Lady J on Shop: Going cold turkey on retail therapy

If ‘Shopping’ was a subject that I could take in school, I’d probably pass the exams with flying colours. For as long as I can remember, I’ve always loved shopping. I take joy in buying things; clothes, bags, shoes, cosmetics, etc. Funnily, even going to supermarket to pick up groceries can sometimes be considered a chore to some, but for me, it’s a joy to push the cart down the aisle to pick up the mundane household items.

My favourite type of activity

Just four months ago, we found out that we were going to be relocating to Geneva for about a year. Instead of checking out which apartments to rent, my attention instead turned to checking out where the shopping district was. A quick search on the web revealed familiar brands and I was put at ease for that meant that part of my shopping hobby could continue.

However, I was in for a rude shock when J brought me shopping. The famed shopping belt of Rive was hardly any comparison to Orchard Road (Singapore’s exciting retail and entertainment hub). I was used to manoeuvring shopping malls which housed practically everything my heart’s desire under one roof.

Geneva's shopping belt

But, presented before me was individual shops lined up neatly on the streets with two to three department stores (with a maximum of four floors) for me to explore. Shops were scattered rather haphazardly and if I wanted to get a specific brand of shoes, I would need to take a good ten-minute walk to get to the desired shop.

Well, since I couldn’t find joy in the physical act of shopping, I resorted to Internet-shopping to fulfil my retail-therapy fix. I’ve done that in Singapore, trawling on US/ UK shopping sites to purchase stuff. Yes, granted that it wasn’t going to be instant gratification since it would take about one to two weeks before the goods arrived, but it was the next best thing that I had.

I knew that in Singapore, if the goods purchased via the internet exceeded S$400, it would be subjected to a 7% Goods and Services Tax made payable to the government. As such, I’ve always tried to keep my online purchases capped at S$400 so as not to incur additional charges. However, in Switzerland, regardless of whatever goods purchased on the Internet. It will have to be subjected to a 8% Value-Added Tax made payable to the Swiss Government. Yikes! I sank into mild retail depression and surfing the internet surfing/shopping lost its gleaming appeal to me. Not to mention, it also became a quite an expensive affair to acquire the desired goods.

Queuing to get inside the Prada outlet at the Serravalle Designer Outlet in Italy

So what can this self-professed shopaholic do to get her dosage of retail therapy happiness? Seek greener pastures of course! Geneva is a spring-board to many cities in Europe. Short weekend trips to neighbouring cities of France, Italy and Spain not only allowed us to immerse in the individual city’s culture but also produced higher returns on shopping.

My favourite French word!

Shopping in the form of bargain hunting was taken to another level as I diligently checked out the Europe Summer Sales, resisting the urge to purchase until the desired item was at least 50% off the retail price. We also made a couple of side trips to the factory outlets where greater savings of up to 60% can be enjoyed on previous seasons’ collections. Well, I couldn’t really care if I was decked out in past season’s collections as long as it’s affordable, wearable and most importantly stylish enough to bring me through fashion’s fickle trends.

By the time we had packed our bags and returned back to Singapore for a short vacation in August, we felt that we had all shopped out and I decided to put retail therapy on hold for a while. Well, that was until the Great Singapore Sales plus the recent Club 21 Bazaar Sale came along and busted this recovering shopaholic’s plan.

The sale that busted this "Shopaholic's" recovery plan

[Image of Geneva's shopping belt taken from the Internet]