Seems when my wife & I go shopping, we have rather different approaches. I tend to get what I am after, I'm ready to leave. She tends to want to brouse a lot longer than what I care to. So I have to wonder is this the normal difference between the way men & women shop???

Anybody else here notice the difference???

Yes, LR , in my experience, it is.It's why shops provide chairs for men

The other kind does exist, but it's not worth waiting a lifetime to find a specimen.My late mother was one. She must have been near unique: she hated shopping with other women, who must have regarded her as a freak ( I once saw her buy a hat for an important occasion. She walked into 'millinery', scanned the array for no more than five seconds, called an astonished assistant and said 'I'll take that one, please' ).

women tend to linger...

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So I have to wonder is this the normal difference between the way men & women shop???

Yeah, I think it's the norm.

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Originally posted by Lighteningrodd:
Anybody else here notice the difference???

Yes, there's usually a difference, but it's all for your own good.

Fred:

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Yes, LR , in my experience, it is. It's why shops provide chairs for men

The other kind does exist, but it's not worth waiting a lifetime to find a specimen

We find 'specimens' in rock pools at the seaside. Who are you, Fred? A Victorian botanist?

The chairs outside the stores in the malls are perfect for waiting men.
A word of warning though: one day my Mum and my sisters left my dad in one of those nice black reclining chairs they have in some malls. He was playing around with the controls on the chair, and they came back to find him stuck with his head at ground level and his legs almost vertically in the air!
So now they take him into the stores with them.

Ron:

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women tend to linger...

Oh, but we linger longest over lingerie..again, only for your own good.

I never linger!
I hate shopping with a passion so I leave it as long as I can. I stick to my list, buy one of each colour so I don't have to go again for some time and am home before some women have tried on their first item.

I am very low maintenance

My other rule is 'I go on my own'
I only ever went shopping once with a friend. Never again. She went in every shop, wasted people's time getting things out she had no intention of buying and wanted to stop for coffee, lunch etc every hour.

I. Hate. Shopping. I hate everything about it. I imagine that most women are the stereotypical way that has been described, but I am not one of them and I do not understand them. I have a list, I buy what’s on my list, and I get the hell out. Occasionally I might browse, if I need a particular item but don’t have that good of an idea (new pair of jeans, dress for a wedding, etc.), but I take as little time as possible. Spending a day at the mall is the last thing in the world I want to do.
The only place I take my time is at the grocery store. There is so much garbage out there, I am always reading the labels and comparing ingredients. Otherwise, get me the hell out of that store.
It’s unfortunate that people who do not shop are often dragged along with those who love to shop. That is unfair to everyone involved.

To be honest, I am not big fan of malls, or shopping in general. I hate grocery shopping with a passion.
But if I go to another country, I love to browse around the markets, and stop at the coffee shops. Amsterdam is the best place for this
Browsing in bookstores is my favourite thing to do when I am in the UK. I always bring lots of great finds home with me.

I guess you and I wouldn't make good traveling companions, Jenny!

I don't like shopping either...I like to know what I want and be able to find it and go....I hate the crowds...trying stuff on, etc...it is all a pain in the behind.

Now DG, books and craft supplies are different.
So is sheet music. I will spend as much time as possible in these type of shops. This is for pleasure but I still prefer to go on my own. I meant the everyday shopping, groceries, clothes shopping, buying presents etc. BORING!!

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Originally posted by Jenny Roberts:
Now DG, books and craft supplies are different.

This may not surprise you. The boss of Waterstone's [ a very big chain of bookshops in Britain] says that people who go in to buy one specific, named, book almost always buy a second book, unprompted, when they are there.The person who goes for one book and leaves with one book is a rarity indeed (but we can bet he's working on it !)

When "WE" go shopping, generally I'm the one getting what we need and HE is the one wandering around window shopping

quote:

Originally posted by Lighteningrodd:
Seems when my wife & I go shopping, we have rather different approaches. I tend to get what I am after, I'm ready to leave. She tends to want to brouse a lot longer than what I care to. So I have to wonder is this the normal difference between the way men & women shop???

Anybody else here notice the difference???

man does that sound like me and the miss's.
i go and get what im after and she takes all friggen day. then wonders why i dont want to go with her.

I don't shop - I buy. I need a red shirt - I find one, purchase it and I'm gone. My wife could 'go shopping' for nothing and be gone all day and not necessairily purchase anything. I think it goes back to the cavemen time. I need meat - I kill the first thing I see and drag it back to the cave. The wife picks berries or whatever and sees it as a social time and dawdles till it is dark and comes back to the cave.

Don't forget about the community aspect of shopping. Bargain hunting, fitting-into-a-smaller-size satisfaction, gossiping with your girlfriends... Shopping may well simply be a means to an end for a lot of women. In which case, of course, they should not take their men -or women who are uninterested in shopping and all its dreaded aspects...
I go shopping with my mother, mostly for the socializing. I have a list, she has a list. I stick to mine, she browses. But we do get to spend time together outside of the house. I'm not saying I necessarily enjoy it, but there is that feature of shopping that's not just about buying everything in sight.