What is it that makes it so fun? I know that not all women like it, but my mother, both of my sisters, and my ex-girlfriend all love to shop. Six months ago, I went to a mall called Valley Fair with my ex-girlfriend for four hours. I asked it what time it was and what time we got there right after and all she could say was, "Oops, time just flew right by!" She didn't even buy anything!!! I don't understand that. Why is it so much fun?
Posted by angelily (Member # 6298) on :
Valley Fair? Wow, that's 5 minutes from my school.
Not all women are like that, you know.
[ April 19, 2004, 08:51 PM: Message edited by: angelily ]
Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
I hate to shop. Hate it. Loathe may not be too strong a word. Despise, even.
Seriously. When I have stuff I have to go buy, I go, I buy, and I get out. As fast as I possibly can. I literally have not been in a mall in over a year, and I like it that way very much, thanks.
Now, I will admit that I can stay in a bookstore all day. But that's different. It's like the library, not like shopping. Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
I dislike shopping for clothes. I only like to shop for- CDs. Books Video games Action figures Toys
Posted by Shan (Member # 4550) on :
Tha mall is good for one thing: a place for toddlers to run in the Pacific NW when the rainy season hits.
It also happens to double as a place where you could concievably punish your boyfriend for some awful doing, but that's another story. Were you being punished, Nick, or practicing a little S&M? Posted by IvyGirl (Member # 6252) on :
You're all insane. I LUV to shop, in every sense of the word. Of course, it is nicer if I can buy stuff, but if not it's good too. I don't know what's wrong with shopping that you guys hate it, but then you should never go shopping with me. I can spend all day in one store looking around. But my mom hates shopping, and I can't drive myself to the mall or anything (Although I prefer other stores to the mall, the mall isn't my favorite, that's for sure) so it's kinda of a privilege. But still, it's almost my favorite past time. It's so much fun!
Ivygirl Posted by Pixie (Member # 4043) on :
I go clothes-shopping MAYBE 3 or 4 times a year. It is fun when I find things that fit and that I like and aren't overly revealing, but that particular combination of events seems to elude me on most occasions. So mostly, shopping for clothes is just depressingly long and without rewards.
Now, going to the local Barnes and Noble on the other hand... Posted by tonguetied&twisted (Member # 5159) on :
quote: It is fun when I find things that fit and that I like and aren't overly revealing, but that particular combination of events seems to elude me on most occasions. So mostly, shopping for clothes is just depressingly long and without rewards.
Yes.
I like shopping sometimes for some things, and I get frustrated when I can't find what I'm looking for. And very often, I just can't be bothered with it at all.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Shopping is about having lots of choices -- and fantasizing about having even more (like that dress that would never fit, etc.)
And thanks to the web, now I can shop in my own home! Bliss! Posted by Ralphie (Member # 1565) on :
My god, Nick, you need a wedgie.
Posted by Javert (Member # 3076) on :
This does not apply to everyone, but I think shopping to women is like fishing to men. Shopping, like fishing, is an end in itself. It doesn't matter if you go home empty handed.
Posted by Toretha (Member # 2233) on :
Javert, that just depends on how much you got your thoughts stuck on a nice fresh redfish for dinner.
Posted by Javert (Member # 3076) on :
Well, the analogy still holds. There are two kinds of fishing just like two kinds of shopping. One is just for fun, and the other is just because you need something.
Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
For me, shopping is best when done ALONE. I can't stand people lurking around me, waiting for me to make decisions. I love to decide where I'm going, when, how long I'll stay there, what I'll look at, try on, buy, etc. Isn't that awful? The only person that can come with me is my sister and that's because she's inordinately patient with me.
I don't like to go shopping unless I can spend money. I also like to have specific things in mind when I go. So for me, the attraction lies in the alone time, the search AND the act of spending money and acquiring new stuff. I usually don't have a problem thinking of something to go looking for.
I don't know what it is, but I find that buying stuff, whether for me or someone else, is theraputic. I've always been POOR, so I didn't discover this until the last couple years. (Still poor, but not as poor as I used to be.)
Posted by Nick (Member # 4311) on :
quote: Not all women are like that, you know.
angelily:
quote: I know that not all women like it, but my mother, both of my sisters, and my ex-girlfriend all love to shop.
Of course I know all women are not like that. I even said it in my post! Posted by beverly (Member # 6246) on :
Narnia, I'm with you. I enjoy shopping best if it is done alone. I am not a "girl group" sort of person, very much the opposite. I am usually shopping for things we need for our household. I only clothes shop when necessary--it does nothing for me. But for some reason, I find shopping relaxing. It's fun to bring home your "new loot" even if it's new deoderant.
Posted by Nick (Member # 4311) on :
quote: My god, Nick, you need a wedgie.
You know, in my whole life, I have never had the privilege of recieveing a wedgie. Posted by kwsni (Member # 1831) on :
Shopping with the girls is ok, I don't mind it, but then I usually go with my mom and my sister, and we all split up. My sister and I occasionally go shopping without mom, Then she drags me into her store and shows me what she thinks will look good, cause I'm fashion impaired.
BUt yeah. shopping alone is the best. I can try on stuff I would never wear in a million years, and not be embarrassed when it looks like crap.
Ni!
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
The closest I come to shopping is if someone gets me the wrong size and I need to exchange it. I shop for gifts, and that's about it (and it's always really stressful). I get a lot of clothes from my aunt. Ever since all the rashions got weird, circa 1990, I can't abide shopping.
I go to the grocery store. But that doesn't really warrant the verb "shopping" does it?
Posted by fallow (Member # 6268) on :
Nick,
Shopping can be fun (as long as it's not for shoes or anything that requires entering the dressing room arena to issue aesthetic judgements of form). And, if you aren't spending all your cash or having someone spend it for you, where's the harm? Malls maybe aren't so great.
here's a tip. next time you go shopping with your SO or ex-SO, try a boutique shop of some sort.
fallow
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote: I go to the grocery store. But that doesn't really warrant the verb "shopping" does it?
It most certainly does!
I miss grocery shopping late at night, when the store is almost empty. Very relaxing.
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
IvyGirl loves to shop -- I love to fish (for ANY reason!).
However, unfortunately, that makes me sound like a masculine woman, which I'm really not. Or at least trying not to be...
Farmgirl
Posted by Beca (Member # 4340) on :
Underwear shopping is NEVER terribly fun - someone always ends up complaining that they're too small or too large.....you get the idea.
Costume shopping is different - that's always fun in a group.
I have only recently discovered clothes-shopping as a fun experience. Mostly because I've lost forty pounds ("Hey.....these FIT! I mean, they......FIT! And I don't look bad in them!") and so shopping doesn't involve looking in the mirror and getting depressed.
I don't make anyone go shopping with me, though. In fact, I prefer if they don't come along. It used to be that it took forever to find something that looked decent - now it takes forever to decide *which* pieces to spend my money on, since I'm essentially rebuilding a wardrobe from scratch. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. But while it's pretty fun for me to reinvent my 'look', I recognize that no one else is as interested in this process as I am.
I guess it's (in moderation) just a good outlet for the healthy sort of vanity. I've noticed that my guy-friends will primp or flex in public (often jokingly, but it's still an outlet that way, I think) but my female friends don't - they're all business, as though it isn't okay to look at yourself in a mirror with other people around and say "Oh HELLS YEAH!" It's more of a "This doesn't make me look fat, does it? I don't like the way this pleat bunches here...."
Then again, most of my female friends don't shop in groups, either. Maybe it's different for the group-shopping sort.
Posted by Nick (Member # 4311) on :
I haven't been fishing in about 10 years. Then again, I was an impatient nine-year-old.
So I don't know how I can make that analogy stick.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
About the only thing my wife and I cannot do together is shop for clothes.
I just can't handle it. I'd rather babysit eight small children with diarrhea and chicken pox than go to a department store.
Posted by Jenny Gardener (Member # 903) on :
Shopping! Brrrrr! It's wrong, I tell you, just wrong. It gives me the willies to be surrounded by goods that are excessive and and unnecessary for the most part. I used to be dragged to the stores every day as a child, for my mom is an excellent Bargain Hunter. She never pays more than half price for anything. She is my personal shopper, so I don't have to go to the store.
Posted by Toretha (Member # 2233) on :
I can go either way. I enjoy shopping on my own, often because you never know when you'll see a clever bit of jewelry or something else that will give me ideas of cool things to make. I don't have to spend money, although I prefer to be able to even if I'm not going to. I enjoy wandering and looking in areas where I might want to make some of the things I see. I also really enjoy shopping for presents for people, mostly because it's fun thinking of people and all the things they like and trying to find presents to match that.
Clothing shopping is a horrible experience for me, since I next to never find clothes I like, and get very footsore in the looking process. Mostly, I don't buy new clothes at all, to avoid the problem. The only time it is enjoyable is going with my godmother, and that is mostly because its fun visiting with her.
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
"I'd rather babysit eight small children with diarrhea and chicken pox than go to a department store."
No, you wouldn't. You're a reasonable man.
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
I like to dig in garbage bins.
No, seriously.
And I do like to watch other people shop, or even help, though I hate to spend money on things I have no sensible use for. On the other hand, I've been buying a series of miscellaneous items that remind me of my mother -- an imported ginger tea canister, a secondhand box that's just like the one she kept her buttons in, metal cuff bracelets, etc. They are sitting together on a shelf in my room.
I'm not sure whether to be troubled by this. I think it's okay, but I'll let y'all know if I need an intervention. Posted by Nick (Member # 4311) on :
If it's because your mother passed on (I'm guessing ), then it's totally normal.
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
I don't mind shopping, but I never go shopping unless I have to, and I like to do it efficiently. I hate it when people saunter and wander.
Unless I'm in a bookshop. I am a bookshop wanderer; I wander up and down rows, looking at titles that catch my eye, covers I think are nice. Sometimes I even run my fingers over the edges of the books, just because I like the feel of it. I like to see what new books are out, but I almost never buy.
If other shopping is like book shopping for me, I think people like shopping because the promise of so much waiting to be used (in my case, read), and the stimulating sight of so much newness all together.
Posted by Jenny Gardener (Member # 903) on :
Ooh, yes, book shopping is in an entirely different category.
Posted by Mrs.M (Member # 2943) on :
Unsurprisingly, I love to shop for anything and everything. Especially clothes. I love fashion and I love seeing how clothes go from the runway to the Gaps and Old Navys and Targets. I also love finding the one or two good pieces in each store every season - those pieces that you'll be able to wear for the rest of your life and will always look good. Building a wardrobe is a life's work.
I adore shopping for other people. Andrew hasn't gone clothes shopping in years - I just come home with things and hang them in his closet. Everyone's happy - he looks great and I get to shop for men's clothes.
quote:But while it's pretty fun for me to reinvent my 'look', I recognize that no one else is as interested in this process as I am.
I don't know, I think I'm probably at least as interested as you are - I do love a look reinvention. Posted by MaydayDesiax (Member # 5012) on :
I like to shop for clothes.
I do NOT like to shop for clothes with my mother. Absolutely refuse to. In fact, I don't shop with her, period.
Although recently I've been roped into online shopping. Why do I do this to myself?
And, on a refreshing note, Bernard LIKES to shop with me. In fact, last time he complained because we don't 'shop often enough together.'
I think he wants me to buy him something. (j/k dear)
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
I can't stand people lurking around me, waiting for me to make decisions. I love to decide where I'm going, when, how long I'll stay there, what I'll look at, try on, buy, etc. Isn't that awful? The only person that can come with me is my sister and that's because she's inordinately patient with me.![[Taunt]](graemlins/taunt.gif)
![[Dont Know]](graemlins/dontknow.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Angst]](graemlins/angst.gif)
), then it's totally normal.