So, Ace has shower curtains (and is a retailer owned franchise situation, which is great). I never liked their stores but I can prob suck it up for some wall hooks or whatever. They have shower liners. I think I can order online, too?
Kohls has a DEI program and a lot of women execs but gets minus points for being a $10B /yr company, fast fashion, and seemingly mediocre employee experience. Also, they are getting a negative prognosis for next year so could probably use some traffic (or could go the way of BB&B and Joann’s and Borders, RIP)
I’ve been trying to visit my neighborhood Ace more regularly. Partly because they are 5 min away, and partly because I like the retailer owned franchise situation. Also they have baby chicks and ducks in the spring and free popcorn. I will say, it’s nice that there seems to always be an employee available to help me and they seem to be in less of a hurry than at the bigger box hardware stores. Yesterday an employee helped me out to my car because I had a heavy bag of soil, and we chatted about plants for a few minutes, which has never happened to me at a place like Lowes
Mine is like the tiniest Ace I’ve ever seen! But they have these built in wooden bird cages in the walls for chicks and ducks, and then 2 tiny shelves of soil luckily they carry the local brand I like to use… It’s so interesting though what the different Ace stores carry, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one without soil!
I briefly searched for an index on how to figure out how “evil” a company is. I found this; no idea how actually reliable it is. But basically you can look under categories to see how brands rank on various metrics (like human rights, earth stuff, etc). The problem I am finding is that all the brands that are deemed “OK” by this list are ones that I’ve never heard of.
This is more for brands (like crest or colgate) rather than stores (Target).
Kohl’s seemed like a fair choice (and I’ve liked their selection of bedding pretty well).
I’ve also happily removed bed skirts (and ripped box springs) from my life by getting an ikea bed with drawers underneath and no cat access. This is not cheap.
Someone with dedication and time could probably up cycle rags to a crochet or woven bath mat (but recognize no one has time I wish I did)
They did commit to “DEI by another name” I believe, but I agree with you, both CVS and Walgreens are complicit in The Problem of US Healthcare in my book…
Unfortunately I don’t know if grocery store pharmacies or like, Rite Aid (which is in big financial trouble IIUC) are any better.
I’m going to put in a plug for living with imperfection! If your shower curtain in clean but has weird stains, it’s okay to not replace it immediately.
It’s a consumerist trap to feel like we have to throw out things that continue to function just because they are dated or have some minor flaw. That’s how capitalism keeps us marching into Target!
(Also, I don’t wear my glasses in the shower, so even if the shower curtain liner bugged me, I wouldn’t really notice it.)
The tricky thing about Ace as a franchise is that then you have to figure out each individual store.
The Ace in our neighborhood in Ohio was nice, but veered strongly to the right during the pandemic. The one here - weirdly right across from HD - seems pretty okay.
After months of trying to get hard water stains off the glass doors in this apartment, I admitted they are etched in now and covered the doors in decorative/privacy static cling film (off Amazon ) I have not felt the impulse to scrub it since! And to my shock the vinyl hasn’t grown anything along the edges in a year!!
We are bothered by different imperfections. I have a ripped duvet cover I’m still using and I’ll use stained kitchen towels as long as they’re washed and don’t smell (tea and coffee just don’t come out well!) . But the hard water stains gave me ick every time I saw them🤷♀️ Maybe stained shower curtain is someone else’s Achilles.
I might try your approach and try to thrift a fabric curtain, that shower won’t be used often anyway (guest bath, master has a door). If that doesn’t work, I’ll check out Ace.
but gets minus points for being a $10B /yr company, fast fashion, and seemingly mediocre employee experience. Also, they are getting a negative prognosis for next year so could probably use some traffic (or could go the way of BB&B and Joann’s and Borders, RIP)
and free popcorn. I will say, it’s nice that there seems to always be an employee available to help me and they seem to be in less of a hurry than at the bigger box hardware stores. Yesterday an employee helped me out to my car because I had a heavy bag of soil, and we chatted about plants for a few minutes, which has never happened to me at a place like Lowes
luckily they carry the local brand I like to use… It’s so interesting though what the different Ace stores carry, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one without soil!
) I have not felt the impulse to scrub it since! And to my shock the vinyl hasn’t grown anything along the edges in a year!!