Welcome to spring cleaning season. It’s out with the old and in with the new, whether that means trading in some battered shoes for track for the latest spikes, buying clothes that suit this warming weather, or some more reading material, there is a lot of shopping going on around now. And honestly, it’s a lot of work to go from store to store buying those things.
With a little help from the internet, no one needs to get out of bed to buy everything they could possibly want.

But do students at St. Paul Academy and Summit School take advantage of online shopping, or is it seen as being more trouble than it’s worth?

Freshman Izzy Denny prefers online shopping, though she said that she gets most of her clothes in person. “I love browsing stores online… the selection is bigger, and there are more sales, which is always good. Usually if I’m looking for something very specific, I’ll shop online, but if I’m just looking for clothes in general, I like to go to MOA [Mall of America],” she said.

Freshman Jake Adams saw no drawbacks to online shopping. “I would choose online shopping… I prefer to do it in the comfort of my own home,” he said.

“It’s easier to find cuter clothes for cheaper online, but I always get swept away by the price, and the stuff never actually fits right when it comes,” junior Sabrina Brown said. “And then you have to deal with returning it and everything, it just becomes a whole big mess.”

If Brown hadn’t shopped online for prom dresses, though, she wouldn’t have found such gems as Nasty Gal’s Dyspnea Mutha Fluffa Feather Dress, a nearly invisible pink mesh dress accented with pink, blue, and purple feather puffs. The $583 item’s online description said that it is “over-the-top in all the right ways,” but Brown named it the weirdest thing she has ever seen for sale online.
The odd selection of items for sale online can certainly be entertaining.

“Once, I saw that Ellen [Degeneres] was selling a piece of Justin Bieber’s hair on her shows in order to raise money for a charity,” Denny said.

According to the Ellen Degeneres show’s website, Bieber’s locks — given to her as a birthday present — were sold for $40,668 on eBay, and the profits were all donated to abused animal rescuing charity Gentle Barn.

There are certainly a lot of factors to consider when deciding between opening up a favorite online-only shopping website (be it Amazon, ModCloth, or anything else of that nature) and perusing a favorite brick and mortar store. If shopping for just the right fit, in person is best. If shopping for entertainment and convenience, online is the way to go. There are some things you just can’t get out of the real world shopping experience.