Portuguese people be shoppin.’
You cannot stop a Portuguese person from shopping.
I didn’t bother trying. I joined them, cause grandma and grandpa deserve a little something nice from the impoverished travelling vlogger of a grandson.
But it really me wonder that classic question: How do they afford it?
I’m sure you’ve heard about people in debt and still shopping in places like the US. But someone should check the stats, Portugal has by far less money yet there are shopping malls and insane shoppers everywhere.
Spent the early afternoon with Mr. Miguel of the vlogspark project, whom I became fast-friends with at VlogEurope a few weeks ago. We talked about people’s consuming habits here, and how they aren’t very into shopping locally. Instead you find the big megastores full of people while the beautiful little mom and pop stores wait nearly empty in the heart of the city.
My hope, as I told Miguel over lunch at this fancy-fun alternative café/clothing store, is that this is a phase, and soon people will long for shopping in a local place again, where shop owners give you that wonderful personal and caring touch. Luckily for me, I got to experience that joy today, as random old people walked me around their shops, carefully helping me choose and taking their time to carefully prepare every detail of my purchases.