alterations, this was only discussed for the pants hem. It was all unimpressive. So, when we were immediately waited on in Mr Mac, and our clerk stayed with us, and only us, throughout the entire process, I was very pleased. The clerk measured the fit of the jacket, and showed Matt the different alterations that could be done, and we opted to have it taken in just a bit for a more tailored fit. Same with the pants. The package they offer comes with a two pants suit set, 3 ties, 1 pair of shoes, and 4 shirts any combination of short and long sleeves. They also throw in an oil vial. We did two packages for $750 or thereabouts. Then we upgraded one of the pairs of shoes as his primary pair because they were $40 more but were so much more comfortable. We also got Matt a cashmere overcoat for $125 on sale. It was a very nice look. Matt really liked our clerk, his name is Chase so if you go to the Orem Mr Mac store ask for him. ( http://www.mrmac.com/ )
So this is what we ended up with
- two suit jackets
- four pairs of matching pants
- eight shirts
- six ties
- two pairs of shoes
- cashmere overcoat
We also went to Walmart and picked up two suitcases that each came with a matching carryon (we can always use the carryon that came with the second suitcase as he will only need the one). Since he is only going as far as Kentucky, we didn't feel the need to get hugely expensive luggage, but we did get nice sturdy suitcases that have the revolving wheels. I've watched so many missionaries loading up on the buses to head out for the airport, all trying to maneuver two large suitcases and their carryon and their backpack, and since they are all doing the same thing they really can't help each other much so it's a good time to see what works and what doesn't. The missionaries that had the suitcases that had the revolving wheels seemed to have a much easier time because they just pushed them along rather than having to pull both at the same time or leave one and then come back for it after loading the first. I really want to take as much stress off Matt as I can, so that's one little thing I can do.
We also picked up a smallish table top fan. Matt can't sleep without white noise, and Kentucky is pretty hot and humid this time of year, so, either way, he will be less apprehensive about things if he has some comfort items like that.
We'll stop by both the Missionary Mall and Deseret Book ( http://deseretbook.com/ )for little games and things to demonstrate and teach gospel principles to children. We also need to go to the Distribution Center (http://store.lds.org/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/TopCategories1?langId=-1&storeId=715839595&catalogId=10557 ) to get his baptismal clothing, etc etc etc, and they have some great teaching tools as well, along with the approved books and music.
We still need to get odds and ends, like P Day clothing that he doesn't already have, a few more shirts, bath and other personal items, blanket and sheets, mattress and pillow cover, alarm clock, that kind of thing. We will be setting up his Debit Card account at the credit union, so he has access to money when he needs it.
Plus, we still have to get ready for his farewell open house. Busy busy busy....
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