Do you always buy something from a shop/store you spend time in?

[slowcookerMasterRace]

I kind of feel like I owe it to a store, shop, bar, or restaurant if I spend time in it.

Often, even if I'm the DD, I'll buy a drink at a bar, just to give them a few dollars for providing me space.

At the local candy shop, I'll buy a quarter sucker.

I feel like this is almost a guilt thing that I cant shake. I feel bad I'm only giving them a dollar or two, but I also feel bad I'm spending any money at all.

We don't go out often, so maybe this is an etiquette thing- Is there an expectation to buy something at  places you spend time it? How do you explain it to the waiter or friends?

[I'm a red panda]

In a shop- no way. If they don't have what I want, I don't buy anything. If it is a small sole-proprietor type shop, I just say thank you on the way out.

In a restaurant, I do not go if I don't intend to order something.

A bar, if I'm the DD, I often don't order anything, will sometimes have water. Many bars around here give free sodas to a DD. They know that without people who aren't drinking they don't get business.  No explanation is needed.

[Laurenji]

No, not at all. In fact, when DH & I were living with his parents and desperate to get out of the house (and it was too cold to walk around outside), we would go to the local mall and just wander around everywhere. This was an almost daily occurrence for 1-2 years, yet we only ever bought something maybe 2 times. It was kind of a game to us, to make fun of all the ridiculous prices of everything at the mall.

The only time I've ever really bought something at a store out of "obligation" or what have you, was when we spent about an hour in the local board game store and the person sat and talked us through about 10 different games until we finally decided on one to get. We bought the game from the store, even though we could have gotten it much cheaper on Amazon, because we figured we were paying for the service of having the guy talk us through a bunch of different games we wouldn't have otherwise been able to pick between.

[Brother Esau]

The bike shop is the only place I actually enjoy spending money at because I know how much joy my bikes bring me and they provide great service.

[ketchup]

Definitely not.  But it rarely happens.  The worst time recently was when I ran into the grocery store solely to buy an avocado and they had no avocados left.

[sparkytheop]

No, however...

I don't go to a restaurant and not order something.  I kind of see that as "space rent".  I was invited to a lunch by ladies I quilt with when we ran into each other at the fabric store.  The cashier (she's quit since) was so slow that they were nearly done by the time I made it.  So, I ordered a coffee and stayed to chat for a half hour or so.

If I'm going to a local business because I think they have something I want/need, but want to check the price, if they are helpful/friendly at all, and the price compared to online is not insane, I will buy it from them. 

If I'm just browsing and don't see something I want, I don't buy anything.  I only really feel a bit bad about this at things like fairs/markets.  It's not really guilt, but I've been the one to have to sit the booth, and it sucks when you don't sell anything. 

[trollwithamustache]

There is a local building supply store that give way  better advice/info on how to do stuff than say Home Despot. They aren't always the cheapest but with the help I've tackled more projects than I maybe would have otherwise, so they have net saved me $$. Same thing with the REI guys, they usually don't push the most expensive stuff and what they do push has taken a beating and still works for us.