Monarch of "The Glen"

So "The Glen" is the posh shopping center they've built on the Great Lakes Naval Air Station land in Glenview. I was there yesterday, seeing The Young Victoria. As is my habit, I got there entirely too early. I didn't think it would be a problem since the Glen is chockablock with stores and stuff like that and I love to shop.

Let me tell you - it was a disappointment. All the best stores have closed - the Ann Taylor Loft is gone, the bookstore is gone, the Artisan Shop is gone (that must have happened recently, I bought something there in November). I spent a little time in Ulta, but even I can't kill more than 20 minutes looking at cosmetics. I went to Von Maur and watched the tumbleweeds blow down the aisles of overpriced merchandise. I wandered up to their plush ladies' lounge - which had one of those wall mounted buckets to deposit used hypodermic needles. Why? Why would you need one of those in a ladies' lounge? I kind of thought it might be for insulin injections or something, but I have never seen one of those in a department store before.

I even went to Dick's Sporting Goods store (gasp! horrors!) and looked at mountains of (expensive) sports gear and equipment. And over priced exercise clothing. There was a cute yoga outfit and the pants alone were $40 (on sale). Doesn't it go against the zen of yoga to go kitting yourself out in really expensive gear? Isn't the point of yoga to achieve inner peace and whatever? Do you really need coordinating seperates to do it?

I went to lunch at Via Gelato, but I couldn't spin a solitary meal of panini and bottle of water into longer than half an hour either. There were lots of other chi-chi stores, a kids clothing store called "Justice" (huh??) and finally, I wandered around in Claire's just for something to do. There were several north shore kids in there, gushing how "adorable" everything was (I have a feeling they just learned that word). Back out into the cold and over to the theater. I was about 20 minutes early for the show, but there was honestly nothing else to do. Everything else in the Glen is a restaurant.

So what's the remedy (or, like, my POINT?)? I suggest a bookstore in the Glen - stat. Or, entirely for my own purposes, a store that I could spend loads of time in, dithering around in the fitting room. Or, well, I suppose I could just stop being so gosh darned early to things (but then, who would I be?)