Normally, when I am reprinting one of my articles from Australia and New Zealand magazine here on this blog, I like to give it a good long intro. But this article was about shopping.
I don’t get overly verbose when I’m talking about shopping. It gets worse, this article was about girlie shopping!
What do I know about girlie shopping?
Precisely, just about everything I wrote in the 550 word article. There is no more. I can’t think of another word to add. Other than this one appeared in the July edition of the magazine and they called it..
Retail therapy
Whenever I write a new article for this magazine, I always ask my wife, Karen, to have a quick read through. Not only do I want her to tell me about any howlers I may have made, but I also want to know how it reads from her point of view. After all, I’m a boy and she’s a girl.
She did remark on one occasion that my articles did lean more toward the bloke market, citing previous writings on subjects like pubs, going to football matches and beer measures. What did she think I should write about? Girlie shopping?
Apparently, yes, exactly that.
How can I possibly do an article on shopping, let alone girlie shopping? I was reminiscing only the other day on how much I miss Argos, because it really was my favourite shop of all in England.
Why?
Every Argos store I ever went in to only had one floor. No escalators and no lifts. Nothing much to look at either, you can’t exactly browse the shelves or walk around the aisles. You choose what you want out of a book, pay for it, wait awhile and then collect it. Then you go home. Lovely!
That’s my idea of shopping.
Girlie shopping is quite different, so I am told. Girlie shopping is more like the Ikea (which we do have here) experience. Lots of slow walking; stopping and starting, picking things up, touching, talking, and stopping for coffee.
Sometimes, according to my wife, girlie shopping doesn’t even involve buying anything. Not sure I’m buying that one! A proper girlie shopping trip may even involve a light lunch in a quality cafe, maybe with a glass of wine. But what are the must see shops in Australia?
David Jones and Myer probably top the list as department stores; they rival the likes of John Lewis, Debenhams and House of Fraser. We don’t really have an equivalent to Marks & Spencer’s here. We do have a store called Target though, which is a bit downmarket from M & S. But by using the French pronunciation of softening the G and not pronouncing the T, as in Tar- jay, it can sound quite posh.
Forget the High Street in Australia, all the serious shopping is done in shopping malls, some of them quite huge. Popular girlie clothes shops include Dotti, Supre, Witchery and City Beach. But if you are looking for Next, Wallace, Top Shop or Monsoon, you’d be unlucky. They are just not here.
We do have things called DFO’s, or Direct Factory Outlets though. Top brand names at bargain prices, if not exactly factory prices.
For those who are in a serious hurry to spend lots of money fast, most big cities have some designer stores that will be happy to help you out, like Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Hermes and Tiffany. These are stores with minimalist displays, no prices on any of their products and if that worries you (it does me), it means you can’t afford it.
The final verdict from Karen? Shops may just have the edge in the UK, but the coffee and company here in Australia is as good as anywhere in the world.
Right, time to get this proofread, hope she likes this one. Karen!
Oh, she’s gone shopping.
