Columnist Muriel Stevens: Finishing off the shopping season

Wednesday, Dec. 29, 1999 | 9:41 a.m.

Muriel Stevens' shopping column appears Wednesdays. Her dining column appears Fridays. Reach her at muriel@vegas.com or 259-4080.

This has been an interesting year for shoppers. In addition to the usual shopping in stores and by catalogs, shopping via the Internet made its mark. I have yet to buy anything this way, but my younger family members think it's the cool way to go. I'm wary of this kind of shopping, yet many of the catalogs I use are now online, so it probably won't be too long before I succumb to the lure of instant shopping at any hour of the day or night.

The questions I have about online shopping concern returns of merchandise. Everything I've read tells me that this is the weak spot in shopping this way, so I'm not rushing.

Catalog shopping: I never did get to shop through catalogs during the holidays. Time ran out. I was so busy writing about catalog shopping I never got to do any. I'll make it up when the sale catalogs start coming in. The values are terrific, but do not forget that, unlike department stores, catalog sale items are not returnable. That's OK for most things, but not for clothes. A bargain is not a bargain if it can't be worn.

Finally, a stove: It took months before I found a replacement for the stove that was rendered unusable when I forgot I had a pan on the burner and talked too long on the phone. What a mess was my kitchen from just the burning of a few tablespoons of olive oil. My new GE Profile series range and oven is very handsome; all stainless steel and glass. The large oven is both convection and regular. It bakes like a professional one, but isn't. A professional range required extra wiring and insulation. It wasn't worth the mess and bother.

I'm crazy about this appliance. With the convection mode on I can use all three racks and do not have to stagger them in order for cookies and such to be evenly baked. This is the first time I've had an oven with three racks. The sweet potato biscuits I bake every Thanksgiving were baked in record time and were all evenly browned. Since I make a six-recipe batch, I appreciated the time saved and the way each biscuit was the same even color.

A smaller companion microwave/convection oven was installed above the range and provides the venting and fan. It, too, does everything electronically. I'll share more, including where I bought it and why I chose a smooth top range after so many years of refusing to use one, after the New Year.

Shopping gripes: There were some frustrating shopping moments when I was looking for a cigar humidor as a gift for a friend -- just a small humidor for a small amount of cigars. My friend is not a serious cigar smoker, but does buy good cigars and wanted to keep them fresh. Sound easy to find when cigar smoking is still so much in vogue? It's not, at least not for a fair price. The hotel shops were blowing smoke rings, charging such outrageous prices it was almost a joke, but not very funny.

Then my shopper's brain kicked in and I remembered Pheasant cigars on West Sahara in the Plazas shopping center. Once there I found just what I wanted and braced myself for the price. This handsome humidor was much nicer than others I'd seen, some of which didn't even have a moisture element that makes a humidor humid. The amount quoted was a shock, it was so good. No wonder the shop was so busy. Fair pricing and good merchandise are an unbeatable combo.

Happy shopping in the New Year.