<p>For the shoppers or conspicuous consumers among us, I found this fascinating. </p>
<p>The Different Cities, Different Spending table is interactive and it was fun to try to guess which city would come out on top in each spending category.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/14/opinion/sunday/what-people-buy-where.html?ref=todayspaper”>http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/14/opinion/sunday/what-people-buy-where.html?ref=todayspaper</a></p>
<p>In Seattle we don’t spend as much as advertised on coffee.
Hardly anything on wig/ hairpieces or watches.
We DO spend the most on books, and quite a bit on bicycles.
Interesting stuff!</p>
<p>Very interesting. I wasn’t really surprised by most of the findings. </p>
<p>What was strange to me is that one of the categories was mutton, goat and game. </p>
<p>Really interesting! New Yorkers don’t spend money on new cars ( I guess that’s one way to save $ in an expensive city. ) People in Minneapolis spend a lot on their yards ( Why? They only get to enjoy it 5 months out of the year. But I guess they’re lucky that so many of them have yards.) People in Dallas spend a lot on home decor ( I believe it. I’ve seen some beautiful homes in TX.)</p>
<p>Fun to do the interactive categories. Seattle tops by far on personal computers, Miami last. Not surprising given the tech industry in Seattle. This is a good that won’t vary in price regionally. Some make sense based on city size (eg yards) and climate. </p>
<p>I wonder- game may include the deer hunting and goat the immigrants from some regions. I do not understand the logic of combing these meats.</p>
<p>Interesting to see liquor at home versus away differences.</p>
<p>I find this very interesting. One of the main reasons that we moved to Colorado was because of the shopping culture and the need to change that priority.</p>
<p>Today show this morning: Four of the least wanted presents were books. BOOKS!!! I supposed we are masters of consumerism. But one my favorite collections are…books. We no longer have a book store here…Century City, BHl,…the closest store is at the Grove. But there are no literary experts there. I want to read “new” things, new authors.</p>
<p>Really…me off. I will have to take myself out to lunch, have a nice glass of wine and shop for jewelry.</p>
<p>Books are our most gifts to people and what we receive. Hmmm, the only bookstore left here is B&N - it is very nice- I hope it stays. We do day trips to Aspen to have lunch and walk around and our favorite outing ends at their only bookstore in an old victorian house. Lots of book signings go on there. Well, we recently drove to Aspen ( 2 hours) hiked around maroon bells mountain area then made our usual last stop at the bookstore- closing! They were having a petition to keep it open. Seriously not good. </p>
<p>What’s with Cleveland? They are the top consumers of women’s dresses but the lowest consumers of women’s shoes. What are those women wearing with their dresses? Inquiring minds wanna know. :-S </p>
<p>I love independent bookstores but I will confess to not visiting them as often now that my boys are older. They were such a wonderful source of suggestions for new authors or series for the boys.</p>
<p>@soozievt – I enjoyed myself just a little too much trying to guess which area would top the list for each category. I love those NYT interactive features, so much so that the paper often sits in its little blue bag unread. I can’t bear to stop home delivery, but it is so much easier to read on my well-let, large font computer screen.</p>