Dream about a large variety store

[ReQuestor]

I have had several dreams that were set in a very large store. They were usually located where an old KMart or Target had once been, but are no longer there.

The other day I dreamed I was at a store that used to be about two miles west from the home I grew up in. I have fond memories of these kinds of stores. In this one, I entered on the south (front) entrance. Then I went around the left (west) side through a kind of boring section with something like auto parts, housewares, or garden accessories. I came out on the back of the store which was full and vibrant with shopping. There was a music section there that sold only CASSETTE tapes. These were from around 1977 and included whatever was released around that time. (That is around the time of my earliest fond memories there as a child.) They were sold at a premium because they were back in demand, kind of like vinyl is today. I was noting to someone that they were selling them at a high price, but really they were just new old stock that had been sitting there for all these years, and now that the old store was reopened they were considered vintage items in high demand.

Then I was outside the store and re-entered on the southwest front entrance again. There were cash registers inside along the front. There were also some bookshelves just inside the front wall of the store where the doors were. Then contained old music books that I had read years ago, with sheet music for pop songs. There was a young dark-haired couple looking at them. The guy had a beard and glasses. So they looked kind of academic. They were leaving the store to go back out to the parking lot to drive to the southeast front door, because there were more books over there. I was wondering why they wouldn't just walk as I would have done. It seemed like a waste.

There was nothing in the store for me now, as far as what I had looked at. It was only things that would have interested me when I was younger. I don't listen to cassettes even though I used to, and I wasn't as interested in those old albums anymore. And the music books that were there had no interest to me since I had read them already. Maybe there were more useful things I should have been shopping for like clothing or whatever.

This dream MAY be an indication that you're not sure what you want or are not entirely clear with your intentions. Stores typically represent choices and options and possibilities. They also represent material things. The store used to spark great joy in you as a child, perhaps because you dreamed of having or buying anything you wanted. However, that desire seems to have lost its luster. You're no longer interested in such things, happy memories or not. This is sort of a been there done that sort of thing and the realization that they didn't bring as much joy as you thought they would.

To me, the two most interesting things in this dream are the directions or south and west and the fact that you wondered why the academic type people would drive to the southeast side instead of walking like you. The west side entrance contained basic household items, auto parts and garden accessories. Things you felt were boring. Since your describe this as the left side of the building, it could be an indication of the receiving side and may represent the options and choices available to you at this time, but you long for more exciting options and choices that you remember as a child. The fact that the academic types choose to drive may indicate your feelings about the choices of others and how they choose to do things. You feel that just because you can drive and that option is provided, perhaps meaning getting their easier or using the power provided one) you felt it was a waste and wondered why they didn't just walk like you did. This aspect of the dream is showing you a viewpoint, manner of judgment or thinking that you may need to change.

[ReQuestor]

I was so young when the original store was there, I had no desire to possess any of it's merchandise. But it was just a joyous place to be with my parents. I think we even got a Christmas tree in the parking lot outside the store once. I didn't get into the music stuff until later, after that store had been long gone.