Shopportunity!: How to Be a Retail Revolutionary

The title suggests an acerbic anticonsumerist rant, but marketing consultant Newlin is entirely serious: she wants readers to rediscover "shopping's enduring allure." Decrying the "Big Box obsession with massive quantities of cheap goods," she urges consumers to shop for the right things for the right reasons at the right places—to buy from family-owned merchants that offer pleasant environments for both shoppers and workers. Few readers will be surprised when Newlin visits a dreaded Wal-Mart and finds it "a loud, boisterous, difficult place to shop" with an "essential sadness." But the reason she wants retailers to stop offering discounts and consumers to stop buying products in bulk isn't to create a more just society; it's so we'll be happier with what we buy. Newlin argues that we get little satisfaction out of buying cheap, because "we suspect it's not quite as good"—though anyone who loves outlet shopping will be more than a little skeptical. It doesn't help that much of the book is a confusing assemblage of anecdotes and musings. But there are some useful insights for consumers, retailers and manufacturers, and some readers will certainly strive to see shopping as an experience that "should thrill the senses." (Sept.)