Don’t be fooled, we haven’t reached ‘peak stuff’. Our shopping addiction has become a dirty, hidden secret

Will shopping be extinct in 50 years’ time? Much has been written about the “death” of the high street, but what’s really happening is the death of shopping as a leisure pursuit.

Only 10 years ago, a huge number of us would spend hours shopping at the weekend – not just to buy essentials, but to hang out in shopping centres and meet friends. That habit is falling out of fashion fast. New figures from industry analysts show the number of people visiting shops has declined by 10 per cent since 2012, and that decline applies to malls as well as high streets.

Retailers want the government to help them out by relaxing business rates and imposing taxes on internet purchases, but would that be enough to make a difference to their fortunes? I doubt it; in the last year, 85,000 jobs have been lost in the retail sector and 16 stores closed every every day in the first half of 2019.

Big chains such as Karen Millen, Jack Wills, Patisserie Valerie and Debenhams have gone into administration, while others including House of Fraser are still trading, clinging on but under new owners. A large number of household names such as the Arcadia Group (which owns Topshop), Monsoon, New Look and Homebase remain open but are shutting unprofitable outlets and seeking rent reductions from their high street landlords in order to continue trading.

A new report on the retail industry says that profit margins have plummeted by 50 per cent in the last eight years, and that the drop in footfall has meant the 150 largest retailers (including supermarkets) now have 20 per cent more space than they need.

Is the physical act of shopping a generational pursuit, something our mums and dads did out of habit? Although people under 38 say they enjoy shopping, it turns out that what they actually enjoy is meeting friends, looking at products and returning items. That’s not exactly offering lifeblood to the struggling stores who need to shift huge amounts of merchandise in order to pay the rent.

How many of us, having looked at a product in a store, will go home and shop around on the internet to buy it for less? That’s a trend that even the bosses of the iconic store John Lewis say is harming the retail business. There’s also been a noticeable shift from shopping to spending more money on eating out and activities, buying “experiences” rather than furniture or refrigerators.

Another factor which has impacted on the decline of shopping are the needs of so-called Generation Rent: the millennials who cannot afford to get on the housing ladder and are still living at home or renting a room in shared accommodation.

Generation Rent don’t need the stuff my generation (the baby boomers) did. Why would they buy kitchen appliances, furniture and so on when they have nowhere to call their own to use them? They are also the generation most sympathetic to environmental concerns and less concerned with amassing belongings.

Renting, rather than buying, possessions is highly attractive to this group. There’s been a huge increase in the number of companies offering clothes, shoes and hats to rent for special occasions. Now a major online furniture company, Made.com, is considering moving into the rental business to cater for the increasing number of customers across Europe who are forced to rent their homes.

In 2019, opening a shop seems a risky business unless you are a small independent, offering unique or highly specialised products.

We have come to the point commentators describe as “peak stuff”: the realisation that we just don’t need to buy so much. But has the fashion for recycling (albeit calling it “repurposing”), all the emphasis on saving the planet, all the entreaties to waste less and think before you buy, really changed our purchasing habits? Sadly, I think not.

We might not be going into actual shops, but – secretly, sitting at homes, tapping on our screens – we are buying just as much useless junk as we ever did. The only difference now is that no one can monitor our secret addiction because it happens in the privacy of our homes and web browsers.

I laugh when I read about “peak stuff” because I (like a great number of you) am guilty of trying to live two completely opposing lifestyles simultaneously. I take clothes to charity shops. I get some clothes altered so I can continue to wear them. I cook carefully and use leftovers. To be honest, though, I have five times the clothes my mother owned – including her lovely camel coat from the 1950s. Does that stop me buying more stuff? Of course not.

I cannot remember the last time I bought an item of clothing in a shop, but, at least once a week, I have a bit of a browse online, even if it’s “just” to buy T-shirts and trainers.

The amount of stuff going into my home has not ground to a halt and the amount of stuff going out doesn’t equal the stuff going in. It’s my dirty secret. Online shopping has us hooked. It’s so easy, from face cream to socks, cleaning products to books. Purchasing without parking, and checkout with one click.

I don’t miss snooty shop assistants, changing rooms, lifts that never come to the floor you want – especially in John Lewis – or waiting for ages while an assistant finds out when the duvet cover you need will be back in stock. Life’s too short to go into most stores, but it doesn’t mean that consumers (my generation at least) have given up shopping. It’s too addictive.