What do you think will replace shopping as a pastime?

[Cartright]

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.)

[Kaiserin]

There is something about "browsing" I find very soothing. A sense of being surrounded by everything I may ever need, so "all is well". Empty shelves I found utterly depressing during lockdown.

To replicate this feeling is hard. Internet browsing does it a bit, but is often frustrating (the interface of most online shops isn't great). I would probably enjoy more Virtual Reality browsing! (or just something a bit more like a video game) I think it appeals to our hunter/gatherer instincts. But it's not very tactile.

Closest to this "browsing" feeling I get by going through my small garden and checking on the various plants, passing my hands through some of the leaves, weighing a handful of soil... An allotment would be great. Or a "pick your own" farm.
Oh, and going through our tiny stockpile, checking our various supplies are at an appropriate level, also gives me similar good vibes (quite a sad new hobby! I might as well join my husband in his household accountancy spreadsheet ritual)

... But shopping was also about going out, and eventually sitting at the terrace of a coffee shop, and just watching other people busy living their lives. An easy way to feel part of a wider community. That bit I fear is very hard to replace. The rainbows and the clapping never really did the trick for me. And not even being able to see people's smile as they wave hello?...
Instead I just seem to spend way too much time talking with strangers on the Internet, but it's really not the same.

[RunningNinja79]

@mrsrhodgilbert

I agree about York. Lots of places were closing and just turning into yet another coffee shop, but I also think it was starting to get over-run with hen and stag parties at a weekend even during the day. I do love Leeds though. Hope its still nice and there's enough places to go when we next go which will probably be December as it's a bit of a drive away.

I've never been a hobby shopper as such, but if I want something I'll happily go and have a browse. This is still the same now, but I think rather than popping into various shops as I'm passing anyway I'll probably just go to the shop I think I need and that will be it. In and out again.

[Fluffymule]

I’ve always enjoyed a day out to a few museums/galleries/sculpture park or a national trust property as an alternative to a day hobby shopping. But even that isn’t appealing right now as they have all the surrounding faff of pre-booking, queuing, communal hand sanitising etc. But I’ll hopefully be doing more of those things at some point in the future when things return to normal.

I’m also a gym goer, but won’t be returning until its back to normal open access either. The procedures they've issued this week around trying to secure a pre-booked place, more queuing and holding pens outside, not being able to use lockers, are again such a faff and inconvenience. I absolutely understand why they are doing it, and sympathise with their restrictions in being able to provide a decent customer experience, but its not something I’m up for.

What I have been doing is all very home focused. Gardening, DIY, decluttering, reading, sewing. And like so many others, what I’ve needed for these activities has all been bought on-line.

[Terralee]

I'm happy to wear a mask, I have to wear one all day at work anyway.

[Terralee]

To be honest I still enjoy going shopping.
Especially to my local second hand bookshop.
And to Primark! I spent £20 last time I went on cotton tea towels, hair scrunchies, flip flops, 2 pairs of leggings & a pair of trainers!

[Bargebill19]

In our local area, walking and looking at other people’s homes seems to be number one activity or gardening. Shopping seems to all gone on line given the increase in delivery vans.
I do wonder if the sharp increase in parking charges has done this or wether it is the mask effect.

[LaurieFairyCake]

Wanking

[Cosmosgrowinmygarden]

@PicsInRed

Still shopping but in open air markets (maybe with tarpaulin roofs or overhangs for snow and light rain).

Just just German Christmas markets.

You just wait, you can't keep good shoppers down. We'll be back - after all, our country needs us.

This!
I so wish MN had a like button!

[mrsrhodgilbert]

I love a day out that involves brunch/lunch and a browse around the shops in one of our nearest cities, for us that’s Leeds or York. I miss it but York was looking quite sad before Covid and I worry about it now although it will always attract visitors because of the historic significance. My dd(23) is having a trip to Leeds today and I’ll be really interested to hear what it’s like.

I’ve been enjoying gardening but that will stop when the winter comes and I’m sick of walking around the same old streets. I don’t know what people will do in the winter when they usually head for indoor entertainment. The beaches and countryside won’t seem so appealing then.

[TimeWastingButFun]

I've never been one for shopping unless I have something specific to buy, so I haven't changed my habits all that much - Amazon and online clothes shopping now, and I'll probably carry on doing that. I haven't been in anything other than a supermarket since March!

[wheresmymojo]

I used to be a massive hobby shopper but stopped a year or so ago for environmental reasons and also by realising how much money I was wasting on things that didn't actually add to my life (working in a stressful job just to keep buying things I might not even end up wearing, etc).

Anyway the things that have replaced it for me are:

• Gardening (growing own veg)
• Reading
• Napping
• Walks in the countryside
• Seeing family and friends more, picnics, etc

The one type of hobby shopping I do still really enjoy is going to what I'd call 'destination towns' - usually quaint looking towns or cities that have a mix of high street and indie stores, coffee places, antique stores, etc. We will definitely carry on doing that.

[PicsInRed]

Still shopping but in open air markets (maybe with tarpaulin roofs or overhangs for snow and light rain).

Just just German Christmas markets.

You just wait, you can't keep good shoppers down. We'll be back - after all, our country needs us.

[BlusteryShowers]

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

[mencken]

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?

[Mintjulia]

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.

[MadCatLady71]

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.

[OrigamiOwl]

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.

[Drivingdownthe101]

@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.

[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.

[BogRollBOGOF]

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...

[Takingabreakagain]

@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

[Cherryghost]

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

[Drivingdownthe101]

[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.

[Gertie75]

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.

[ClashCityRocker]

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.