China Introduces 'Husband Storage' Pods in Mall

Tiny rooms with gaming consoles let users play retro games
By Elizabeth Armstrong Moore,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 22, 2017 5:59 AM CDT
'Husband Storage' Pods Are Now a Thing in a Shanghai Mall
In this May 20, 2016, vintage gaming consoles are displayed at the Duderstadt Center at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich.   (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

For men who are willing to accompany their wives to the mall but not actually inclined to shop with them, a mall in Shanghai has devised a novel answer: "husband storage" pods replete with retro video games from the 1990s, reports the BBC. The Global Harbor mall currently offers time in the glass rooms for free, but staffers tell the Paper that soon users will have to scan a QR code with their cell phones and pay a nominal fee to enter the gaming zones.

A similar idea played out in China in 2010, when "husband cloakrooms" began appearing in malls. They're a bit different, more like rest areas with seats, televisions, and smoking sections, reports Newsweek. For now, the husband storage pods are being well received by the men interviewed, with one calling them "really great" because he'd just played Tekken 3 and "felt like I was back at school!" Another agreed, but noted that without ventilation or air-conditioning, he was "drenched in sweat" just five minutes in. (In the US, nearly half of the gaming population is now female.)

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