Shopping with a list, shopping like a man

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Two seemingly unrelated news items caught my eye last night. The first: Americans are shopping again -- albeit with a lot more discipline. This time, when they step foot in a mall, they're doing so with a shopping list in hand. In the Associated Press's "For Many, Shopping No Longer a Leisure Activity," the reporter writes:

Shoppers today visit an average of three stores during a trip to the mall, according to ShopperTrak, a Chicago research firm that tracks sales and customer counts at more than 70,000 stores. That compares with an average of five stores in 2006.

It's "surgical shopping," said John Gerzema, a brand executive at advertising and marketing firm Young & Rubicam, and co-author of a new book about the changing ways we spend money.

The article goes on to illustrate Gerzema's point by interviewing shoppers who talk about how they stick to specific lists.

The second article that caught my attention was the Wall Street Journal's "To Dress Well, a Woman Should Shop Like a Man." The general gist of this article: Women who are shopping for clothing would be better served if they paid less attention to logos and brands and more attention to hallmarks of quality like generous seams that have been folded before being stitched down, or well-constructed waistbands.

These two pieces would seem to have nothing in common at first glance -- but what ties them together is the notion that sometimes, you need a gimmick to justify being picky about opening your wallet. (Lists! Shopping like a guy!) Admittedly, I am slightly at a loss as to why men are positioned as more discerning consumers in the second article -- I've known men who will fling cash at something, anything if it means they can be freed from the tyranny of a shopping trip -- but the core point remains: Don't buy crap just because it looks trendy.

I have my own picky points when shopping -- If I'm buying a striped clothing item, the stripes have to match up perfectly on the seams or else it's no good, for example -- and I am not at all comfortable stepping in a store unless I have a list clutched firmly in hand (or, these days, glowing on my smartphone screen).

But what about you? What are your benchmarks for quality shopping? What are your picky points? And what sort of shopping lists do you make? Share at dollarsandsense@sfgate.com.

Posted By: Lisa Schmeiser (Email) | January 11 2011 at 09:02 AM

Listed Under: Wallet-friendly habits