Shopping!

According to Norton, “shopping has been the occasion for women to escape the confines of their homes and enjoy the companionship of other women. It provided an occasion for women to spend long stretches of time in the company of their friends, without the presence of their husbands.” I don’t believe this to be all true. For example, when I go to the mall the majority of people I see are couples, men and women. Though it may be a great way to relieve the stress of the family and just go off to the mall, men do they same thing. My brother is an exception to what Norton stated. He goes to the mall and always comes back with at least one item. I don’t necessarily think that women are the only ones who enjoy shopping to get away from the presence of someone; I think it applies to both male and female.

Usually when I go to the mall I tend to go to Northridge mall since it is close by my house. When I go to the mall I see all kinds of different people, babies, teenagers, parents, and the elderly. Plus there are always different kinds of ethnicities, Mexicans, African Americans, Caucasians, Asians, and many others. I believe this does tie into what Norton says, “a place of meeting for the young and one of the rare places where young and old go together. People of different races and classes, different occupations, different levels of education meet there.” However, depending on which mall you do go to, depend on the type of stores you will see. When you go to the San Fernando outdoor mall, you don’t see a forever 21, a Hollister, or even an Apple store. But when you make your way to the Northridge mall you see those stores and many more. Just like if you were to go down to Topanga mall you see stores like Burberry, Armed Forces Career Center, and Bebe, stores you wouldn’t see at the San Fernando mall or even Northridge mall.

Shopping isn’t just for women to step out of the style of being a mother, but to go off and enjoy time for a while. However, these days it isn’t just the female that goes off to do the shopping but so do males, at all ages and ethnicities. Depending on which mall you do go to though, will depend on what stores they do have since they have to accommodate that areas income.