i must say i am exactly like my mother in this: somebody who haaaates going shopping in like big department stores and retail spaces: malls, kaufhofs, corte inglés, wallmart, so horrible spaces. some people like it. i hate them and avoid them as much as possible. even sometimes basic shopping like groceries, feels sooooo boring and waste of time.
but at the same time, i love getting lost in zouks in middle east and markets in asia, flea markts in europe, antique shops in usa, artesania shops y mercados in south america, and meet amazing people and their products and buying special things i find around in the dif. cities i travel to. still, I must say that the middle east zouks (Specially love Khan el-khalili in Cairo or Jerusalem Old City Zouk) and their amazing handcraft and atmosphere are really really hard to beat in terms of beauty and magic atmosphere.
