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What do you think will replace shopping as a pastime?

37 replies

Cartright · 25/07/2020 09:11

Posts both on here and in the wider media make me think hobby shopping will decrease in popularity. Partly because masks, queues, one way systems and not being able to touch the merchandise makes it a hassle. Partly because the economic outlook is rough and people will have less disposible cash. And by the time the high street does reopen, store closures mean it is likely to be a very different place.

People can still buy things online, of course, but that doesn't replicate the 'browse around the shops, try a few things on, have a coffee, flick through some books,' experience which is as much about doing something outside the house and away from the family as it is about buying. Given shopping often appears as a popular pastime on leisure time surveys, what do you think people will do instead which will fill that gap?

(I'm aware a thread like this is a open invitation for a certain type of poster to derail it by making it all about how they and their family would never do anything as crass as hobby shop in the first place. Knock yourself out if you don't have the self awareness to stop yourself, but your moral superiority is not really what I'm interested in. I'm wondering how society might change.)

OP posts:
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Charles11 · 25/07/2020 09:25

Walking in the countryside. Apparently, everyone is doing that now.

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backaftera2yearbreak · 25/07/2020 09:29

I love shopping now will less people so I will probably go out more 🤷‍♀️

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Maryhadalittlejam · 25/07/2020 09:32

I don't shop unless I really need something but think more home based hobbies gardening and baking seem popular

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Mascotte · 25/07/2020 09:33

Sitting in the house sobbing over the crapness of everything, in my case!

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Drivingdownthe101 · 25/07/2020 09:35

@backaftera2yearbreak

I love shopping now will less people so I will probably go out more 🤷‍♀️

But with less people the shops won’t survive long sadly.
Interesting question OP. In my rare child free time I used to like a wander round the shops, trying stuff on, trying make up tasters, buying things for the house etc. I’d always stop and get lunch on my own too. I realise that according to many on MN that makes me akin to lucifer, but 🤷🏻‍♀️.
Anyway I won’t be going in the shops again until queues/one way systems/sticky sanitiser on every door/masks etc are a thing of the past, so will have to think of new ways to spend my child free time! I might just take a book and go and sit by the canal or something.
Will certainly be good for my bank balance anyway!
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Simonfromharlow · 25/07/2020 09:36

I work in a shopping centre and people are definitely still shopping as a past time! We've been so busy

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Didyousaynutella · 25/07/2020 09:36

My mum is a hobby shopper and she has been enjoying her local walks as a replacement. Not sure how she will cope in the winter mind.

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Firstimer703 · 25/07/2020 09:37

I can't see the pleasure in going to town, wearing a mask and having to buy 2 of everything to take it home and try on only to have to go back and return so my shopping will definitely decrease which I think is probably a good thing for me but not society as a whole! It will be better for the environment if we don't consume as much but it does seem to provide incomes for many around the world so what will emerge from that, I have no idea. It's something I think about a lot OP. What is the new world going to look like?

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Drivingdownthe101 · 25/07/2020 09:40

@Simonfromharlow

I work in a shopping centre and people are definitely still shopping as a past time! We've been so busy

Interesting... my local shopping centre is, by all accounts, completely dead.
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Takingabreakagain · 25/07/2020 09:43

@Simonfromharlow do you think the number of shoppers will fall again due to the requirement to wear masks etc? People were 'let out' after lockdown and needed to buy things but will they still come out to wander round the shops with all the restrictions

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holidayplanningnewbie · 25/07/2020 09:44

I love hobby shopping and have had hardly any time or money to do it since the kids were born. Sad that mooching around the shops on my own may never happen again in quite the same way (as so many will close).

Sadder I didn't take the kids to more festivals though, I would have loved them to go to some family friendly ones I had been meaning to take them to. The live music industry will likely be utterly decimated by the time this is over. The music industry is one of this country's biggest revenue generators but this government have utterly screwed them over. So short sighted.

What will we do instead? Not sure... we've been spending more time out in nature and at the beach, perhaps that will take up some of the time, but not all of it. Visiting family has become more important as our elderly parents are still not going out and they're really glad of the compny. (We're still not hugging or getting close) so we'll take the 2 hour journey to visit family more often I imagine.

I have more focus on developing the kids life skills and survival skills as I'm terrified about what climate change will bring now I've seen how badly our government deals with global threats. But that's not exactly a replacement for hobby shopping.

Dunno. Interesting question!

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Simonfromharlow · 25/07/2020 09:45

@Takingabreakagain no I don't think the masks will have an effect. It's an outlet village I work in so nothing sold here is really essentials. A lot of people have been wearing masks anyway!

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ClashCityRocker · 25/07/2020 09:49

Our out of town shopping centre was rammed on Thursday as everyone wanted to get it in before masks.

But yes, leisure shopping does sound less appealing although most shops I've been in have been doing a good job.

I do wonder if we might not just adjust.

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Gertie75 · 25/07/2020 09:50

I used to spend way too much money while out shopping, I love a good browse and have bought so may things on impulse that I didn't need and never ended up using or wearing.

Since lockdown I've been taking the dog on longer walks, watched box sets and played my Nintendo Switch.

Financially although I don't have debts other than the mortgage I've always paid my bills then spent the rest and consequently never had savings, now though I have several hundred in the bank and now masks are mandatory I will spend much less in supermarkets so I'm hoping to save more and lose a bit of weight too.

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Drivingdownthe101 · 25/07/2020 09:54

[quote Simonfromharlow]@Takingabreakagain no I don't think the masks will have an effect. It's an outlet village I work in so nothing sold here is really essentials. A lot of people have been wearing masks anyway! [/quote]
I think outdoor shopping centres will get more footfall as you can take masks off between shops.
Our Intu is completely dead. 6 shops have permanently closed their doors in the past few months.

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Cherryghost · 25/07/2020 09:58

Driving which intu shopping centre is dead? It's not the Trafford centre is it?

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Takingabreakagain · 25/07/2020 10:03

@Drivingdownthe101 I agree - I suppose that is a small bit of hope for high streets as you can remove masks between each store there too

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BogRollBOGOF · 25/07/2020 10:08

I went for a pre-mask shop on Thurs as the DCs needed fitting for school shoes. We went into INTU and although I only went through about a quarter, there were shops that have not reopened as it it is.

I'm not a great leisure shopper, but like a few jaunts per year. I don't often buy clothes as my wardrobe is full of stuff up to 20 years old, and the older stuff lasts longer. If I do buy clothes I always try them on in store because as a short pear shape, a lot just sits badly and I'm not pissing about with returns. If I go into town, I do make impulse purchases of random stuff, as we did on Thurs.

I will be avouding non-essential retail. Especially in somewhere like INTU and given that they are already in administration, they might find that the prospect of hours of mask wearing in their centres is financially disasterous. Outside shops where you can get fresh air between have a stronger advantage (Primark 1, M&S nil)

What's replacing shopping? At this end of the year, we're hanging around parks a lot more. In the winter we often do things like swimming, but the logistics of that remain to be seen... can we still rock up spontaneously? ... will there be casual family splash sessions?

Still there's always frothing up on MN or Minecraft...

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lazylinguist · 25/07/2020 10:11

I don't like shopping as a hobby myself, but I don't think anything will replace it - people will still do it. They'll get used to the masks and other restrictions and it will be the 'new normal'.
Covid will have hastened the end of many shops, but shopping centres and chains of shops were already going out of business in their droves before the pandemic due to the dominanceof online sales. Avid hobby shoppers will just carry on going to the ones that remain imo.

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Drivingdownthe101 · 25/07/2020 10:14

@lazylinguist

I don't like shopping as a hobby myself, but I don't think anything will replace it - people will still do it. They'll get used to the masks and other restrictions and it will be the 'new normal'.
Covid will have hastened the end of many shops, but shopping centres and chains of shops were already going out of business in their droves before the pandemic due to the dominanceof online sales. Avid hobby shoppers will just carry on going to the ones that remain imo.

I guess it remains to be seen. As I said above, I was a hobby shopper but I won’t be returning until the restrictions have gone (if there is anything to return to). I suspect some will be like me and some will carry on regardless.
Only time will tell.
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OrigamiOwl · 25/07/2020 10:30

I am (was) a hobby shopper.
However I'm not planning on going shopping for as long as I can help it. Essentials will be ordered online.
I know shops are doing the best they can. But in between mandatory facemasks (I'm a bit deaf and rely on clear/non-muffled pronunciation and lip reading), surly staff, having to use shop sanitisers each time you enter (using your own isn't good enough) and confusing one-way systems it's all got a bit much for me.
I have sensitive skin/psoriasis and have found a brand that doesn't irritate them... But having to use the ones installed in shops is causing them to crack and peel.
Customer service seems to have gone out of the window. In my local INTU I've been yelled at from across the shop for daring to enter a shop (no one on the door so apparently I should have psychically known how many people were in the store and they was no sign up saying the maximum number). Another shop has a one-way system that takes you around the store and to the tools in the middle of the shop... You then have to walk across the one-way system to get out!
Woe betide you if you so much as look at a shop assistant with the view to asking a question in some of these stores.
I know people are scared, but treat your customers with at best distain and at worst by yelling at them and embarrassing them you'll find you may not have any customers left.
I feel a bit guilty as the economy is in need of help and I'd like to do my bit. But at the moment all the joy has been sucked out of shopping for me.

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MadCatLady71 · 25/07/2020 10:35

I’m sure masks won’t be a long-term barrier - most people will just get used to them. For years masked Taiwanese tourists in London have been a common sight, because they caught on out there after SARS in 2003 and people think nothing of wearing a mask. I’m in France where masks have been ‘recommended’ for months (mandatory since last week) and I barely notice I’m wearing one now. I’m not a recreational shopper at all, but now tend to find that if I have a bunch of errands to run I don’t bother taking off my mask between shops. And shops will have to find ways to lure back the browsers and hobby-shoppers, otherwise they will just die out. I’m sure this is all just teething troubles.

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Mintjulia · 25/07/2020 10:36

Shopping, but it’ll adapt.

Our town has introduced weekly markets, and they are busy with people who don’t like masks.

Some of the shops have taken the stalls outside their normal premises. Seems to be working for everything except clothing.

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mencken · 25/07/2020 10:45

if anyone does give a fuck about the planet (and to be honest I don't think most do) then hobby shopping has to stop. Preventing climate change and pollution means travelling less, buying less, having less. It isn't just playing truant on Friday and waving banners.

now everyone knows what is involved. Not fun, is it?

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BlusteryShowers · 25/07/2020 10:55

Walking might replace it. I like a wander round a bookshop sometimes so I will miss that while I can't take my time and handle them as much as I like. I've been walking with audiobooks and podcasts when I just need to get out of the house

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