Do you hate shopping centres

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I avoid malls, shopping centers, big box retailers, fast food places and chain restaurants of any sort. Apart from the crowds, the noise and often the prices, I hate the slickness and predictability of these places. I shop very early or late at deep discount stores in run down strip centers, by catalog or at second hand stores. I fix my own food.

those places are full of evil escalators you never know when to jump on and automated doors bent on closing their teeth on your butt. enough said.

Thanks for your replys,

Glad to see I'm not alone here. I have been avoiding shopping centres for a long time, but yesturday went to a very large shopping centre a little out of my area to do some xmas shopping. I was so overwhelmed by all the noise and chaos I couldn't really find exactly what I was looking for, so I ended up just buying what I could so I could get out ASAP, so I thought I would start a thread on it. We ate at the food court, another scary place, so many types of food too many choices, too many people, too much babble. I just had to get out of there in the end. It took me the rest of the day to settle down. I mostly shop really early too to avoid this.

My god, I feel the same way about Christmas shopping and food courts and all that. One year I did manage to do all of my shopping online. That was pretty great.

You saying you go very early makes me think that I should do some thing where I have a deadline to finish by mmmm maybe Nov. 15th. You've got me thinking.

Advertisements at the mall can be annoying sometimes. Someone will approach you and will ask you if you want to be in a commercial for their product or if you want to try it. It happened to me today.

No. I like shopping places. As a baby I hated them because they were too loud and get me overwhelmed. Then as I got older I got used to it because my parents kept taking me to them. I used to wring my hands there so maybe that was my way of coping with the noise. Mom told me I did that when I get overwhelmed or over stimulated. But I be fine when I be playing and having fun so there was only one mall they could only go to because they had a play area with the fake ship.

Yes, I hate it when you are approached to try some product, It's a real invasion of your safe personel space. I always walk the oppisite way as quikly as I can.
I sure can't see the entertainment value in long shopping expeditions. It seems to be mostly a NT thing. Just getting through the underground car park labyrinth, and actualy finding a car park is a flight and flight experience.

yup. TOO MANY PEOPLE

and they dont get ut of your way, i hate touching people i dont know

i get annoyed and headachey. the lights, colours, noises. blurgh

wear your sunnies inside, makes me feel better

I'm on the fence, I love them and hate them. I love all the shops and I like having the ability to go to Playless and then Famous Footwear without having to drive all over. The convenience is nice.
However, I hate them for all the noise and all the rowdy teenagers who crowd in. Worse of all I think is the echo. The noise echoes across the whole mall, making it louder than what it should be.
I tend to like to go to the mall during the less busy hours. Where there isn't many people. But I won't go during busy hours.

I like them but sometimes the noise and the overcrowdedness can be a problem for me as I find it hard to walk around in crowded areas without looking lost/spaced out.

no

I'm indifferent about them. I don't see the point in spending hours there, just lurking, but I don't avoid them like the plague.

I can spend hours lurking in even a small bookshop, however (although my wallet doesn't usually like these trips.)

I hate most of the shops, because of bright light, stupid music and many people inside. I hate to buy clothes.
But I can spend really much time in electronic or book store.l

I could not have said that better if I tried.

I get stimulation overload, mom says my eyes go blank and my face very rigid when I am in a crowd. It is just like a part of a poem I wrote:

"Shrinking to a dot among dashes all around
me. Sensory shutdown, my mind melts into
a puddle on the floor and people are rushing through it.
All I can see is a blur of color and energy as I fall...
into rush hour."

This is why I dont get groceries

My nephew was diagnosed with autism at 3. I was talking with my parents about it and what overstimulation was like and my dad revealed to me that he gets really bad anxiety when he goes into supermarkets. The lights and the people and everything bother him alot. I only remember my dad going in a larger store like walmart once or twice in my life. I didn't know it was because of anxiety. It changed my perspective on him alot. We've got so much in common that I didn't even really realize until a year ago

I had a funny experience in a bookstore. I say funny because I acted like I owned the place. Anyway, there's this one bookstore that I go to frequently. The staff even know my name and probably know I'm going to hover over the Doctor Who section. I have to avoid it just to save money. Sometimes I buy so many books I never get around to finishing them.
One day I went in there because I hadn't been there in awhile and I was looking for a specific book. It was packed with people. And these people didn't know how to walk properly in a bookshop. I practically live in this bookshop and I could tell that these people don't regularly go to bookshops. So I put in my earphones and blasted my ipod while I searched for a book.
I think what bothered me was that they didn't read what each section was called and the book they wanted was in a really obvious one.

Sometimes I do get anxious in a bookshop so I listen to my ipod. I also can't walk through town without it.