Canfield Jack - Chicken Soup for the Shoppers Soul

CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SHOPPERS SOUL

CHICKEN SOUP
FOR THE
SHOPPERS SOUL

Celebrating Bargains, Boutiques
and the Perfect Pair of Shoes

Jack Canfield
Mark Victor Hansen
Theresa Peluso

Backlist, LLC, a unit of

Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing, LLC

Cos Cob, CT

www.chickensoup.com

Contents

Morgan St. James

Terri Duncan

Jodie Haley

D. K. Abbott

Theresa Peluso

Dianna Graveman

Kelly Austin

Judith Keenan

Tena Thompson

Peggy Reeves

Suzanne Baginskie

Staci Mauney

Elva Stoelers

Norah Griggs

Patricia Carroll Johnson

Michelle Mach

Susan A. Karas

Ferida Wolff

Marilyn Haight

Renee Holland Davidson

Eileen Rafferty

Marti Kramer Suddarth

Anne Culbreath Watkins

Tsgoyna Tanzman

Vicki Austin

Bea Manheim as told to Theresa Peluso

Terry Lilley

Melissa Mayntz

Lea Ann Atherton

Kim Weiss

Patricia Lorenz

J. A. McDougall

Carol McAdoo Rehme

Jodi L. Severson

Patricia Lorenz

Norma Favor

Carol McAdoo Rehme

Joyce Stark

Rachel Green

Maria Pascucci

Esme Mills

Roberta McGovern

Nancy Sullivan as told to Theresa Peluso

Dawn Howard-Hirsch

Lanita Bradley Boyd

M. J. Plaster

Karen Lynch

Peggy Reeves

Terry Lilley

Dara Fleischer

Kathe Campbell

Gwen Rockwood

Sarah Smiley

Terri Duncan

Mimi Greenwood Knight

Nan Schindler Russell

Ava Pennington

Kenneth Lynch

Jodi L. Severson

Kimberly Ripley

Cristy Trandahl

Bonnie West

Elva Stoelers

Vicki Austin

Stacey Chillemi

Angelique Caffrey

Patricia Lorenz

Shana McLean Moore

B. J. Taylor

C. L. Robinson

Miriam Hill

Irma Newland

Yogesh Chabria

Kathryn Lay

Stacy Lytwyn Maxwell

Avis Drucker

Deepana Mallik

William Geen

Susan Bauer

Carol McAdoo Rehme

When I was growing up, I had three pairs of shoesmy Sunday shoes, my school shoes and a pair of bright, white, canvas Keds. Today, as my husband will attest, things have changed. I now have a closet full of shoes in every color (several shades of the same color, in fact), and all manner of heels, toes and comfort.

With all of that, living in South Florida and working from a home office, Im usually barefoot, which delights my pedicurist to no end. Ironically, none of that stops me from shopping for, or stopping to ogle, shoes. I am not alone. And no, thank you, Im not interested in doing any spring-cleaning of my psyche to resolve my issues. Im a happy shopper.

We all shop. For the essentials and the not-so-essential. Many of us shop with great satisfaction; others only when absolutely necessary and with great exasperation. For some, shopping seems as necessary as breathing, eating and sleeping. The process by which we acquire things that help us define our identity and establish, maintain (or defy) social norms didnt actually have a name until the late 1700s, but shopping is surely encoded in our DNA. That we must find and possess things that make us feel secure and happy drives one of the largest industries in the world economy.

In ancient Greece and medieval Europe, people bartered for goods that they produced themselves in open-air markets. Then one day an entrepreneurial trader established a shop. Bakers, butchers and grocers soon followed, and modern man became a shopper. In those early days, the shopkeeper retrieved the goods a customer requested and often delivered the purchases to the customers home. In the next evolution in our shopping DNA, the industrial revolution produced a plethora of consumer goods, and the department store was born. Stores became larger and less specialized. Self-service was introduced, and we took our goods with us. When suburban sprawl began, the shopping mall was spawned. Then came shoppertainment centers, lifestyle centers, outlet mill malls and festival marketplaces. Contemporary shoppers can select the products they desire from the comfort of their home, dot.com shopkeepers retrieve them, and a man in a big brown (or white or yellow) truck delivers them.

But why do we shop? Are we driven by our desire to have or to get? Certainly, we shop because we need basic necessities like food, clothing and household items. But we also shop recreationally for fashion, furnishings, entertainment, hobby-related products and decorative items for our homes. We browse, explore and hunt for bargains. We build vacations around shopping. And we do it to the tune of about $4 trillion a year. Thats a lot of caching! Shopping makes the economic world go round, and many people very happy.

Experts are hard at work to help us understand the complexity of our shopping impulses. Not surprisingly, men and women are motivated to shop for different reasons. Women are driven more to express love and nurturing by shopping for their homes and family. They reinforce or initiate change in their social relationships by shopping: Is that perfect gift meant to show how much they care or perhaps motivated by a need to be liked more by the recipient? Men approach shopping as an achievement, as proof of their ability to succeedby getting the best deal on the latest tool, car or tech gadget.