Sears--a good place for back to school shopping?

Tom is out west this week working with his Dad (we tried to squeeze in the suitcases but with 4 kids it was a little snug). Well, the boys spent a night at Aunt Amy's in downtown Chicago this week. Yesterday Maddie, Isaac and I rode the train in to pick them up. What a blessing that turned out to be as we made it in SO quickly with no worries about traffic. Our only "problem" was that Cole's sandal totally split apart on the way home (I know, the story many, many mothers of boys could tell). Seeing as the public Metra is definitely NOT the place you want to have your son go barefoot, he made it home quite fine with his sole flopping in the breeze. We even stopped to play at a new park (Bowen Park on Sheridan in Waukegan) that I highly recommend to all my local friends--so fun for both younger and older kids! But I digress, as I drove home I realized that even though we were a bit wearisome I really had to stop and find Cole some shoes as those were the ONLY pair he had. Then a lightbulb went off in my head...hadn't we bought those at Sears? And come to think of it, yes, I even had the receipt. You see the beauty of Sears is that if you are a Kidvantage member (free club that earns you discount coupons) you can return any defective item for a replacement item. In the winter, Josiah's coat zipper broke twice within the same season (boys....*smile*) and they happily replaced it both times, without a receipt. Now with the sandals, we are at the end of the season and so they were sold out, but they gave me a full refund of the original price which ended up with us being able to purchase new athletic shoes for the fall without paying a dime.

So, if you don't already think about shopping at Sears...and you also have active little boys...it might just pay off in the future.