Department stores

Department stores

don't offer food, ( If they do, it's alcohol, chocolate boxes) , under one roof ; may be a part of a shopping mall - Tesco

There's one rule in retail trade in America - service with a smile - staff must smile at you and greet you (hello, how are you doing), start conversation. The store wants to keep the customer happy enough to keep coming back.
to be sacked = byt vyhozen z prace

They offer a big variety of sales - goods are sold for reduced prices, e.g. two or three items for one.
Coupones - they publish a magazine with coupones, e.g. with a picture and 15% off.
Rain checks (come from 1944 when baseball match in St.Louis was cancelled because of heavy dounpour. They gave the people rain checks (cards) and they could come next time for free.
If and item is sold out in a sale and isn't on a stock, you ask for a rain check and when there's no sale anymore, you get it for the sale price.

Shopping is a leisure activity in the USA, they go for killing time - browsing - you go shopping but don't buy anything, you just look.. It's very popular activity.
Window shopping - you go and select something what you plan to buy.
American shops are happy with browsers, they prepare fantastic conditions for them. E.g. bookstores - there's a coffeeshop where you can buy variety of coffees.

Mail order - you order items through a cathaloge - you get cathaloges in mail, you order by mail (you send a mail order with a number of your credit card and a check or you order by phone (toll free number - you don't pay after dialing it).
It's very efficient, quick and reliable.
98% of people try to use internet, mostly for CDs, videos. But there's a problem - hackers. It's forbidden to give a number of a debit card (you use your credit card)
A debit card - the price is taken immediately from your bank account.
Credit cards - shops send the bill to a credit company, on the end of the month the credit company sends you the final bill, you fill a check and send it to the credit company.
To be in debt - you don't pay checks

Many people go bankrupt as a result of using credit card. You may pay with credit cards or debit cards or with checks. The Americans don't pay cash.

In the 70's, 80's in centers were small shops without parking facilities and the people went shopping to the suburbs where malls or mini-malls were located. The centers were dying. Now they try to revitalize centers - they started to build large shopping malls, try to make the stores exclusive (to bring rich people), to add large parking lots underground. It was succesful in Chicago, Seattle, Dallas. But in LA the center is run down, shabby, full of homeless people, center of crime and violence.

Many Americans buy American - made items because they believe they can help the American economy to become stronger. But some people say it can actually harm the economy. The USA exports a huge amount of goods to other countries. Leaders of some countries could become upset that Americans are not buying their goods and cut back on their trade with the USA.