I don't have to do any Xmas shopping because I am socially isolated.
To me, shopping is a chore, whether it's for food, clothes or other stuff. I don't mind so much buying food because I always know what to get and I'm in and out of the store in minutes. I hate shopping for clothes and appliances because I get neurotic about getting the wrong thing, getting ripped off, buying junk so I get hyper-vigilant and don't buy on impulse.
Don't buy anything you can't return, and remember that manufacturers warranties aren't worth shit.

You wrote this and I had a response (to each).

"... highly likely to forget where you parked your car in the mall carpark"

- I avoid driving- why are you? I moved into the city and can walk to most places I shop at. I despise malls.

"... unreasonably and unneccesarily critical of kitsch"

-I hate kitsch too, but the reality is kitsch is the urbane sophisticate's way of slamming the everyday folk, ain't it? Talk about snobby!

"... prone to mood swings and disorientation brought on by in-store muzak (which gets especailly irritating as Christmas approaches)"

-I myself like Christmas carols, what can I say?

"... readily irritated by surfeits of apparent choice that isn't really choice at all"
-
-That's because you shop at malls.

... become pathologically forgetful about what it was I was looking for the moment I see racks and shelves of it

This is why you hate shopping! You are a prototypical male, there for a specific purchase to get in and get out (whereas women on average are more likely to enjoy the process and not worry so much about the outcome). Sorta like fishing.

"... readily irritated by bookstore staff who've ver heard of Anthony Burgess, for example, and can't point me to the Poetry, First Nations, Feminist, Theology or Gay Lit sections without a brain-dead "whatever" expression crossing their pasty faces"

Man, you are a snob. These clearks are making our culture's equivalent of a 'dime-an-hour' so cut them some slack already! If you want clerks with an English degree or passion for literature, are you willing to incorporate the wage they deserve in the price of the book you want to buy? Perhaps you, but not most. So it's not their fault.

"... start feeling ill among crowds"

-Yeah, me too. That, and flourescent lights.

I do love to shop like alot of women out there. I don't always buy alot and I love to window shop. I think the attraction is looking at what people sell and what people buy. I am always asking why would this be bought by hundreds of people? What is it about this or how they have marketed the product that screams "buy me... really you NEED me and you need me now so buy me on credit!" I guess it is like an on going sociological observation. I must say I am also on the look out for the things that are different; that say something about who created it or something about the person who bought it. I love seeing people who do "different" in their lifestyle and carry it off well.

I do have the love hate relationship with buying clothing and the sweatshops and enviormental damage caused buy clothing manufactuing. I do alot of second hand recycled and consignment clothing and that eases the guilt, or at least that is the rational!

As for losing your car put an orange tennis ball on your antenna...much easier to find although you will travel into the relm of geekiness!

I do all the shopping for our family. I don't know about "loving" shopping, but I don't mind it and can enjoy it.

- Can I grab the last can of whatever?
- Can I fill the cupboards using less money?
- Can I get my wife some socks that don't have sailboats or "my pretty pony" on them? (My wife is the size of your average seven year old.)

Part of it is the thrill of the hunt.

Mind you, shopping malls are proof that someone has invented variable gravity ... I'm positive that the gravity is a lot higher in malls.

I really dislike MALLS. But I do LOVE Christmas shopping at Ten Thousand Villages - church bazaars - United Church Resource Centres and of course The Liquor Store.

I HATE SHOPPING.

i buy groceries at food basics. i buy liquor at the lcbo.

i go to fruit stands in season, and go right into the orchards or patches to pick my own fruit whenever i can.

i do all my other shopping at the salvation army thrift store or consignment stores.

i wouldn't set foot in a mall unless at gunpoint, and i would rather shove pieces of bamboo underneath my fingernails than go into a wal-mart.

sighsnootles: couldn't have said it better myself! thank goodness i am not alone in my absolute loathing of shopping! food and drug stores i can handle but elsewhere ....YIKES!

I'm with JW on this one-- the thrill of the hunt. That is it I think. For me its not consumerism or materialism, but the hunt. I have this theory that some people like 'hunting' and some don't and there are lots of different ways to hunt (maybe googling the internet, fishing, shopping, or collecting as a hobby). Its all a type of hunting. It really isn't about the outcoming so much as the activity itself.

I go into the local MCC thrift shop at least twice a week. There's always something to look at and often a good buy.

As my tremor is fairly bad and I don't like taking enough drugs to make it go away, I ruin shirts at an amazing rate. At the MCC store I can get new "missews" from the local custom embroidery factory. I really do not care that my new shirt has "CROKE" instead of "COKE" above the Coca-Cola logo. I do not care that my Women's Hockey Association shirt has "Misfy" instead of "Missy" on the right breast. Besides, when I've sufficiently ruined a shirt, I give it to the dog for bedding and turn his old bedding in for rags (after WASHING!). Mind you, I think the factory needs a new compositor ... I cannot believe the number of missews I see at the MCC store!

I HATE shopping. I HATE that I can't afford to make all the good shopping choices I would like to. I HATE having to feel dirty almost every time I spend money. I HATE the constant bombardment of the belief that buying will make me feel better.

There is nothing about shopping that I even like, let alone love. And this jack*ss on CBC at the moment, Andy Bernstein, authour of The Capitalist Manifesto, is only making me crankier.

I hate shopping!

I love shopping. I agree with the observation about "the thrill of the hunt". That's definitely the main attraction for me.

As I get older I am starting to hate shopping more and more - I try to make sure I get everything I need when I go downtown so I won't have to go again.

I shop at Food Basics - there is one quite close to where I live - The smaller the mall the better I like it - I hate big shopping centres