Columnist Muriel Stevens: Thumbing through the tradition of catalog shopping

Shopping through catalogs was never part of my life until I moved to Las Vegas.

In Philadelphia, where I grew up, whatever you needed was near at hand or just a subway or train ride away. Ethnic neighborhoods sold the most exotic foodstuffs, department stores carried everything for the home as well as clothing. Hardware stores and dry goods stores (remember them?) supplied all the rest.

Las Vegas in the '50s was a shock to this bred-in-the-bone city girl.

There was a certain ritual to setting up a home in Philadelphia. Linen closets and clothes closets were fitted with matching accessories. Kitchen drawers and shelves were lined with decorative papers. My mother's shelves and closets had an orderliness I've not seen since.

I was soon to learn there were few such refinements for sale in Las Vegas -- like shelf paper.

The first time I went shopping for this mundane item, I learned Las Vegas had beautiful mountains, scads of desert, friendly people -- who, if they had shelf paper in their own homes had bought it during a shopping trip to Los Angeles -- but there was no shelf paper here.

When I mumbled and grumbled (I did a lot of that in those days) about this shocking lack of civilization, friends told me about the wondrous mail order catalog in the Sears store downtown (the location now houses Sprint). Sure enough, they had shelf paper. I was happy.

My joy grew when other friends who cooked introduced me to Williams Sonoma in San Francisco. I could live without shelf paper if I had to, but cooking utensils -- never!

In those early days, Williams-Sonoma sent out a four-page black and white pamphlet (upon request by phone) that listed and described some of the items they sold. A few line drawings were added to make the slim catalog more interesting. It was sheer heaven when I finally got to the store.

Preparing this column, I went through some of the many catalogs I receive regularly . Beware -- order once from any type of catalog and you'll soon receive a deluge of similar ones. In this electronic world there are few secrets. Order once, and you've opened the door to all of your shopping habits.

Many of my favorite catalogs are from well-known stores we don't have in Las Vegas -- Nordstrom's, Bloomingdale's and Marshall Fields -- but I also shop the catalogs of stores that are here, such as Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, and yes, even Williams Sonoma.

Why? Because no one store of average size can carry the multitude of choices found in the catalogs. And they frequently offer merchandise not found in their stores.

It's certainly not more economical to shop by mail. Shipping charges can add up, especially if, like me, you're always in a hurry to receive your purchases so you opt for overnight or second-day delivery. If the company has a store in Las Vegas, you'll pay the sales tax, too.

Returns can be bothersome. Some stores, such as Nordstrom's, include a pre-paid return label. It's a nice bit of consumer relations. It's best if returns are made in the original box. I have to want something very badly to order from catalogs that do not include this considerate feature.

Keep track of purchases by marking off the items ordered and always ask for an order number. And -- this is important -- order the right size. It will no longer be secret, but your purchases will fit.

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