Shop ’til you drop?
Sounds good to me! Thanks for sharing, Cathy.
The mall is surprisingly not jam-packed. You slip into a store whose window display appealed to you. The salesclerk is extremely pleasant. You pick a few things to try on. The dressing room is spacious and flatteringly lit. Everything you try on fits perfectly and looks terrific. Then, your alarm goes off and your dream is shattered! Shopping is a love/hate thing for most women.
Some women love it all, others hate it all. Some love shopping for shoes, but not clothes. Some love shopping for other people. Some women will shop for anything, anywhere, anytime and for any reason. Some shop ’til they drop, others drop at the mere thought. All in all it contributes to an astonishing amount of money being spent. In the United States in 2007 $157 billion was spent on luxury goods alone. Shopping is big business and women either make or influence 80% of all consumer spending decisions. Globally, some sources estimate, the earning power of women to be $18 trillion. All that earning means lots of shopping.
To many, shopping is a recreational activity. Nothing in particular needing to be purchased, just something to do on a Saturday afternoon, but purchasing something is definitely on the agenda. Then there are the window shoppers. No intent to buy anything, just having a good look at what’s on display. In French this activity is called “lèche du vitrine” or “to lick the glass”. Others still will go to great lengths, literally, to purchase a special product or save even a small chunk of change. Witness “Black Friday” or the line ups on Boxing Day. For some there is “retail therapy”, where the goal is to lift your spirits with an afternoon of shopping. And then of course there are the shopaholics for whom there is anti-retail therapy.
Oh, and online shopping – in the comfort of your own home, in your jammies. No sore feet. No aching arms. Absolutely no crowds. To your door delivery. What will they think of next?
What’s your shopping style? Do you prefer to go with friends? Are you a bargain hunter or an impulse buyer? Online or downtown? Tell us your shopping dreams or nightmares.
I am not a shopper. I know what I’m looking for, try it on, buy (or not) and leave. I don’t have what it takes to find that great designer deal at Winners, I don’t see the point of trying things on just to see how they look.
That said, I have found a few decent pieces at the local thrift shop, and wanting to reduce my footprint at the dump, I like the idea of recycling clothes, so I may need to embrace my inner browser one of these days.
Sounds like you have a good thing going, Cathy! Thanks for sharing.
Sounds good to me! Thanks for sharing, Cathy.