This paper explores the motives people go shopping in the Gulf region. The venue for the study is the Kingdom of Bahrain. The study sets out to test a major hypothesis that given the novelty of the modern retailing formats in the region; shoppers are more likely to stress the hedonic and social aspects of shopping than the utilitarian facets of it. Data was collected from a sample of Bahraini shoppers who answered specific questions pertaining to their shopping experience. The results obtained verified the research hypotheses. Respondents perception of shopping appears to be conditioned by two main factors; the novelty of the retail habitats and the harsh desert climate of the region.