I was walking up Madison Ave. to get some lunch, and I noticed that whenever there’s a store on a corner that sold both men’s and women’s clothing, the women’s display was in the window on the avenue, while the men’s display was on the street. I saw maybe five stores like this? I didn’t see any that did it differently.
Anyway my hypothesis is this. If you assume that most people shopping are going to walk up or down an avenue instead of a street, then men, who are more likely to be shopping alone, aren’t going to want to feel that they’re being watched themselves as they look at the belt or shirt or whatever. So they can step off the avenue onto the street and look with a little more privacy. As far as I know women don’t think there’s anything embarrassing about shopping, but I definitely know men who feel this way.
