Red Deer Reality Rant #3

Hello and welcome back on this fine Monday for another Red Deer Reality Rant. This week I would like to rant about some Red Deer news that is not recent but has been bugging me since it happened. Some Red Deerians think that the greatest thing to happen to Red Deer is Bower Place, but I think the greatest thing that was in the Bower Mall, namely, my favourite soap store, Lush, is now inexplicably closed, and Bower Place Mall is no longer as frequently visited by me.

Lush in Bower Place closed a couple of months ago for reasons that remain a mystery to me. No amount of Google searching has revealed the reason for the closure, only that it is permanently closed in Red Deer, and that the company as a whole has quit social media, and the last post from the Red Deer store was on December 31st, 2021.

I have been a fan of the company for years, they offer the coolest bath products that are vegetarian and cruelty free containing the most amazing smelling ingredients that actually work better than other similar products.

Image from lush.ca

Imagine my disappointment when I showed up at Bower Place in January 2022 expecting to pick up my favourite stuff and chat with friendly staff only to find that the store had vanished, the windows papered up and a giant padlock on the door. I have never inquired at the mall as to the reason for the closure, because I feel like it’s being too nosy, and everything seems to be hushed up on the company website. Possibly I am the only person in Red Deer who doesn’t know the gossip, but that is fine with me.

I mentioned in my last blog that Red Deer has a ridiculous amount of restaurants, and now I will mention that Red Deer also has a ridiculous amount of soap stores! Bower Place contains 3 stores specializing in soap alone, as well as numerous stores where you can find similar products as well in the mall and all across Red Deer. But I miss Lush! I still continue to buy their products online on their website lush.ca but it’s not the same as the in store experience, and I can’t have some of their fresh and refrigerated items shipped.

Image by me! Image from lush.ca

Alas, if I want to find a nearby location, there aren’t any in central Alberta, the nearest one is in Cross Iron Mills by Balzac, or I would have to make the trek into Calgary or north of Red Deer all the way to Edmonton. This is not expedient to me, because I leave this city only a couple of times a year. Empty product containers that I previously would trade into the store for new products are piling up in my home because I can’t bear to throw them out.

There’s no opportunity anymore to rant on social media about Lush, because the company has quit all of their social media accounts, and I don’t really blame them for doing so. Social media is the detriment to many people’s mental health and well being. But I would have liked the opportunity to implore Lush to open a store again in Red Deer. Brutal Reality Digest has become a place for me to vent my frustrations and I hope, that someone, just maybe, will read this and make another Lush store in Red Deer a reality.

I do realize that the chances of this are slim to none, but nevertheless, this is my rant for today. Until next time - stay brutal!

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