(My italics) -
- Vanderleun goes shopping at Costco
For some strange reason, the destination that formed in my mind for this shopping excursion was “CostCo.” A vague mention of a friend about the “great deals on small televisions” put it in my mind like a BuyMe earworm. This small mental disorder was even stranger since the last thing I need in my life is another, smaller television. On second thought, the absence of a real need was probably why I really wanted one. In America, as noted above, if you don’t need it, you gotta have it.
- Dalrymple discusses shopping in an article about the joys of hatred:
On the border between the two areas was a vast shopping mall in which both the hamburger- and organic, gluten-free-bread-eating classes, worried about the state of their bowels in thirty years’ time, were catered for, though the mall mainly attracted the typical British shopper, that is to say insolvent in pursuit of the unnecessary.
These wonderful guys miss the extent to which shopping is recreational for many people. Don't despise the recreational shoppers. Looking at stuff and buying stuff can be a lifestyle. I think it has been thus since the dawn of urbanism. Or even before that. Much as I hate shopping (including going to the market for bread, cookies, and vegetables), I find the sheer abundance of Costco to be a real kick. So you go home with 4 months worth of toilet paper. That's not a bad thing.
