Top Shoppers Get The Knack From Genes
People can be divided into many categories: athletes and spectators, winners and whiners, meat-eaters and vegetarians.
But the one thing that separates people faster than anything else is shopping.
You are either born with the shopping instinct or you are not. It is simple genetics.
The traits of a shopper are similar to the traits exhibited by prehistoric hunters and gatherers. Shoppers have maintained that little segment on their DNA that gives them an advantage when it comes to foraging for a bargain.
So how do you know if you are a true shopper? Ask yourself these questions:
1. Can you find somewhere to shop in even the most isolated, remote, deserted location?
2. Do your friends refuse to go shopping with you even though you promise it won’t take all day?
3. Do you laugh at the idea of getting only 30 percent off on a purchase?
4. Have you been known to forgo the opportunity to commune with nature for the chance to get a really good deal on a pair of shoes?
If you said “yes” to any of the questions above you may be a carrier of the shopping gene.
The following is a true story. It illustrates to what lengths a true shopper will go in search of a bargain. Names have been omitted to protect the embarrassed.
The location: Coldwater Creek, the mail-order giant located in Sandpoint. The event: The company’s annual two-day warehouse clearance sale.
People from all over the Inland Northwest roll out of bed in the pre-dawn hours and, fueled only by black coffee and the hopes of that once-in-a-lifetime deal, hit the road. They come from Cranbrook, Spokane, Pullman and Lewiston. They are headed to The Sale.
They come alone or with their best shopping partners. They cannot risk the chance of bringing a non-shopper who would drag them down when the going gets tough.
One couple admits they left their four young children at home with the grandparents to come to The Sale. Another woman says she schedules her vacation every year around The Sale. These are true shoppers.
The line begins forming before 6 a.m. even though the doors won’t open until 8 a.m. By 8:30 a.m. the wait to get into the building is three hours. Few turn back.
They make small talk. They discuss other great sales and compare war stories.
One woman describes the sales at Harrod’s in London, where people are trampled for a 60 percent discount on sweaters. Another tells of the great bargains she found in a tiny Mexican jungle village.
They wait patiently in anticipation of the discounts inside the warehouse.
It’s nearly 11 a.m. A woman near the front of the line can’t take the pressure any longer and turns to leave. She’s been in line more than 2-1/2 hours but she gives in. She doesn’t have the shopping gene after all.
At 11:30 a.m., the group makes it to the front of the line. It will be the next admitted to the inner sanctum. The tension builds.
Finally the rope is lifted and they enter. It’s all they had imagined it to be and more: boxes of merchandise marked at 60, 70, even 80 percent off the original price. Coats once priced at $145 now sell for $24.99. Bathrobes that sold for $135 are marked down to $19.99. Dresses, skirts, blouses - it’s all here and the prices are the stuff of which dreams are made.
Shopping bags are filled and the next wait begins. Now they must stand in line to pay for their treasures.
In the end they are tired and weary. Their muscles ache and they are thirsty. They walk quietly back to their cars for the long journeys home.
Some claim they will not do this again. It’s too much; they don’t have the strength. But even as they head out of the parking lot, they begin to think of next year and The Sale.
These are true shoppers.
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