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Some married men love shopping. They adore it. But some absolutely abhor it. And in China, there's a special place wives can ditch them: husband storage!


Called "laogong jicun chu" in Chinese (老公寄存处), which literally means "husband cloakroom," the rest stations are for husbands who are either knackered from shopping or for those who would rather spend their time doing something else.


The husband cloakrooms seem to have sprung up in cities like Shenzhen around 2010. However, there is at least one example of husband storage prior to that, though. Below, you can see a photo (with an arrow to a husband storage space) that apparently dates from 2006:

Those dudes look thrilled!

Recently, photos of a newly opened husband cloakroom in Guigang City have appeared online in China. Check them out:


The rest areas vary, with some offering a place to watch TV, smoke, or surf the net. Others offer food and drinks to order and books and magazines to read.



Some just have benches for the men to sit and think.


Husband storage doesn't exist in every Chinese shopping center—as Kotaku's Beijing-based reporter Eric Jou points out, he hasn't seen them in Shanghai, Beijing, or Guangzhou.

Here are some hubbie cloakrooms from around the country:


An arrow leading to...


Looks, um, fun?


Beats shopping...


...I guess?


"Rest room" as a place to rest—not a toilet!


Men!


Now this is one fancy sign. One fancy sign for husband storage.

Photos: Baike , Sina , 80S官方博客 , 我唔係肥师奶 , AnhuiNews , China Daily , Weibo , DBW , JSW , liao1 , Iqilu , Zjxww


To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter @Brian_Ashcraft .