In person shopping is better than online shopping. Ft Ellie Keller and @kohls
Summary
Ellie Keller makes the case for hitting actual stores instead of scrolling through tabs. Her reasoning? In-person shopping means buying less stuff, not just mindlessly "adding to cart, adding to cart." She and Kareem riff on the joys of feeling the goods, smelling the goods, and asking random ninety-five-year-old women for fashion advice. The conversation takes a turn when Keller argues that standing in line is actually good for people. Kareem immediately disagrees. She wins him back over, though, by celebrating the virtues of waiting without staring at your phone. It's a sponsored plug for Kohl's that somehow becomes a genuine debate about consumerism, patience, and whether we've all forgotten how to just exist in public spaces.
Featured guests
Full Transcript
So, what's your take? In-person shopping is better than online shopping. 100% agree. Yes!
I know. It's—you didn't—there's no winning. Yeah, an agree is a win.
Okay, here's why I like going to a store.
Okay. I buy less stuff.
Oh, interesting. Oh, you want not to contribute to the economy. No, no. Just adding to cart, adding to cart, adding to cart.
Yeah, click, click, click. Click, click, click.
Click, click, click. Click, click, click, click, click, click, click.
It takes the fun out of it. It takes all of the—this is my impression of an online shopper. Nailed it.
Or on the phone. Oh, sorry. What? Oh, oh, I just bought a car. [laughter]
You can take friends or family with you to go shopping, and then it becomes an event. I would like to bring some of that back. Let's bring it back. What are you doing after this? I think I'm about to go shopping in person.
Yeah, let's go buy some stuff. Sometimes you don't even know what you want. That's the thing. When you are in a store or a shop, you are going to find things that you simply will not see online. You have to be there in real life, and it's a sensory experience.
Yeah. So you got to feel the goods. You smell the goods.
Smell it. Like, take it in. You're putting on a new jacket.
Uh-huh. I see a ninety-five-year-old woman sitting there, and I say, "How's this look?" And she says, "You look sharp, kid." She weighs in. We're engaging.
And also, and this might be an even arguably hotter take, I think standing in line is good for people. 100% disagree.
Okay. You don't have to be so defeated. What? I am immediately defeated.
Okay, I agree. I agree. I agree. Oh, no. I'm back in. I want the happy Elliot. Although, if I were defending my point, that's a—that's a different side. I might get a little bit feisty. 100% disagree.
Oh, no, you don't. I think there's something healthy about standing in line and making yourself wait. Do you look at your phone while— No, I've started not.
You just stand? Sometimes I look at myself in the security camera. Make sure I'm behaving.
Make sure you're not shoplifting. [laughter]