Shopping

Is there anywhere in the world that people aren’t shopping? Doesn’t matter where you go…Paris, London, Chicago, Barcelona, Singapore at some point they all look the same. Endless shopping at the same upscale stores. Why do people go to these world famous destinations to shop? And to shop in stores that are undoubtedly available in their own cities? It’s baffling to me. Some say because the prices are lower. Really? I certainly didn’t see that. Expensive stores are expensive no matter where they exist. Does Singapore really need a two Prada's on the same block on Orchard Road?

I wonder where people are going to put all the merchandise they buy. We cram our suitcases and our carry-on bags till the point of bursting. Then get home and add it to our pile of stuff and wonder why we don’t have enough room. Do you really need another Ralph Lauren sweater? Of course the answer is I don’t need it, I want it. Seeing all the shiny merchandise under the bright florescent lighting must make the goods more appealing. To me it makes me not want to buy.  It’s kinda like going on a cruise ship and seeing a rather blotted passenger load up their plate at the midnight buffet. It makes me not want to eat at all the rest of the trip.

I have seen the opposite occur. People see folks piling up their carts or plates and immediately want what the next guy has, and usually more of it. Maybe that’s why all the stores everywhere are busy. And people aren’t just looking they’re buying. Carrying around lots of nice looking shopping bags brandished with the fancy status logos.

And yet we all know that the world economy is on the brink of another disaster. One of my friends believes that people are spending any money they can get their hands on and expecting to not pay it all back when they lose their credit line or their house or their job. Basically, just keep going until another bubble bursts. I find that hard to believe. Maybe people are doing better than they let on and were actually conservative with their money and now are buying. They say more people are going on vacation this summer than last year. Things are improving they say.

Who knows? But it annoys me none the less. All the people running around the duty free shops in Heathrow airport like they are getting a deal of the century. Really? And they’ll all from different countries, so it’s not an American or European thing.

What am I doing? Exchanging my pounds back to US dollars that’s what I’m doing. And putting the money right back in my pocket for the ride home. Sure I thought about buying something. I only had about 70 pounds left. But after wandering around I thought first, I don’t want to carry anything else, I hate carrying things and second I don’t really need anything else, truly I don't.

Ugly American? Perhaps. But just one that doesn’t want to shop anymore.