Gavin Truman was getting worried. “One minute she was right there and the next she was gone . . .she’s somewhere in the store but where?”

Gavin and his girlfriend, Tanya, had decided to go to Cost Savers Warehouse for a few things, even though it was a Saturday afternoon. They realized that no sane person ever willing shops at Cost Savers Warehouse on a Saturday but they decided to try their luck anyway since they had run out of few things needed for a dinner they were hosting that night.

It all started innocently enough, Gavin had to grab some pickles that were one aisle over so Tanya just continued on to the next aisle. Gavin picked up the pickles and then headed to the aisle that he had seen Tanya heading towards. When he got there, Tanya was nowhere to be found. Tanya often wandered off when they were shopping together so Gavin did what he always does.. He enacted a comprehensive grid pattern search, checked all free sample kiosks and cruised several random aisles just in case (all standard girlfriend search protocols). This time things seemed different though. The normal search patterns and search techniques did not yield any sign of Tanya. Gavin proceeded to check several aisles further on before doing a circle of the main aisles. He phoned and texted Tanya but, as is often the case, there was no reply.

As luck would have it, there were two members of the North City Search and Rescue team in the store shopping. They noticed Gavin searching and volunteered to assist. They immediately set up a command post in the checkout area in case Tanya showed up there and fanned out as standard search protocol requires.. Within the hour they were able to locate Tanya in the gardening section in the parking lot behind numerous flats of perennials and a large fig tree.

Gavin thanked the team for all their help and acknowledged that he should have thought of checking out the garden section since Tanya had often shopped there randomly even when they had only talked about having “a few things to pick up.”.