Shopping

Going shopping is a part of our everyday life. For some people it's a pleasant pastime while for others it's an everyday routine. Some people like doing shopping and they are happy if they can pick up a bargain in the sales, for others yawn (հորանջել) while walking along the shelves in a shop. People who hate going shopping they make a list of what they need and run through stores buying the needed things. But whether you like shopping or not you have to do it because it's a necessity.

I'd like to say that at present shopping has become more exciting than it used to be several decades ago. Today people do a lot of shopping or at least window-shopping every day, because all necessary facilities are provided for them. In large cities and even in small towns there are all kinds of shops and stores as well as supermarkets. 

 Supermarkets are big self-service food shops (and not only food nowadays) where one can buy a lot of goods cheaper than at local grocer's. In supermarkets the goods are tidily arranged on trays (սկուտեղ) and long endless shelves. The shelves are well stocked with a wide selection of attractively packed goods. Everything from quick-frozen food to washing powder, from shoe-polish to new-laid eggs, from tinned fish to tooth paste can be bought there. All these things are displayed in such a way that people are often tempted to purchase things they don't need. It's a so called marketing trick; that's why it's better to make shopping list before going to a shop. With shopping list you can avoid several costly mistakes. After a person has found everything he needs he takes his trolley and goes to the cash desk. There are often long queues, but they do not spoil the general pleasure of visiting such shops.

If you are going to buy some clothes, electrical appliances, souvenirs and so on, the best place to visit is a department store. A department store is a store which sells many different kinds of goods, each in a separate department. Modern department stores serve the needs of the entire family. Usually people enjoy buying goods in such shops as they can make all their purchases under one roof. A typical department store occupies a large building with separate departments, located on a number of floors. Some departments provide special services among them there can be a travel agency or a chemist's for example. These stores started in America more than 50 years ago, and then the idea was brought to European countries. And today we can hardly imagine our life without these stores.

Certainly some people dislike shopping and place their orders by the phone or order goods on the Internet (it's becoming more and more popular). Today you can buy everything on the Internet starting with books and finishing with clothes, but it's really not easy to find a store with the best prices and more convenient delivery hours because today there are so many stores and companies on the Internet. From time to time they offer a small gift or a free delivery. Another reason why people prefer to use the Internet today to buy this or that thing is that it's time-saving, because at present we want to save as much time as possible. In addition usually it's cheaper to buy things on the Internet, you won't face long waiting lines in each register and endless queues. For all these reasons shopping on the Internet is a great relief for many people. 

Nowadays one can buy things either in cash or on hire-purchase, the customers pays the deposit on the goods and pays off balance in weekly or monthly installments.

As for me, my experience of a shopper is very limited. As a rule I go shopping to the nearest shop to buy some bread, milk, yogurt, cheese, vegetables. Near our house there are supermarket and vegetables shops. I can’t say that in our supermarket there are a lot of things. Because sometimes I can’t find things which I want. But it is comfortable. There are stores for bread, grocery, sweet, juice… In our vegetable shops I can buy any vegetable and fruit. I can buy apricot, bananas, pears, apples, grapes, kiwi … 

If I need to buy some clothes and shoes I prefer to do it with my mother or sometimes with my brothers. And the worst shopping experience I had when I went shopping with my brother. It's a well known fact that women are not very quick shoppers while men usually are. Women on the other hand seem less decisive when shopping; they enjoy spending hours walking around the shopping mall. Men are much more decisive; they don't like to shop for a long time. Men usually know exactly what they want and go out to buy it, then come home and use it. Men tend to enjoy more doing than looking. So due to different shopping habits of men and women sometimes shopping together can become very challenging. It really happened so when I went shopping with my father. He wanted me to buy the first thing that I tried on and he became very nervous when I was saying that this or that thing was not suitable for me. So after an hour of shopping he became very tired and we returned home having bought nothing. Woman's indecisiveness while shopping is nervous for men. Women tend to look at all of the choices and discuss all of them, but men just buy something and move on. So shopping habits are different for men and women and it should be taken into consideration. 

And in the end I'd like to say that more often shopping is both a must and a pleasure; and certainly it's an unavoidable thing!