Profession of a Shopaholic 

While a tenth of the population updates its résumés again, Sundance Channel’s Man Shops Globe (Wednesdays at 10 p.m.) is letting us vicariously have the best job ever. Keith Johnson, buyer-at-large for Anthropologie, travels to all corners of the earth in search of chaises, tchotchkes and new artists to create them. It's all in the interest of keeping the fauxhemian franchise unique and relevant to the store’s yipster (that's yuppie + hippie + hipster) clientele while — no coincidence — cleverly promoting the store.

Johnson justifies his opulent travel budget with quirky finds from places like Istanbul's Grand Bazaar, where 400,000 people a day peruse textiles, pottery and “Turkish Viagra” sold in wicker baskets. While international browsing for a living sounds simple (and fabulous) enough, it is not without its challenges. France, for instance, holds a bevy of treasures, but it’s also home to a bloodthirsty pool of competing buyers who sprint from item to item at sales. And Johnson has a hell of a time escaping mod-crazy Holland with anything that doesn’t scream "Ikea."

The affable Johnson doesn’t mug for attention. He knows the loopy artists and their quirky creations are far more interesting (a brilliantly strange Argentine artist "jokes" to Johnson's female companions, "I feed you and then I f*ck you"). We'll happily be Johnson's Wednesday night shopping partner — as long as he's buying.


Man Shops Globe airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on Sundance Channel.