Hillary Clinton has stressed such small "retail" visits throughout her campaign, stopping by churches, restaurants and local events like the New York gay pride parade fitting with a traditional credo: "All politics is local".
Tesco occupies a unique place in British retail, visited by millions but controversial to many.
"Consumers are integrating prepaid purchasing into their retail visits," Robertson says.
Most staycations combine edification with retail: you visit a battlefield or a museum and then hit the amusement park and the outlet stores.
For more traditional retail therapy visit Seaport Village (001 619 235 4014; seaportvillage.com), a collection of more than 50 shops right on the water downtown.
For retail therapy, visit the Freitag flagship store (Geroldstrasse 17) for something by the Zurich-born brothers known for making bags and accessories from recycled bicycle inner-tubes and seatbelt straps (with designs now in the New York's MoMA).
If it's a retail company, visit a few of their stores, observe the customers, and even strike up a few conversations.
Bridget Lennon, an interior designer for retail stores, visited the shop last week to buy a copy of "Hornet's Nest" as a Christmas present for her fiancé.
Tourists were avoiding the major attractions," he added, "and they were doing more wandering around, going to restaurants, spending at retail establishments, visiting historical sites, cultural sites, not necessarily the typical sites like Mystic Seaport or the aquariums".
Mobile was also driving the majority of retail sites visits on Friday at 56percentt, Adobe noted.
