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I LOVE the Oracle and Reading - it has two whole department stores (no such thing where I live) and I get to go browse through knitting wool and kitchen gadgets and shiney new expensive saucepans ..... oh it is sheer heaven! Plus loads of great restaurants there too!

boboff wrote:Bonnie........

Denim

Tied Back Hair

Feathery Wellies.........................

Twinge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

* Sorry.

God bless you Boboff

zaxdog wrote:Hi All,

I was listening to Radio 4 this morning as the presenter pointed out the difference between shopping for essentials and the joys of a Saturday spent in retail therapy. I am I the only one who comes out in a cold sweat at the thought of hours of touring shops full of people to buy clothes etc?

Don't get me wrong I am addicted to charity shops and can spend an hour or so touring the fab ones in my local town of Oban for books, fabric, wool and clothes, but the thought of department stores, trendy clothes shops makes me

What do the other ishers think?

Nope, you're not the only one~ I HATE the thought of spending our money on over-priced ANYthing!
I am addicted to charity shops too I spend no more than £10-£20 per month, and sometimes come home with a truckload!
I keep a list of what I need/am searching for and IF I buy something that isn't on the list, it IS something that we need, usually (like an old enamel roaster, in perfect condition, for £1.50). Occasionally, I buy a little something for fun, but hey, look at how little I spend~~

I just simply can't do it very well. it's not like i feel that I hate itor anything. We rarley go shopping, and I make the biggest effort whe we do because my better half enjoys walking around the modern malls in Bourgas, but even with my best efforts, when I walk into a shop especially clothes or shoes, I just get so tired, huge yawns, such a shame for D******, but I can't help it

I may be the odd one out, but I LOVE shopping :D I shop for clothes, for kitchenware, for wool and knitting needles, I shop in op shops, in Kmart, and anywhere else that looks like it might have stuff I like. I am only 20 though, so that may have something to do with it
I really love getting stuff! It does leave me with an overabundance of things, but I'm sure the clothing bins appreciate the amount of clothes that I get rid of every year. Shopping is fun

I love the old-fashioned sort of charity shops, flea markets, junk shops, boot fairs and less fancy type of nursery/garden centres etc.
Loads of charity shops around here have been ruined by having too much new tacky stuff in them. Not to mention that the prices are now often very close to those of new goods in big stores.
I really hate big glitzy shops selling all the same sorts of grotty cheaply made far Eastern goods at vast mark-ups. When you look at the clothes or shoes and can imagine that they were made in Indonesia for $50 and are 'on sale' for £24.99 - you know that if you wear them to do any work in they'll fall apart in 6 months.
I've never smelt wee in a charity shop, what a laugh - the smells and awful music in big stores can be unbearable to me.
So far removed from anything REAL - give me natural, down-to-earth, and something meaningful.

everything Marc said!

I live in the far East...and i HATE shopping here with a vengeance!

I can't buy clothes, people try to touch my feet when I buy shoes (they can't believe that the tall westerner has tiny feet) and people like to measure themselves against me and talk about how big i am. The shops are far too noisy, their music levels are way above any i've ever experienced in the UK and I'm sick of the 'foreigner discount' read: Quick! Rip this one off, she's white!!

I love charity shops in the UK, and...I hate to admit it but i love places like Primark too. I love George at Asda (35" inside leg!!) and sainsburys undies are actually pretty good. Their clothes generally last a good while.

It's just a shame that some of my clothes start off here in China, go to the UK, get sold and then i bring them back here...I wish i could find the factories that make the western clothes here. I'd beg to buy at the gates!

I must admit that I've been enjoying a little (OK, a lot of) retail therapy recently - got promoted at work, more money to spend, kinda felt like I needed some better threads now that I'm going to be dealing with the punters more... It turns out that decent tailoring is somewhat addictive. Still not a fan of big department stores though - I like shops with nobody else in them. And then of course there's the joy of internet shopping... I'm at my desk, so I'm working! Honest!

Occasionally I like to go shopping, but usually it's for beads and other crafty things rather than clothes, DVD's, etc. I don't remember the last time I brought myself new clothes....xmas 2010 is the last time I remember getting given a new dress, a lovely knitted one with a bunny on it! I hate spending money just for the sake of spending money though.

Shopping is relaxing if either I have lots of things to get and manage to find them all or if I don't have any very important jobs I should be getting on with instead. Sometimes my mum wants me to go into town with her and if I have the time then it's nice to spend it with her, but if I am busy it is very fustrating to have to go to shops when I have nothing that I need to get, don't want to spend money and don't have half the day to waste.

I used to love clothes shopping when I was a size 10, nowadays it's more of a case of finding something, anything, that fits I have discovered Long Tall Sally though and George does pretty good big-girl clothes as well.

I think it's a real shame that all high streets look the same these days. On the other hand, there's no point wasting petrol heading off to any of the big shopping centres if you want to go out shopping for the day. Might as well take a walk into Swindon town centre or the outlet village.

Garden centres and craft shops on the other hand ..... (is there a drool smilie?).

Fortunately, we also have Cirencester on the doorstep which has a fantastic range of small gift, craft and unusual shops as well as the craft markets at the Corn Hall and the Brewery Arts Centre.

Zoe