At most times of the year — with the possible exception of the weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day — the legions of shoppers in the women’s clothing and accessory aisles tend to be female.
But the game appears to be changing, ladies. The hand clutching the Manolo Blahniks you pine for may be large and hairy.
“The modern man has become a shopper,” says Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst for market research firm NPD Group Inc. NPD surveys approximately 45,000 consumers each week. Its figures show an increasing number of men shop for their female spouse or significant other — 24 percent, Cohen says. When analysts narrowed respondents to men age 35 and younger, 39 percent said they shopped for their female partner.
“The numbers have been creeping up over the past decade by 2 to 3 percent each year,” Cohen says. “There is no question the dynamics of shopping have changed. . . . I think you’ll see more men shopping for their female partners and thinking nothing of it.”
Chicago clothing designer Lauren Lein is not surprised. “I have at least a dozen clients whose spouse or boyfriend shops for them,” she says.
WomanNews talked to two couples who are part of this trend.
Phil Timberman, 40
and Susan Gidley, 45
Chicago
While growing up, Timberman wished for a sister just about every weekend. “There I was with my brother and my mother at the Southlake Mall in Merrillville, Ind.,” he says. “I remember it well. Mom would drag us to every store.”
Timberman recalls the weekend ritual a bit sheepishly. “My brother and I were really into sports,” he says. “Going to the mall was not our favorite thing.”
But to the mall he went. His wife of 10 years, Susan Gidley, is glad he did.
“He called me today and said, `Clinique is having a giveaway at Nordstrom. Do you need anything?'” she says. “I love that.” Her husband often shops for both of them during his lunch hour on Michigan Avenue, Gidley says.
Gidley insists, however, that her husband is no metrosexual. “If you knew him, you’d be shocked that he likes to shop this much — and that he shops for me as much as he does,” she says. “He’s a manly man. He loves sports. . . . But he also likes to shop for me.”
“I’ve always been a generous person,” says Timberman, a senior sales manager for the Allerton Crowne Plaza Hotel. “And I like shopping. My wife hates going to the stores. . . . So I go on my own and help her out.”
Among his purchases are T-shirts, makeup, dresses for black-tie affairs, and earrings, Gidley says.
Gidley used to do more shopping when she was in her 20s, she says. But combine her lack of interest in shopping with the demands of owning an association management firm, and you have a woman who would have very little to wear without her husband, she says.
If you ask Timberman whether shopping is on the next day’s agenda, he answers: “Probably. And when the . . . ladies in the store say, `I wish my husband was like this,’ you just smile and nod a lot.”
Tony Corso, 68
and Edwina Corso, 66
Northwest suburbs
The Corsos are the type of couple who finish each other’s sentences. Childhood sweethearts from Chicago’s Southwest Side, they grew up four doors away from each other. Even as a teen, Tony shopped for Edwina.
“I’m more of a shopper than your average male,” Tony says. “I was an only child, and my mom liked to shop. . . . My mother is really fussy about her clothes, and those trips would go on forever. But I learned how to find a good value.”
“I don’t like to shop,” says Edwina, a village clerk in Arlington Heights. “So Tony has always bought me clothes — for Christmas and birthdays, but also without an occasion.”
“She never returns anything I buy her,” Tony says proudly.
The Corsos’ eldest daughter, Christine Corso, recalls shopping for her prom dress with the entire family. “My dad was definitely an active participant in the process,” she remembers. “You could come out in a potato sack, and my mom would say you look beautiful, but my father would give you a real opinion.”
Despite having declining eyesight because of macular degeneration, Tony still drags Edwina to the discount stores (his favorite haunts) on weekends. “I’m a big value shopper,” he says. “Probably one of the best there is.”
The couple often can be found at T.J. Maxx, Marshalls or Tuesday Morning, Edwina says. “Tony can find a deal,” she says. “He just found a nice pair of wool pants at Tuesday Morning at a really good price.”
Tony’s favorite items to buy for his wife have been coats, sweaters and pants. “I knew what would look good on her,” he says.
After 43 years of marriage, Edwina still recalls special presents from past years. “In the late 1950s, he gave me a fake white fur coat,” she says. “I loved that coat. And years later, we were at the old Spiegel outlet on North Avenue. He bought me a raccoon fur coat and gave it to me for Christmas. That was a nice one, too.”
It comes as no surprise, then, that when Christine needed to outfit a bedroom in her new condominium, she asked Dad to tag along.
“My daughters have champagne taste,” Tony says. “I prefer things on sale. But we still had fun.”
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Ladies and gents: Tell us about your partners’ shopping habits at ctc-woman@tribune.com. Please put “Shopping” in the subject line and include a hometown and day and evening phone numbers. Replies may be published.
