Compulsive Shopping Isn’t Just for Girls: For some guys, the go-to reward after a hard day isn’t whiskey—it’s Gucci....A couple of decades ago, the stereotypical man of the house unwound from a hard day by watching a game with a glass of something on ice. His wife? She went shopping. But whether it’s because ads for moisturizer now target men or because stores have started serving them snifters of brandy while they get fitted for shirts, guys are rewarding themselves in a way they never used to: by taking out their credit cards.
A recent study of men’s buying habits done by WSL Strategic Retail found that guys in their twenties and early thirties visit a greater variety of stores than older men do. “They tend to shop more like women,” says Wendy Liebmann, WSL’s founder and president.
...David Lewis, head of neuroscience for Mind Lab International in England, calls the male desire to pamper oneself with purchased goods “a kind of consumer masturbation.” For a study in 2006, Dr. Lewis took 20 guys, ages 18 to 25, to a high-end lingerie shop and then to a sporting-goods store. When he asked them which experience they liked better, he says, “a number of men said, ‘That sex shop was really exciting.’ In fact, their brain activity was much greater when they were looking at sneakers.”...
Frankly, I can't blame men for engaging in "emotional-shopping" or "retail therapy" when I have been know to do it myself. ;) I often look forward to trips at my local J.Crew so I can relax. It may sound silly, but J.Crew can be a bit of an oasis for me.
What do you think of the article? Disagree or agree with any points made? Do you find J.Crew retail stores as an oasis as well? Have you engaged in J.Crew retail therapy?
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