Here are some expressions commonly used in discussing shopping matters.
carrier bag - a bag made of paper or plastic for holding customer's purchases cashier - a store employee who handles cash transactions with checkout counter - a counter in a supermarket where you pay for your purchases checkout line - a queue of people waiting to pay for purchases corner shop - a store selling a limited variety of food and pharmaceutical items; open long hours for the convenience of customers elevator - device which provides vertical transportation for people or goods from one level to another escalator - moving staircase used as transportation between floors in stores haggling - a negotiation about the price pedestrian precinct - a shopping street or similar area from which traffic is excluded, US: pedestrian mall receipt - written confirmation of payment rendered retailer - business that sells goods directly to individuals shop assistant - an employee who works in a shop or store and has a range of responsibilities which will usually include sales, stock counting and assisting customers shoplifter - a person who steals (articles or an article) from a store shopping - groceries, consumer goods sold by a grocer shopping centre - collection of retail stores with a common parking area and generally one or more large department, discount, or food stores shopping trolley - shopping cart wholesaler - business that buys large quantities of goods and resells to other distributors rather than to ultimate consumers window shopping - looking into glass windows of a shop for entertainment and imagine purchasing items without actually purchasing, possibly just to pass the time between other activities, or planning a purchase
Now we put new vocabulary into context, so you can see how you might use these terms yourself. The expressions are in boldface in the text.
An elevator or lift is a transport device used to move goods or people vertically. Mind the step! He preferred to be overcharged than to haggle. Escalators are typically used in pairs with one going up and the other going down, however in some places, especially European stores and metro stations, there are no escalators going down; the escalators only go up. Shoplifters will be prosecuted. Retailers are usually those who sell to consumers and wholesalers sell to businesses and institutions. In the area of banking in the UK, the position of cashier is the same as a bank teller. Did you buy anything while you were out? - No, I was just window shopping.
