Is ‘Retail Therapy’ still a ‘Therapy’ as we Knew it?
What can be a 'Therapy'?
There were the times, when I liked going to our local supermarket, a couple of times per week. I would take one of my boys with me, we would go for a nice walk, could pop into a cafeteria for a coffee and a hot chocolate. Last time when we did that was months ago. I loved this, therapy is not necessarily a ‘retail’ one.
A couple of weeks ago, I had to go to a supermarket for some milk, I love making my lattes at home now. So, I thought It would be a quick trip to the store; I was wrong.
While I was standing in line, waiting for my turn to get into the shop, I was thinking about a ‘retail therapy’ that used to be popular and some sort of stress relief for many people. And while I was waiting, I was thinking that the current safety measures have potentially edged the other way, inducing additional stress, albeit short term and manageable.
Is it a Change for the Better?
May be, it is time to reassess our clothes shopping habits and do it in the same way as we do with food shopping now, by sticking to the essentials? I would minimise my trips to a clothes store as much as I could, If I did clothes shopping regularly. But for me (and all our family) it has been only pre-loved clothes in the past couple of years. I loved finding treasures sometimes in our local charity shop.
A few small local independent stores in our town came up with an idea of having appointments system. This is great to still have some sort of ‘therapy’. In addition, you will not have to queue up to enter and it will not be so crowded. This is great really. I hope that people will start appreciating this more and respect the clothes that they wear. But of course, I am talking about public in general, as, unfortunately, I see a lot of black bin bags left with clothes near the collection bins when they are full…Of course we have different case scenarios and different circumstances. No judgement.
It looks like fast fashion is slowing down a little bit. The word ‘fast’ in this concept is about the speed with which the items enter the household and then they leave. And in addition, how fast they are manufactured. Unfortunately, it is not about the quality in this case.
So, What to Do if You are Looking for some ‘Retail Therapy’?
First, I would suggest shopping in your own wardrobe. Find items that you no longer wear and try to understand why. The issues like ‘too small’, ‘too big’, ‘boring’ are usually easily fixed. I have a lot of ideas and tricks in videos of my practical sessions that I ran during Online Festivals. Check them out, link here. Upcycling your clothes will give you more relaxing quality time than ‘shopping therapy’. You will get inspired and this would be great!
Second, check with your friends, there is always a way out and very possible, one of your friends would help you to find a solution. One of the solutions can be a simple clothes swap. It is getting more and more popular.
There are swap groups online, pre-loved clothes that is sold online etc.
Third, you can look around in your area and check with your local independent clothes shops. They might provide a good alternative to going to big retails. Supporting small businesses is always good.
