European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 22, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                More males behind the grocery cart by Marian Burros new York times Orget the image of the male grocery shopper of the 1950s sent to the store for a can of peaches he came Home with a sheepish look and a Jar of chocolate covered an a. Working women and Job sharing at Home have changed Al that. Men Aie going to the grocery store in record numbers an while some still break out in a cold sweat just walking though the automatic door far More Are Al ease in the aisles and thoroughly capable of distinguishing Between a Mango and a papaya. Male shoppers have become seasoned pros said Robert Gould a 36-year-old social psychologist and vice president of of reruns Porter Novelli a manna i Ian Public relations company. For men of my generation it has been a learning experience because we did t have a Model. Future generations won t have logo through the school of hard knocks to  progressive grocer a Trade publication concluded in its May 1986 Issue thai the Days of the inexperienced and Seldom seen male customer Are  Between 20 and 40 percent of All supermarket shoppers Are men according to National surveys conducted by such organizations As the food marketing Institute a Lood Industry Trade Assoc Ilion Media Mark research inc., a Market research company and Lieberman research inca new York Public opinion and Market research company. The difference in the percentages hinged on How researchers deemed the mate shopper when you allow for those who arc just there to push the cart the figure is closer to 33  said Seymour Weberman. President of Weberman research. Progressive grocer comparing its most recent figures with the results of a 1975 study said the number of male shoppers has increased 15 percent Over the last 12 years. More men Are shopping today because they must More women Aie working outside the Home and More men Are living alone. Some married men surveys show Are sharing Rattler than just helping with household chores. Among the chores male shoppers gravitate to is cooking and. By Extension shopping. Men who shop for Lood As a Givins those who do nol regard Hesse i is As ambitious and achievement Sas photo Lifke George More and More men Era teen pushing cart Down supermarket Vialet at toy do the family shopping. Page 16 the stars and stripes oriented Well organized and liberated according to the Lieberman Survey. And their preference for shopping and cooking chores is consistent with those traits Gould said. Cooking and shopping Are a Challenge like the Challenge of one s career and offer immediate rewards in Saint. Just How experienced comfortable or competent male shoppers Are however is debated. According to the Lieberman Survey which used in Home interviews with 963 Heads of households nationwide these men have a More positive self image than men who do no shop for food. They feel Calm efficient and competent when marketing. However Joseph Smith president of Oxtoby smile inc., a consumer research and consulting firm in new York cautioned that lumping All men together implies a homogeneity and i Don t think men Are any More alike As shoppers than they Are As  Edwin Epstein. A Kings Point. . Consultant to the supermarket Industry said men Don t bring the same mind set to he grocery store that women bring. A woman says i have to iced the Amity,1 a Man says i m pitching in " conversations or left Mon while they shopped confirmed that men Over 40 Are More ill Al ease than younger men. I have no hang ups about it said la by Kutner 35, a film maker and psychologist in Minneapolis who ikes to share shopping and cooking with his wife Joan a marketing consultant. By contrast the journalist Daniel Schorr who is 70, said he finds shopping a traumatic  but age were incas Oiler Only a simplistic explanation of the new male shopper. All the data suggest that he is very much like his female counterpart and that the female shopper today is very different from her Mother the Lieberman Survey Lound hat mate shoppers like female ones lit no single Mold. Single mail and female shoppers for example plan m no and buy impulsively. Tod Heller a 23-year-old banker from Secaucus ., represents the bachelors. As he shopped for a birthday dinner he was to Cook for his Girlfriend that evening he decided on the menu As Fie walked the aisles often retracing his Steps. Heller has been Cook ing and shopping Tor himself since College he said and acknowledged that he had a role Model his father who chopped for the family albeit reluctantly every sunday morning. I Ihrk my Friday. May 22.19b7 father thought in was a woman s  Heller said. I certainty Don  behaviour of married male shoppers is most Lika thai of married female shoppers who work oils de the Home according to marketing experts. And when in comes to shopping women who work outside the Home More closely resemble male shoppers than they do women who Ore Lull time homemakers. Working men and women Are less Likely than full Lime homemakers o use coupons or nutrition Labelling or to compare newspaper advertisements or prices at different supermarkets. Perry Kamaio asserted that if he did nol accompany his wife Elsa. Shopping she would spend too much Money. The Damalos shop at food town in so caucus using coupons and unit pricing and checking several cans of each product to see if one is mis marked at a lower Price. A try to Tell my Wile that she should have a list so she won t go up and Down every aisle said Damato who is a sales supervisor in North Bergen . Thai s How you buy too Many impulse  Belli Damalos work outside the Home but he does most of the cooking if i Don t Cook we Don t eat he said. But test the surveys Lead id the impression thai the entire male population has been magically transformed into liberated shoppers one should remember that the Daniel schors of the world Are alive and Well in every age group. Schorr senior political correspondent for National Public radio in Washington said he buys things he does not particularly need like marmalade because i in sweating and so anxious to gel out of he place i have a feeling you can never have enough marmalade he said but when i get it Home my daughter Points out to me thai it has a lot o sugar and i Don t like Sweet marmalade so we Don t use  then there is Anthony Sterbens. A 47-year-old Carpenter in to Niters. ., who has been shopping with is wife for 25years. Even now am a Little uncomfortable he said. It just does t Sam Ike my  that attitude May fade with succeeding generations As fathers teach their sons new ways in the nation s supermarkets. Given the Way we live i think it would be very apparent to our children that in is natural or men to Cook and  Marshall said. As Gould said we want to communicate to our children thai these Are not gender dictated activities. I shop and my wife is involved in car