I try not to used canned lines and I try to make it topical if possible.
Recently saw a 9 at William Sonoma so I said something topical: "You must be buying a gift because no one browses random kitchen utensils for fun." She laughed, told me I was right, and then told me this story about a gift tradition between her and her mother and the convo went on from there.
Other topical openers I've come up with in the moment were, "I like your dog", "Are those frozen pizzas any good?" or, "are you stocking up for a Friendsgiving dinner?", "which of these don't have sugar in them?" (in the organic isle of course).
A non topical opener is usually just, "Hey, how's it going?" Or "So how do you guys know each other?" These two openers are totally fine, and should be used ANY time you start to make excuses for yourself to not approach because you can't "come up with anything to say."
As you can see, it really doesn't matter what you say. Too clever and it risks coming off rehearsed. To come up with topical openers, I just look at the girl and try to put myself in her shoes and wonder what she is up to, where she is going, what she is thinking about. It can be a bit like cold reading. Like the girl with the kitchen utensils.
All it needs to do is get her attention and give her the chance to notice you and talk to you. Then you try to make it a bit flirty by teasing her playfully and see how she responds. Don't mistake shyness or social anxiety as lack of interest on her part .. believe it or not, most girls are pretty awkward when talking to strangers too, so they LOVE it if you lead the conversation. And by lead, I mean ask her questions, and hold her accountable to provide GOOD answers and after a couple questions, you just stop talking and sit confidently through any awkward silence until she says something. If things seem to be going well, after a few minutes I'll tell her I have to get going but that I'd like to continue the conversation over a drink sometime and see what she says. A yes means I'll get her number then reach out a few days later to set the date up.
Just know that a lot of girls will say yes in the heat of the moment, and they may actually WANT to have a date with you in that moment, but later will flake or not text back. Number closing a girl is pretty easy. Having her show up on a date is not, and unfortunately there is basically nothing you can do about that.... It's mostly out of your control at that point. Once you get that first date, well then it's more back in your control. My experience is that about 1:5 or so show up for the date. You can also try instant dates too but I've not played around with that much.
I've only had maybe 2-3 bad approaches ever, where the girl immediately said, "No" or just gave me lame one word answers. Literally just 2-3. I say this not to brag, but to say there's less to be worried about than everyone imagines.
