The most common complaint with women during shopping is “lack of assistance when needed”. Men? Lack of parking close enough to the store entrance! It seems that men and women shop in completely different ways and have different goals to accomplish.

A friend once confided a typical straight man’s shopping experience:

  • 1. Decide that your 8 year-old sweater/pants/shoes are falling apart and you need new sweater/pants/shoes.
  • 2. Sneak into a clothing store discreetly, before anyone sees you and assumes you’re gay.
  • 3. Head directly for the sweater/pants/shoes rack. Pick out the desired item in record time.
  • 4. Make a beeline for the register. Looking at anything else is strictly prohibited!
  • 5. Leave the store as quickly as possible, before anyone sees you and assumes you’re gay.

The truth is that when men go shopping, they are on a mission to buy whatever it is they need and move on with their day. Is it any surprise shopping with a girlfriend becomes an equivalent of a medieval torture? Men simply hate it: waiting 2 hours for her to finally find something she likes, waste another 15 minutes outside the fitting room (booo-ring!), convince her it looks great (even if it doesn’t – spending another 2 hours is simply not an option!) and finally, pay $250 for a single pair of shoes and a scarf.


Window display in Dublin. Photo: Cascata

Most women prefer shopping alone – or, better yet, with a girlfriend (who, hopefully, wears a different size). For us girls, shopping is an experience – we love to stroll through the clothing & accessories section, paying close attention to the sales rack, ride the glass escalator up to the shoe department, emanating the fragrance of perfume samples… We like to take as long as we need and pay as much as we have to to find that special pair of boots or a purse.

If we were to make a quick snapshot of a typical woman’s shopping trip, it would look something like this:

  • 1. Decide that since you have 2 hours to kill between work and dinner, that sale at Nordstrom is calling your name.
  • 2. Float into the store slowly, as it saying, “yes, I shop here all the time!”
  • 3. Meander through the racks, without the slightest idea of what you’re going to buy. Somehow end up with 15 things in your basket anyway, including a bizarre parrot head pendant.
  • 4. Try everything on. Consult the girlfriend if the blue dress makes you look like a chic babushka or a bag lady.
  • 5. Pick up a pair of Prada sunglasses on the way to checkout (hey, they were 50% off!).
  • 6. Pay with a credit card, reluctantly, cringing at the amount.
  • 7. Realize that you just got Prada, on sale! Mood restored.
  • 8. Float out of the store, clutching the bag proudly and dancing a little bit.
  • 9. Decide that you will reuse the shopping bag for everyday errands.

The conclusion? There isn’t one, and none is needed. Except, maybe, that when it comes to shopping, women are from Saks, and men are from Sears.

Deerlings: how do you shop? Do you prefer to go alone or with a friend? How does your significant other react to your shopping rituals?

While we’re on the subject of money (sort of), feel free to take the confidential poll on the right. —->