For me, my mom was the one doing all of my clothes shopping
up until middle school. At that time, I was perfectly fine with wearing
whatever was placed in my closet. However, looking back, I now question her
choice of buying me those bright pink pants and patchwork jeans.
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| Example of what my childhood style looked like |
During my middle school years, I went through the phase
where I shopped at the typical “teen” stores like Aéropostale, Hollister, and
Abercrombie Kids. At this stage in my life, I was motivated to shop at
these stores mainly because I had the perception that they were the brands that
“cool” teenagers wore (Babin & Harris, 2015, p. 47, 85).
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| Some of the places I shopped at in middle school |
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| Sweaters for the cold weather |
Transitioning into 20-year old me, I’ve now realized that my
motivation for shopping has drastically changed from my middle school days.
Whereas I previously perceived shopping as a means of fitting in with the
crowd, I now perceive shopping as a means of buying clothes for comfort and as
a way to express my personal style. For
instance, because of Michigan’s bipolar weather (although not complaining about that
snow day we had!), I have a utilitarian motivation to go shopping and buy
sweaters so that I can stay warm in Michigan's crazy zero degree weather.
However, I also have a hedonic motivation to
shop because of the in-store retail experience (Babin & Harris, 2015, p.
87). Since stores are getting creative with their clothing displays every season and
especially during the holidays, I find it more enjoyable shopping in-store than
online. When my friends come back home during school breaks, we always make
sure to take a trip to our local mall because we are hedonically motivated to
shop for the retail experience. Below are some stores that I think provide a
great in-store shopping experience! Feel free to click on the links if you want to know more about each store.
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| Target has the best holiday decorations ❅ Target |
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| Sephora has great customer service Sephora |
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| Apple allows you to have fun with its products Apple |
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| Costco offers free food samples while you're shopping Costco |
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| Nordstrom has creative store layouts Nordstrom |
Although it sounds silly, I consider myself to be a highly
involved shopper that finds a lot of value in shopping (Babin & Harris, 2015, p. 89). When it comes to store catalogs
and in-store promotions, I always find myself paying attention to this kind of information (which unfortunately results in me spending more than I would like
to). If you ever need to find me in-store, make sure to look in the back where
the clearance is ☺. Let me know in the comments below if you prefer to shop in-store or online and why!
