| One the greatest American pastimes is shopping. Whether you enjoy window shopping, buying knickknacks as a tourist, shopping online, or simply walking the local mall, there is something for everyone. Shopping has become central to our way of life, with brand names like Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger covering everything from perfume to designer jeans. First-rate shopping is easy to find with stores like Nordstrom, Nieman Marcus, and Bloomingdale’s in malls across the nation. The Mall of America is the nation’s largest, sporting a huge food court, an indoor amusement park, and shopping for all ages. A simple pair of jeans can turn into a day’s project, presenting choices like loose-fit versus boot-cut, flared versus tight, low-rise or the classic fit? Online shopping simplifies your search with websites like buyerdom.com and shopzilla.com, and the every popular Ebay. Magazines like Lucky Magazine and Domino Magazine feature online and local shopping guides from home décor to date night apparel. The Fashion Editor is one of the largest online fashion and trend setting guides, offering advice on the latest styles, the fashion industry, and famous stylists. It’s not just the ladies that find shopping addicting, with AskMen.com featuring monthly fashion and shopping question and answers. Of course, most men would rather be seen at the nearby Lowe’s or Home Depot for home fix-ups and furnishings instead. Sporting goods, electronics, and entertainment are big among most, and feature venues like BestBuy, RadioShack, and Sports Authority. After a long day, Barne’s & Noble and Borders are popular bookstores offering comfy chairs for shoppers to peruse their books in luxury before purchasing. With so many shoppers and so much to buy, yesterday’s purchases are quickly passed on to consignment shops and secondhand stores like Name Brand Exchange, sold at rummage sales, or donated to The Salvation Army and Goodwill. Indiana is a quintessential Midwest state that embodies all the region stands for in terms of hospitable, patriotic, down-to-earth, hard-working, hard-playing, family-oriented Americans. If it’s good enough for a rocker like John Cougar Mellencamp, who has called Indian home most of his life, it’s good enough for the rest of us. Here, visitors can enjoy its many small towns, shop at family-owned stores, and dine at locally-owned-and-operated, one-of-a-kind restaurants, with food that is absolutely out of this world. But that’s not all. City slickers will love the city lights and nightlife of Indianapolis, particularly Broad Ripple, and maybe even catch an Indiana Pacers game. And if touring northwest Indiana, it’s only a hop, skip, and a jump, or for most a quick train ride, over to one of America’s finest and largest cities, Chicago Illinois. Given its proximity to this powerhouse city with its heavy Italian influence, it’s no wonder that many Indiana restaurants serve up tasty deep-dish pizzas, spicy Italian beef hoagies with your choice of sweet or hot peppers, savory sausages, flavorful pastas, and Chicago-style hot dogs. Wow! Its border with Lake Michigan, one of the five Great Lakes, offers residents and visitors alike a waterfront respite from everyday life, where they can while away the hours boating, fishing, waterskiing, swimming, or just taking a nice, relaxing stroll down the beach. It’s also home to both Purdue and Indiana University. And though we don’t quite know where the term originated, like they say in Indiana, “Go Hoosiers!” Indiana, Midwest,Indianapolis, John Mellencamp, Broad Ripple, Pacers, Great Lakes, Lake Michigan, Purdue, Indiana University, Hoosiers window shopping, online shopping, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Marc Jacobs, Prada, Marni, designer jeans, perfume, Nordstrom, Nieman Marcus, Bloomingdale’s, Mall of America, loose-fit jeans, boot-cut jeans, flared jeans, low-rise fit, classic fit, buyerdom.com, shopzilla.com, Ebay, Lucky Magazine, Domino Magazine, The Fashion Editor, fashion industry, AskMen.com, Lowe’s, Home Depot, home fix-ups, Barne’s & Noble, Borders, Amazon.com, RadioShack, CompUSA, BestBuy, Sports Authority, consignment shops, secondhand stores, Name Brand Exchange, rummage sales, The Salvation Army, Goodwill, sporting goods, electronics, furnishings, home décor
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