Girl Shopping Is Apparently "Just Interactive Window Shopping" at Any Department Store

We've all heard of girl dinner and even girl math, but what about "girl shopping"? It's a new term making the rounds on TikTok right now, and for good reason. It's used to describe the way some women shop and, judging by the growing number of videos and comments about it, girl shopping has been an unspoken trend for quite a while.

A TikTok user by the name of @briavialiving, whose real name is Brianna, shared a video in which she says she defines what girl shopping is. In reality, her video is another in a long line of videos that show women doing what one comment says is "interactive window shopping." And that may be the best way to describe what it is, though let's dig a little deeper into how girl shopping works exactly.

Girl shopping is essentially shopping to browse different items, whether they are categorized as home goods, makeup items, or even food. But the kicker is that you never really buy anything. You might comment on how much you've wanted a certain item or how perfect something like an ottoman would look in your home. But then, you set it down, or step back from it, and keep walking.

In the TikTok videos, including Brianna's, it's funny to see different women do just that. But it all seems to boil down to simply not wanting to fork over the cash for whatever item you happen to really want at that moment. Whether you just don't want to buy it or you can't afford it, the point is, girl shopping is about window shopping.

I am certainly guilty of this myself. I can walk through a store like Target and find something I may want or need for my home in almost any aisle. But the logical part of me knows that the money is likely better spent on something else other than a new scented candle or a fuzzy blanket to add to my dozens of others.

It should also be pointed out that we are in an economy where groceries cost a lot more than most of us are used to. So it just makes more sense to put back or step away from whatever non-essential item you're looking at to think about if you really need to spend the money on that right now.

One person commented under Brianna's video that girl shopping is "just interactive window shopping, a 4D experience." Another shared, "Girl math. This is budgeting." And that goes back to what I said about spending money on what you need and taking time to think about those impulse buys.

And the cost of it all really seems to be at the center of this. Under another TikTok where girl shopping is displayed with women picking up and looking at pricey items and immediately placing them back on shelves, someone commented, "It's because no amount of marketing can buy me into price gouging."

That's not to say we won't later buy whatever item catches our eye right now. We just need to take a close look at it, comment about how much we want or need it, and walk away first.