If you have ever shopped when feeling down
or stressed, you are probably very familiar with
the mood boost that can result from making
a purchase, walking through a shopping mall
or browsing online. The smell of something
new, the bright lights and colorful displays
all combine to create a unique, imaginative,
sensory experience for the shopper.
Retail shopping not only stimulates our
senses, it somehow manages to offer an
opportunity to transport us from our own reality
… if only for a little while. Even if you are an avid
window shopper, that very act embodies the
concept of retail therapy.
By defi nition, therapy is the act of caring for
someone, or the method of caring. If you have
ever had the pleasure of meeting Gasparilla
Island resident Jo Ann Welch while treasure
hunting at Boca Bargains, you know what that
level of care can be like.
“It is such a pleasurable experience to be able
to tell someone what is happening in your life,
then share a mutual pursuit toward meeting
what they think they need,” Jo Ann said.
Trusting Jo Ann with shopping expertise is easy
to do: She is an expert treasure hunter.
“People come to Boca Bargains from every
walk of life, not only to seek out bargains and
treasures, but they come faithfully in order to
show their support of our community,” she
explained.
Working side by side with an amazing team
of friendly, knowledgeable volunteers, Jo Ann
believes every day that she spends working at
Boca Bargains is time well spent in a helping
fi eld. As she is fond of saying, it is “an adoption
agency, if you will, for stuff.”
Examining the Trends
By trade, a trend forecaster spends their time
scanning the external environment for clues
that suggest consumer values, attitudes or
behaviors are shifting on a social, technological,
economic, environmental or political front.
Statistics show the economy has come to
depend heavily on the shopping habits of
women. What is it that makes a woman take to
the shops and what does she fi nd when she
gets there? Shopping and all of its sensory
stimulations cause us to visualize positive
personal outcomes.
People often assume that engaging in
retail therapy is a slippery slope toward
overspending, but research does not support
that fi nding. On the contrary, participants that
took part in various studies on the matter stayed
well within their budget. Additionally, research
data also indicated that making decisions can
help to reinforce a sense of personal control
over one’s environment, as well as ease feelings
of sadness, despair and anxiety. Many people
who are sad or scared feel like they have no
control over their environment: For them,
shopping is a logical coping mechanism. While
shopping, they are able to control where they
go and what they purchase. People naturally
turn to shopping in an attempt to exercise
autonomy.
Jo Ann at Boca Bargains