Mike, for department stores I highly recommend a wheeled walker (rollator) with a seat. It's perfect for conserving energy. It's very light and easy to push, and you can sit down wherever you are--standing in line, or examining merchandise on a shelf, or waiting for your wife. It's the unrelenting standing that does me in when I'm in a big store. If I can take short breaks, it helps a lot.

I also like to bring mine because if I get attacked with an unexpected weak spell and can't walk at all, my husband can push me on it, though I have to sit backwards on it so I can rest my feet on the bar. Here's what mine looks like. It folds up.

http://www.amazon.com/Rollator-Rolla...8941157&sr=8-2

The trick to using it as a wheelchair in an emergency is to tip it all the way forward and step over the padded bar. Then lift it up around you, and sit down on it so you're facing the wrong way. Then you can put your feet on the horizontal bar. Not a replacement for a wheelchair, but excellent in a pinch.

Abby