Hahaha so true!! They have that clothing store in Fukuoka too, the eau de toilete thing makes no sense! Gives you a smelly headache. Love this comic!

I don't see the point of holding my breath around these places, sorry.

As long as you don't kill your sense of smell with prolonged exposure to H2S (small concentrations) Benzene compounds (which men shouldn't expose themselves to anyway) Chlorides in bleach, Bench-strength Acids and bases and Concentrated Ammonia, It will continue to work for such exposures and afterward.

As long as I can breathe through my nose and not clog my pallette with the taste of perfume (such as when someone 'accidentally' sprays deodorant in your mouth, yay) around such places, I'm happy to take in the smell - I'm even more glad it doesn't smell like Landfill, Waste Processing, or 'used' cat litter (which is basically Ammonia.)

There will be plenty of smells in this world that you will never be able to put up with, so such places are nothing special (The smell of mouldy butter, anyone? a 'pleasant' trip indeed.)

haha EXACT same thing happened to me yesterday! Candle store, pedicure place, hair salon chain. UGH.

That song that plays when Sonic is running out of air came into my head on the last panel. Which is _exactly_ what this is like when you escape and get to a Cinnabon.

I worked for a company that provided music services to stores like that. You may be surprised to find out that the scents are unique and are well paid for and researched. It's part of a stores "Branding", as is the music playlist.

We used to make custom playlists for different stores, and their marketing departments would ok them or send them back if they felt a song didn't belong or match the stores branding. It's kinda scary really.

Just one Panera Bread short of death... @_@

I actually had a friend once who worked at a Hollister (dunno how he survived). He told one of his tasks was to periodically spray the fans inside with cologne. I can believe it. -.-

There is (or was, as I recently lost my job) an A&F between my place of employment and the little grocery/convenience store I would often go to during breaks. I soon learned when to start holding my breathe and when it would be safe to start breathing normally again, and on the occasions when I was able to I would release some gas of my own in the vain hope of counteracting their Inexplicable Olfactory Assault.

I neither like nor understand cologne or perfume, and consider them to be technologies that should have been rendered long obsolete by the inventions of deodorant, soap, and hot running water.

Oh, and Happy Birthday, Ananth!

I have a pic from Marketplace Mall in Rochester, of a store called "Discount Perfume Hut" right next to "Yankee Candle." No nose stands a chance.

Yeah, went by an Hollister like that... Actually, went into a Hollister store because I had a friend buying some shirts there. Unhappy about the situation as I was, I decided to make the best of it and buy the cheapest, ugliest shirt I could.

It says:
BEACH
PLEASE

In huge script with some palm trees and such.

This is the only brand name shirt I own. Everything else is band shirts, event shirts... nerdy graphic shirts...

HAPPPY BIRTHDAY!

makes me think of crystal chronicles.

I actually asked the staff of Abercrombie & Fitch about the stank that permeates their store, and a very kind, slightly embarrassed clerk pointed out the WALL-MOUNTED DISPENSERS THAT SPRAY COLOGNE INTO THE AIR EVERY HOUR OR SO.

I can't imagine what working in that store, or any of the stores in the above comic, would do to your sinuses. Your clothes and hair would carry the smell home with you....eurgh....

That happens to me all the time at the mall XP and when I went to Boston, the place was like Abe Ross and fitch or aeropostal, something Like that. I almost died in there, plain horrible scent. WORSE!!

Do you mind if I quote a few of your posts as long as I provide credit and sources back to your webpage? My blog site is in the exact same area of interest as yours and my users would certainly benefit from some of the information you provide here. Please let me know if this okay with you. Thanks! Fermin Martindale