We ran across this article, Love on Sale in Aisle 5, a while back and wanted to comment on it but kept forgetting. The article ran on FoxNews.com and was written by Michael Y. Park.
There’s a special on romance in aisle 10.
At at least one store in the United States and throughout Germany, Wal-Mart (search) stores are hosting weekly singles nights, where shoppers looking for romance tie a red ribbon to their carts as they browse for laundry detergent, lip balm and, yes, love.
And Home Depot (search) stores have become such a well-known place for single women on the prowl for handy men that it’s become a running joke on radio talk shows.
Shoppers agree that the new hot spot for finding love is the local megamart.
“A few years ago, when my friend was going through her divorce, I said to her: ‘If you want to meet guys, I don’t recommend a bar. But I do frequent Home Depot,'” Lawrence, N.Y., relationship expert Debbie Mandel said….
“And then before you knew it, people would come over and talk to you. You’re looking at tiles, they’re looking at tiles; you’re looking at silicon, they’re looking at silicon; you learn the best way to grout and put tile down, and when we went over to the garden center, there were a lot of men working….
Four months ago, the singles night idea was rolled out in all Wal-Marts in Germany, with greeters at the entrance offering singles a large red bow (or a smaller one for shyer shoppers) to put on their carts to advertise their availability.
Bachelors and bachelorettes then go to “flirt points” around the store, in which a Wal-Mart associate or a supplier has a set-up station with singles-oriented products, like prepackaged meals….
Singles sample the items — and find an excuse to approach a possible Mr. or Miss Right….
That people are shopping for a romantic partner along with home supplies is no surprise to Home Depot director of Manhattan stores, Christine McVeigh.
“More than 57 percent of single women own their own homes. So more women are in the stores learning how to fix a leaky faucet or tile floors. Women are strapping on the tool belts,” McVeigh said. “So we have customer clinics geared toward the woman customer, power-tool classes for example, taught by women for women….”
On the flip side, single men can’t rely on their wives or girlfriends to get the toothpaste and shampoo, making Wal-Mart and Target potential pick-up joints as well….
“I don’t know if they consciously go to find dates, but it’s how people used to go to supermarkets and women and men find each other shopping in the produce aisle,” McVeigh said. “It’s a relaxed atmosphere, you’re not dressed up in full gear to go out at night, you’re confident about yourself and it makes for easy talking….”
“It’s a lot of primarily middle-aged people, lots of divorced parents with children, not too much of a young crowd, some mid-’20s to ’30s,” Wyatt said….
For this group, megamart dating is a nice change of pace from the kinds venues they might have been more attracted to when they were younger, Mandel said.
We love the fact that people are using the Wal-Marts and Home Depots, and presumably the other mega-chains for something other than shopping. Whle shopping is often necessary, it can be a tad boring. How excited can you get shopping for laundry detergent and a bottle of shampoo? Or for that matter shopping a dozen sheets of drywall is not what we would call a party worthy event.
But now you have the possibility of romance. Of course, you’ve always had the same possibility in most of these stores, but now it is official. And sometimes it is even organized. While prowling the aisles for the perfect lightbulb you are emboldened, knowing that the man or woman lingering suggestively just yards from you is there for more than knobs, nails or another cheap sweater made in China. They, like you, may be prowling the aisles for their soul mates. And if not their soul mates then at the very least a nice time with a nice person who knows a bargain when they see one.
Let’s face it, prowling the mega-stores for someone you would actually like to date is better than standing at a bar and drinking up your salary. At the Wal-Mart, the Home Depot, Kohls, Crate and Barrel, wherever, you have a much better chance of finding someone with whom you are compatible then you do at the local watering hole. And come closing time at Bed Bath and Beyond, you and your new found lover still have your wits about you. At the nightspot, chances are one of you is fighting back drunken excess while the other one debates the benefits of your company or the ignominy of going home alone.
Somewhere someone said something like “Love is Where You Find It.” In the movies it is usually some place sexy. In real life, it may well be by the frozen foods.. In any case, when the initial swoon wears off, just to be sure you haven’t said yes to dinner with either Jack the Ripper or Mata Hari, run a background check and see if they really are who they say they are. It may be the difference between walking down the aisle or being stranded in it.
