Shopping is something that isn’t going away anytime soon.

Men, we might as well admit it. Standing around waiting to give your opinion to your partner who kinda likes shopping (even if it’s once in a while) just isn’t fun. One shop is fine, but a whole day in a Premium Outlet mall is totally different thing.

As I sit on a bench outside a Charlotte Russe outlet store in Woodburn, Oregon, after being lambasted for looking miserable by my wife, all I can think of is, how come nobody has come up with a solution to this yet?

I’m not advocating for men (or women, if your partner likes to shop more than you, which is perfectly possible) to be lazy and expect to be able to sit around at a nearby coffee shop reading articles that will probably be forgotten before the end of the day while their partners are left alone to shop.

No, I’m just thinking out loud. Can something be done to make shopping-an increasingly meaningless activity wreaking with the stench of consumerism that we’ve come to be taught to recognise so well-more fun for both the shopper and his/her partner?

I think including a comfortable couch inside the shop is an amazing touch that smart shops are already doing, even if it means having less rack space to display products. All shops should do this as far as possible. Partners get to sit and daydream between dishing out opinions, and shoppers get their opinions and feel less lonely shopping than it already is inherently.

What else can be done?

Something must be done. Because I’m telling you, I hate feeling like an asshole for not being within 3 meters of my wife, ready to tell her how nice that pair of jeans looks on her, sitting instead by myself on a bench 20 meters outside the store, writing this.

Do you have any ideas? Let me know by responding to this article.

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