No ball pit??? Rip off!!
Posted on 01/12/2014 3:42:43 PM PST by nickcarraway
They offer a range of activities and services to "meet the needs of male customers," such as smoking, internet, drinking, snacks and "beautiful attendants"
It's a cliché to say that men—or, if you want to be gender neutral, "non-shopping companions"—don't do well at malls. (For example, these "miserable men of Instagram.") And in China, nifty facilities for shopping-averse men has popped up in some malls, reports Kotaku. These "husband storage" facilities—also referred to as "husband restrooms" and "husband play areas"—act as both rest stations and meeting points for men who prefer sitting around to digging through the racks. After their lady is finished shopping, she can return to the storage room and pick up her husband, much she would a winter coat left with a coat check. Kotaku reports:
Called "laogong jicun chu" in Chinese (老公寄存处), which literally means "husband cloakroom," the rest stations are for husbands who are either knackered from shopping or for those who would rather spend their time doing something else.
According to Baike.com, the facilities offer a range of activities and services to "meet the needs of male customers," such as smoking, internet access, drinking, snacks, television and "beautiful attendants." But they vary in fanciness depending on the mall. Some "just have benches for the men to sit and think," says Kotaku. Some resemble train station waiting rooms; others are set up like small cafes. Some, as the Global Times reports, are available only temporarily "as a rest stop for the throngs of purse-carrying men accompanying their significant others" during busy holiday periods.
While shopping malls in the West with children daycare facilities are hailed as entrepreneurial, China's husband-catering version, Time writes, adds to the evidence that that country "is the world's leader in innovation." However, the innovation may mainly be that China has a term for this service. NPR reported on the phenomenon of "men at malls" back in 2006 and found at least one store that catered to men by offering TVs showing sports, warm cookies, cappuccinos and reportedly quite comfortable chairs.
I wish I had money to go to the mall.
No ball pit??? Rip off!!
Taking a husband shopping is akin to hunting with the game warden.
When my wife takes me shopping, I like to hold her hands. She thinks I’m being romantic, but I’m really keeping her hands away from our credit cards.
We have those guy’s ‘stoorage’ rooms here also, but we call ‘em...BARS!
So true.
So it’s better for both if you avoid it?
Better than having guys like that one last month who took the gifts and jumped to his death when his gf insisted on going in just one more shoe store.
LOL!!!
Beautiful attendants? I'm in.
If they put in a sports/bar and grill complete with TVs and recliners, a gun range, foosball tables, air hockey tables, pool tables, the latest video game consoles and games, and something equivalent to a TechShop with great classes we would be more than happy to go to the mall with our more significant other. She wouldn’t be able to drag me away. As a matter of fact I’d be dragging her to the mall quite often.
Can anyone think of other kewl things to add?
WE have them too; they are called bars.
Casinos need these for non-gambling spouses, of both sexes!
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
“Beautiful attendants to meet the needs of male visitors “. ????? Sounds like our communist Chinese “ friends” are far better capitalists than the local American mall operators. Yes
Indeed. Let’s get our “ male needs” serviced by beautiful attendants! Yum yum yum. !
There's an easier way. It's called a debit card, which stops working when you have spent the monthly allocation.
Two things you never hear a man say...
1. Hey honey, let’s go shoe shopping.
2. Censored.
"See a need, fill a need."
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