[?]e Delights of Shopping

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 408, 17 December 1932, Page 13

[?]e Delights of Shopping

Fredericlc

Stubbs,

istmas time is buying time the world over

jjitten for the "Morning Post" by

F.R.G.S.)

iyi women like shopping, and so do many mep. Childitemphatically do. I shall never forget the delight with ''.conipanied by my nurse, I set out at the age of four , a gjxpenee an uncle had given me. ' I think I must 'i^j into at least a score of windows until at lengtli a !joy.shop called The Noah's Ark was reached, where my jjdisappeai'ed.

$ delights of shopping 3 ehild must be quite be a little uncertain j!oe of money and there•jsure as to what he may tforit; and he must not ,)W?ily; too frequently; djofit. k, was a rare ,to be the possessor of a fJe the inexpressible depossession and spending children of ihe well-to-do iseountry gi-t a sixpennyjy and s" frequently 3them but little, and for \ time. Grown-ups. , ewn some grown-up remain chihi-like as re:eQding of spare eash. It Ijdnd of "toy" they crave, st yields the same plear.tement. ^ ho knows ltful artiele they may ia pleasure enhanced if •some special knowledge 'of artiele they seek, and ietopick up a rare piece ture, or of ('hina, or some storbook. 1 have known visit a foreign country the purpose of shopping rlat triumphai air have dome and exhibited their ias reminiL-d one of arning from (hiul! e Spending Unre. r0: only the wvalthy that ii money. Or.ly the rich, ■an travel to other lands iseareh of hargains, but aparatively poor love to nas with ornaments, braees, bits of mina — not alid quality or even in good rtheless, gmitly enjoyed. te conneeted with any ipisg, indml, i - enhanced ifthe comparat ively poor. see> an artiele. tliinks he to possess it; orders it to tis address; and possibly iore about it. The poor ■ other hand. thinks long .akes the purchase: saves ntieipates it; "his mouth' ti" And when at last he anpass its po.- >ession it with pleasure for weeks. Game is never thoroughly ii enjoyed by the moneyed

Women Shoppers. I have said that all women love shopping; it is a part of their delightful femininity. Some are unable to resist the seductions of shopping as the drunkard is to resist the seductions of ulcohol. They must have money to spend: they must buy something: and there is a legend that ladies have been known even to go through their husband's pockets in order to procure the means. Well, there are worse ways: pledging the husbands credit, e.g., without his. knowledge. It; is an instinct, a passion, if you will, to get and spend money, and to obtain it many will make great sacrifices. Dress. The craving for personal adornment, which is balieved by the Male Annexe to aceount for a good deal of .shopping, is natural and instinctive. I have known individual women, but never a race or class, that did not possess it. I have known ladies to adorn themselves with ornaments when they have had nothing else to wear! And so the civilLsed woman loves beautiful things (srnall blame to her!) and lovas to make herself look beautiful. It is the appearanee of things .she cares for most; how they strike the beholder, and who can measure the pleasure that a beautiful well-dressed woman confers in this way. But it would be a mistake to think that it is only dress and ornament that a woman craves. She loves to buy things for the home — a new carpet, a cushion, a piece of furniture, some new linen. The Saies. And then there are the saies, not only annual saies, as there used to" be. I am tohi that the annual saies occur four times a year in these progressiva times And they never fail to excite the feminine world. A popular novelist describes one of her characters as wandering about the great stores when the saies were on, "buying remnants, presents, oddments of any kind for herself and her family, and enjoying every moment." Which of us has not seen it? Many of my readers, I trust, have experi-c-nced it. In addition to disposing of old stock, the saies alford much pleasant excifement to a very lai-ge number of people, and for the clever housewife there are genuine bargains to be picked up. I once read in an English newspaper of a regular battle taking place in a milliner's shop during

a sale, and it is not an uncommon thing to close the doors at a eertain hour so that one crowd of customers .may complete their inspection and purchas'es hefore another is admitted. A sale gives an opportunity for a mild gamble. You never know what luck may bring you. • Included in a small parcel there may be a single artiele worth all the money. And having succeeded in getting "a real bargain," a woman goes home feeling as a man does who has done a good day's work, feeling that she deserves well of her country — or 'at all events over that portion of it over which she rules. Men's Shopping. Men don't enjoy shopping as women do, iand so lose to a large extent one of the pleasures of life. Many men positively hate shopping, and I used to know a man that even got his wife to purchase his clothes for him! Men are rai'ely bargain-hunters: seldom buy a thing simply because it is cheap. If they need a thing, they buy it whether it is cheap or not. I myself must be one of the exceptions, for I love spending money, and I am afraid have bought a thousand unnecessary things simply because they were cheap and attractive. With most of these I subsequently victimised my friends! An Xnexpensive Pleasure. Happily, one may get a good deal of pleasure from the shops even when one's purse is lean. I have ever been a lover of books (and of newspapers) and will never forget the happy h'ours I spent as a youth in Booksellers' Row, London (now, alas, with most of the picturesque parts of the city, swept away to make robm for new streets) turning over the books, sometimes reading whole pages, and oecasionally (very occasionally) getting a valuable work for a few pence. I have seen the same thing in Paris near the Seine; in the second-hand market in Genoa, and in other cities. Even to look in ia shop window — especially at the Christmas season, is to most people a souree of innocent and inexpensive enjoyment. What delightful, delicious, things one sees to dream about! In the Orient. In Oriental countries most things are obtained by bargaining, and the experienced traveller will often secure an artiele at one-fifth of the price asked; indeed, in some cases the salesman would be disgusted if an artiele were purchased without chaffering. The battle of wits and words is the best part of the transaction. At the weekly market in Barguio, as in most places in the Orient, it is the custom for seHer and purchaser to squat down with the artiele between them and then to battle until both are satisfied or exhausted. The Igorots are very fond of dogs as food, and I remembep observing two man squatting and haggling for about two hours over a (temporarily) live dog. Every time I came back to them they were still at it. not in anger: not noisily: not in haste, but with infinite cairn and patience. I have no doubt they enjoyed it and were rather sorry when the bargain was concluded. Though a mere man, and therefore imperfectly qualified, I have myself exy.'erienced many of the Delights of Shopping, and heartily wish the readers of the "Morning Post" a generous experience of the same during Christmas, 1932.