What is it about women and shopping? Its like we are born with this .... this .... err what shall I call it? Charateristic? Hobby? Habit? Genarally, that is. Of course there is the 80:20 rules where 20% would simply hate shopping or could not careless one way or another.
I remember I started developing this so call hobby when I was a student in England. Thats the very first time that I have a cheque book and a bank account. So apart from learning Maths and Physics and Chemistry for my A levels, I also learnt about shopping and clothes and shoes. This was also when I started to fall in love with good leather footwear, be it shoes or sandals for summer or boots for winter. Those days I did not need so much of a handbag so I started on my handbags collection a lot later. (tee hee...)
Shopping during my students days in England was made affordable because when the store went on sale the price were truly marked down. They almost never kept anything to the next season and there are 4 seasons in a year. But of course the best sale season is the summer sales and the boxing day sales. One in the middle of the year and the other at the end of the year. Some people would actually que from the day or night before in order to be the first in the store. I remember watching the news on TV where the lady who was first in line was telling the reporter that she wanted the fur coat that was on sale at £99 while the original price was £999! Of course there was only one piece at that price hence the mad que outside the store. Anyway, that's when we student did our shopping. I was never one of those who que from the night before but I used to be able to spend a whole day on Oxford Street, on heels some more!
Nowadays I don't shop as much as before due to the fact that I am almost at the end of my corporate life. Hence I do not need to re stock on my power suits and the matching shoes and bag. Hee...
But then again, when I was in Jakarta with friends in Dec last year, I spent twice as much as I thought I would. So the shopping bug is still there. And lately I got into shopping on line. A friend of a friend who is now staying in the US makes a living by buying marked down items from the factory outlets or store sales and selling them on FB. (sometimes the item maybe still new in Malaysia). She has quite a following. Anything that she uploaded in the morning would be sold by the next day. Almost. Some of the popular items would be gone in a matter of minutes. You would have to like, sit in front of the computer and wait for the sale to begin or you will miss the good ones. No matter what time of the day it is. Which is usually really early in the morning, like 5 or 6 am. And now I got caught in the fun of it all! Even if I dont buy anything its fun to read the caption below the uploaded photos when the regulars start to discuss on a particular item. And sometimes just as some of them are debating if they should or should not buy it (with lots of encouragement from the others), someone else comes in and say 'I will take this!'. Ha ha!
After awhile, the regulars feel like they know each other even though they have never met. Some became friends. Some even met up for coffee when they found out that they are actually practically neighbours. Some make a point of going together to the collection center and later became fast friends.
I can definitely get use to this kind of on line shopping. It certainly beat the hassle of finding parking and at times going through traffic jam. The only downside is that I miss the half an hour at my favourite coffee place, watching the world go by while sipping my latte.
All in all, whether its at the shopping mall or on the website, there seems to be a comaderie (is that the right spelling?) among the ladies when it comes to shopping. Thats why its also known as retail therapy, I guess.
After all, whether you are a big corporate person or a full time housewife, we all need a time out!
(high five!!!)
No comments:
Post a Comment