Reading Peter Baida’s “A Happy Heart at Bloomingdale’s” (December 1986) recalled to me when department stores were in their heyday. To go to one was a real adventure. Rich’s in Atlanta was one store that my mother loved. When I was in college, Rich’s gave two girls from every college in the state free trips to the Metropolitan Opera when the opera was in Atlanta. This was two girls every night for six nights. Rich’s paid our train fare, taxi fare, hotel bill, and provided a chaperone.