China mall introduces 'husband storage' pods for shopping wives By News from Elsewhere...

...as found by BBC Monitoring Published duration 14 July 2017

image copyright The Paper image caption Husbands can play old-school games such as Tekken 3 in the pods

A Chinese mall has introduced "husband storage" facilities for wives to leave their spouse while they shop, it's reported.

According to The Paper , the Global Harbour mall in Shanghai has erected a number of glass pods for wives to leave any disgruntled husbands that don't want to be dragged around the shops.

Inside each individual pod is a chair, monitor, computer and gamepad, and men can sit and play retro 1990s games. Currently, the service is free, but staff told the newspaper that in future months, users will be able to scan a QR code and pay a small sum for the service using their mobile phones.

A few men that tried out the pods told The Paper that they thought they were a novel idea.

Mr Yang said he thinks the pods are "Really great. I've just played Tekken 3 and felt like I was back at school!"

Another man, Mr Wu, agreed, but said that that he thought there were areas for improvement. "There's no ventilation or air conditioning, I sat playing for five minutes and was drenched in sweat."

Incentive to go shopping

The pods have been the source of much humour on Chinese social media , and have sparked debate about whether they could be rolled out even wider.

One user approves the decision, saying that the pods "give these men an incentive to go shopping, and to pick up the bill" for their wives shopping.

But others disagree. "If my husband just wants to go out and play games, what's the point of bringing him out?"

Reporting by Kerry Allen

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