Chinese women who are going shopping to the mall can now drop their husbands off at “husband storage pods”.
According to media reports, a mall in Shangahi, the Global Harbour mall, has set up glass pods so that wives can leave their husbands there who do not enjoy some retail therapy.
Each individual pod has a chair, a monitor, computer and gamepad and men can sit and play retro 1990s games, the BBC reported. At present, the service is free but staff told The Paper that in future users will be able to scan a QR code and pay a small sum. A few men who tried out the pods told The Paper that they thought it was a novel idea.
Mr Yang, who tried out one of the pods, said: “Really great. I’ve just played Tekken 3 and felt like I was back at school!”
Another man, Mr Wu, agreed it was great but said there were areas for improvement. “There’s no ventilation or air conditioning, I sat playing for five minutes and was drenched in sweat.”
The pods have been the source of much humour on Chinese social media. One user approved of the decision and said the pods “give these men an incentive to go shopping, and to pick up the bill” for their wives shopping.
Some disagreed. “If my husband just wants to go out and play games, what's the point of bringing him out?” asked one user.
Earlier, China had explored the concept of “husband storage” in malls; “husband cloakrooms” began springing up in 2010 and gained traction in 2014. They’re essentially rest areas with seating, TV and even smoking sections.
