Shopping

Most of the people do the shopping because they have to. They have to buy food, clothes, sometimes equipment. Or they just want to have anything new. Some people, especially women and girls, love shopping. They can’t live without it. It’s necessary for them to go through the shop and look what new they have and what is cheaper and what is more expensive. It’s a form of relaxation for them, but which costs them a lot of money. Sometimes they buy stupid things just to have them.

In our family usually do shopping my father and I. Minor shopping during the week does my mother, but we make traditionally big Friday-shopping, We both hate it, but it’s better to spend two hours in hypermarket alone as whole day with my mother of grandmother.

Window shopping has got a lot of advantages - you don‘t need money, you can see a lot of interesting things without entering to the shop, you can have a nice survey about prices or new kinds or trends. I do this when I have nothing to do, when I wait for the bus or for friends.

I don‘t like buying presents because I never know what to buy. I hate buying useful presents. I think present should be something special, not ordinary things which you will use every day. My imaginations doesn‘t work very well. So I buy typical gifts like books, chocolates, cosmetic etc. It makes me mad because it‘s still the same. I‘m unable found a new idea.

When we go shopping, we can go either to a big department store or to the shop which specializes in some extra goods, for example the greengrocer sells fruit and vegetables, the butcher sells meat, the baker sells bread, cakes or rolls, the confectioner or sweet shop sells sweet and ice cream, the fishmonger sells fish, the florist sells flowers, the newsagent sells newspapers und magazines, the men’s wear and women’s wear sells clothes and dresses, the wine-merchant sells alcoholic drinks of all kinds, the ironmonger sells metal goods and tools, the dairy sells milk products and eggs, the stationary sells paper products and office supplies, the toyshop sells various toys for children, the electrical appliances shop sells TV and radio sets, fridges etc.

There are many different types of shops - stalls standing in the streets and squares or at the tube-stations - you
can buy watches, jeans or shoes cheaper than anywhere else, but this goods often have terrible quality.
  - self-service shops or supermarkets are bigger, you can buy also goods
  from chemist or ironmonger here
 - hypermarkets are very large, sell all possible kinds of food and kitchen
  and house needs
 - department stores are usually huge buildings equipped with speedy lifts
and escalators, where you can buy everything from food to furniture
 - big markets which are sponsored from abroad, could be dangerous for s
small private shops, because they can push off them
Department stores are more comfortable, you can buy everything there in one building, you don‘t have to travel through whole town, you can spend whole day there. There is a big choice and a lot of space but sometimes there could be a big amount of people. There could be some problems with service. If there is a lot of people you can‘t find a staff, you can get lost - it‘s dangerous for small children. The prizes are lower. You go in, pick up a basket or a wheeled cart, walk around the shop and choose what you want. At the exit there is a cash-desk or a cashier where you pay for all your merchandise together, either with cash or with your credit card.

In normal shops, boutiques there isn’t everything in one shop, you have to go to more shops, have to queue in every shop, there is lesser choice, it’s more expensive but you are always served, in the village it’s more familiar, there is often full so there is lack of space, it’s not open whole day or on weekends, old people can have a chat.

Shops absolutely try to influence customers by advertisement, lower prizes, competitions, special offers, summer or winter reductions, customer can taste the food, close-out sales, special gifts for buying something. They put the most expensive things in the height of your eyes and cheaper goods somewhere down so you see the most expensive things first.

In the Czech Republic there are more possibilities for private shops and duties after revolution in 1989. Shops aren’t only Czech, but also foreigner companies discovered our market for their business, we can meet with many foreigner shops (Makro, Bauhaus, Kaufland, Tesco). Our businessmen have to count with a big competition from abroad. It could be good for customers, because the shopkeepers must keep the prices low.

An average Czech family goes shopping every day to a local supermarket for necessary food. Once a week they usually do one bigger purchase for the weekend and from time to time they have to buy clothes, shoes, household utensils and equipment.

The most common shop in Britain is the grocer’s. He sells food, such as tea, coffee, sugar, flour, butter, cheese, eggs, jam, tinned food and kitchen needs such as dish soap, detergents and polish. Typical features of modern big cities are big department stores.