Kate Hawkesby on Covid 19 coronavirus: Lockdown's impact on shopping habits

What happens when lockdown lifts and shop doors reopen? Photo / 123rf

I'll be fascinated to see whether, when the lockdown lifts, we all go mad shopping again.

The current imposed shopping detox we're on has been good for us, surely. Bad for business, but good for us personally - and good for our bank balances.

We can't even really be spending money on petrol these days given we're not going anywhere.

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But what happens when lockdown lifts and shop doors reopen?

On the one hand, you want to support local businesses, especially ones that have done it tough. I feel for them, and part of me thinks we need to get back to supporting them as quickly as we can.

But another part of me says, well what are the lessons out of all of this then?

What have we learned?

It can't have all been for nothing.

Surely we're learning the merits of slowing down, of consuming less, of making do with less?

Surely the pace at which we moved through malls and zip zapped credit cards, surely that can't be good for us?

And did we really need it?

I know people who've been itching to shop this lockdown - and have been shopping up a storm online. Can you imagine all the courier deliveries rolling in post lockdown, of all the purchases of the pent up shoppers?

But I actually felt the opposite.

• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website

I didn't feel the need to consume anything, or even look at shopping websites. In fact I took the opportunity to unsubscribe from lots of shop emails. I liked not buying anything, because I realised we can actually make do with less.

Surely, we buy way more than we need? The landfills certainly tell the story - 3.7 million tonnes was dumped in our landfills last year. We don't need all that "stuff".

And what happens when we claw back all that mindless shopping time? We get real time, to do real stuff with our families and friends.

Or go on all those walks and bike rides we seem to be doing during lockdown.

So although I want businesses to be able to get back on their feet and fast, I do hope we've taken something out of this time with the world on pause, to stop and think about what we're consuming and why.

And maybe we'll rethink our spending priorities and make better choices from now on.

Opting to only buy local could be a good place to start.