Do you drag someone along with you when you shop, or do you prefer to shop alone? I can't stand shopping by myself. It's like I haven't really found something good unless I have someone there to "ooh" and "ahh" with me.

Do you like to shop?

-- Anonymous, August 16, 1999

Answers

I'm a guy... so usually that means I go to stores to buy stuff, not to shop. So I usually shop alone.

That's one of the reasons I like the Internet... find a good price on something, click, click, a few days later UPS or FedEx delivers it... all without having to go to a store.

I sometimes go shopping with my wife... like into a bath & bedroom shop... need new towels... hey, these look good, nice big bath towels, like the colors, price is okay, how many should we buy... hey, nice sale on sheets, these look good, let's get 'em. If went into a store like that and spent twenty minutes or so looking around and did not find the kind of towels we wanted I would count that up as a wasted trip. And as strange as this sounds, my wife would probably have the same view. She loves shopping for a bargain and is delighted to find a good sale, but she does not go shopping just for the sake of shopping, it is always a trip with some specific goals in mind.

I cannot understand shopping as entertainment. If I need something I go to a store to buy it. If I don't have a specific need why on earth would I want to waste me time in a store? Having said that, sometimes I enjoy having somebody with me... however that is not so much to be able to share the shopping experience but more to ward off the boredome of shopping by having social companionship. Back when my daughter was in elementary school & junior high, she would come grocery shopping with me and we would make a social occasion out of it, return the deposit bottles & cans and use a dollar of that to buy a lottery ticket, then stop in the Chinese restaurant (in the supermarket) to have some sweet & sour chicken, buy our groceries and head for home.

Back in January my wife and I decided it was time to replace our dining room furniture (actually, it is far past the point of needing to be replaced)... we did visit a couple of used furniture stores (oh, excuse me, I mean antique shoppes)... then one Sunday my daughter and I went to a huge furniture store about twenty miles away (we live in a semi-rural area) and found a dining room set we liked... my wife went there a few weeks later but couldn't find the set we told her about... this is now mid-August and we still haven't managed to find the time to go to the trouble of driving back up there to look at it and buy it ... and our assumption is that we will look at it and agree that it is okay and buy it... and if for some reason we don't agree on it we will just have to pick out a different one... Well, maybe in September... or October... So I guess you could say we want to buy it, but we don't want to have to go shopping...

-- Anonymous, August 16, 1999

Okay.

I love to spend money. Seriously. And not just for me. I love spending my money on other people.

Whenever I go out somewhere special, my partner has to remind me to "get something for myself" since I will buy something for my parents, my sister, the little old lady whom I don't know who lives down the block.. well, maybe not her but I like buying things for other people and spending money. Why not? I'm young. I make way too much money. I might as well spend it. ;)

I don't like shopping for clothing or shoes. For some reason, I loathe it. I don't know what sizes I am. Typically, I just let my mother buy clothes for me (which she loves doing), and I just buy the occasional geek-shirt.

I can shop for books. Or knick-knack trinkets (but I'm trying to cut down on this because I am a notorious packrat and I'm trying to simplify my life right now).

As an ending, if anyone is in the NYC area and wants have something to eat, give me a buzz. I'll pay for it. =) ‰

-- Anonymous, August 16, 1999

Eileen, I end up eating alone alot my partner is a chef and therefore has crazy chef hours so if I want to eat out I eat alone. so you don't have to buy me food but I would love the company. I live in Brooklyn so I believe that would put me in the area.

BAck to the question at hand, I have to shop alone because no one will go woth me I am so terribly fickle that i end up walking all over creation hither and yon and usually come home empty handed then take a cab home which is where my money goes. But when I do shop I end up buying for everyone but myself oooh my chef needs new knifes look the wustoffs are on sale, ooohh Michele wanted this or that you get the point then when it's between paychecks and I have no money I remember what I needed but when the money comes I forget again and buy for everyone else. So I think that makes me a bad shopper.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 1999

Have to agree with Jim. With the exception of Home Improvement type places. I love shopping there. What I can't stand is clothes shopping. I can never find clothes I like very much, if I do they are out of my size and half the time I'll get the clothes home only to find a stain on them, or some stitching coming apart and then I have to return them. And returning something is hell on earth to me. I'd rather just be out the money and forget about it.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 1999

I like going grocery shopping on my own. I have a list and I will stick to it. If I take my husband with he has to go down every aisle, even those that don't have any items we need. He always finds something he "has to have." Don't get me wrong, I will occassionally buy things that aren't on the list, but they have to be on sale or something that's too good to be true. Bill gets swayed by the little old ladies giving out samples, "She gave me a coupon, honey, we have to buy it." I do like company when I'm in the mall. It's fun and you can make a day of it. My favorite store to go to with Bill is Borders Books and Music. There's always something for both of us. We'll spend the occassional Friday night there browsing and drinking coffee and cocoa.

Our favorite things to shop for together are toys and clothes for needy children. We sign up to be Secret Santas for kids in the Chicagoland area every Christmastime. We always spend too much but it's worth it. It's the best money we spend all year.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 1999

i'm still learning to shop for what i need - not just random purchases. i just went shopping this weekend - for "fall" clothes since all the sales are on now. and of course, i ended up buying more comfy clothes, like jeans and pj bottoms, then stuff i really needed - like a couple of new shirts and sweaters. *sigh* that always happens to me! and i need new shoes - did i even try ONE pair on?? noooooooo. i ended up wandering aimlessly through three or four stores - and WHY did i go into old navy!? - and i didn't end up going where i had originally intended to go. this ALWAYS happens. i seem to get a LOT more accomplished if i have someone with me. they sort of help me stay focused and remind me not to take 4 hours making up my mind about a t-shirt.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 1999

I shop both alone and with other people. I think that usually if I'm shopping for clothes, I like to be alone, becasue otherwise it ends up taking forever.

When you're ready to go, you end up waiting for the other person, and then start to browse in another area, and then they're ready to go, and wait for you while you finish up again, and then they get bored and start browsing etc onto infinity.

I think that when I'm grocery shopping, or at a big hardware store like Home Depot, or at a Target-like store, I like to have people with me, but I suspect they would rather not be there. I'll go through the whole store looking at everything. I'm not sure how, but me and my brother can spend a couple hours getting groceries. Invariably, my father wonders where else we went, because it's inconceivable that we spent that much time grocery getting.

Whining

-- Anonymous, August 16, 1999

I don't like to shop for clothes or food or anything that could be called a "necessity." I do all my grocery shoppping online nad have done it that way for at least two years, ever since there was a service here for it. I buy all my clothes over the phone, except for shoes, which I try only to shop for once a year for about 30 minutes.

The only stores I really like to browse in are bookstores and sometimes home furnishing type places and of course office supply and art supply places, and art galleries, but I don't do it very often.

Life is too short to spend much of my time shopping - even sleeping is more interesting to me than most stores are. :)

-- Anonymous, August 16, 1999

If I want to get something done, I do it alone. If I want to be with my friends, I'm okay with whatever we do, even if it is shopping. But doing things alone is wonderful. Esp. movies.

New job? Does that mean no more vampire coworkers and laughing at Dilbert? Congrats

-- Anonymous, August 16, 1999

If I need something, clothes, tampons, or whatever, I'm on a MISSION, therefore I shop better alone. If it's just random window shopping, then I go with friends.

But really, I hate shopping. Especially for clothes and groceries. I wouldn't mind clothes shopping if I didn't have to try on every damn thing and I only hate grocery shopping because I hate to cook.

Now, if you were to trap me in Target, or the Pottery Barn, or Pier 1, or Barnes & Noble, then I'd be in heaven.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 1999

I mostly buy from catalogs... They're more likely to have the sizes I want, and I don't have to drive to a mall. I loathe parking problems, traffic, and crowds... And, given that I live in the Deep South, there's always the killing heat... Catalogs are so much easier. Still, I do like browsing bookstores... You can do that alone-- lose yourself in the books.

Shopping is better alone. You don't have to worry that your partner will comment on the styles you like. You don't have the risk of being snickered at. Or of someone seeing how frustrated/angry you get when you can't find anything you want. Or of being with a girl you'd like to impress when your credit card is rejected.

Malls are scary. You're there with too many humans. And it is depressing to see couples together or see girls you know you'd never be allowed to talk to. The social side of shopping is just .

Catalogs are so much easier.

-- Anonymous, August 21, 1999