Culutural Colossus: The Shopping Mall

[amadeus]

Just got thinking about this, but, do you visit any shopping malls in your area, and what generally do you think of them?

As the great philosopher Homer once said:

"For an evening or a week, there's no place like the mall. Food, fun and fashion, the mall has it all!"

 

[Switch625]

We could make a new civ3 wonder:

Mall of America

Available with Ecology (why not?)

+1 Trade per worked tile (like the Colossus)

-2 Culture

Ok, back on topic...

Where I live, we have a mall (Market Place Mall) that's a regional phenomenon. One that people come from "miles around" to shop at. It's crowded, overpriced, tacky, and I haven't been there in probably two years. There is nothing there that I can't find somewhere else at a better price.

 

[Apollo]

Originally posted by rmsharpe
As the great philosopher Homer once said:

"For an evening or a week, there's no place like the mall. Food, fun and fashion, the mall has it all!"

Yes...the great philosopher Homer Simpson... d'oh!

Yes I've been to shopping malls in Washington State, none here in Maryland yet though. I don't usually have an urgent need to go shopping in a mall, but when I have been I've always thought they were quite nice.

The one I've been to the most is in the suburbs near where I grew up. It's several stories high and has a large open center, with tons of shops, restaurants, and department stores along the sides. There is a grand piano in the main area that echoes nice music throughout, there is a large play area that I spent a lot of time in when my mom dragged me there when I was little, and it's always clean and comfortable.

There's another one downtown in Seattle that I went to a couple times in high school while volunteering for Honor Society to work at a holiday carousel that was nearby. I always volunteered for the day after Thanksgiving along with my friends, because then when we were done working at the carousel we'd go into the mall to get dinner, and then watch as outside they had the tree-lighting ceremony done by the mayor to kick off the holiday season. It was a lot of fun, especially my senior year when riding home on the bus the driver had a heart attack and crashed. Everybody was alright afterwords, including the driver.

 

[Simon Darkshade]

There is one large shopping complex near to one's residence. It is useful if I have to send the servants to buy something, or ifI wish to peruse something at the cinema, but apart from that I never go there, and don't understand the "cultural attraction".

 

[Becka]

There are some malls I like, but generally I really dislike busy malls. I don't even like Wal-Marts. I hate it when people invade personal space area, which extends 20 feet in every direction from me.

"You've penetrated the BUBBLE! Stay AWAY from the bubble! Don't look at me! You crazy people can leave me the heck alone!"

But anyhow, malls are ok, as long as I'm with people. And it's not a weekend or after school.

 

[Groovin']

well.... coming from my hometown i quite like the mall.... it is after all only 10 to 15 shops big!! cant quite imagine the scale of the 'malls' you are talking about...... but im pretty sure i wouldn't like them....

 

[Dell19]

We have shopping centres...They are just high streets indoors so they are not exactly terrible...Grantham has two kind-of shopping centres but they are not really that big.

 

[IceBlaZe]

For some strange and mysterious reason malls in Israel have been less crowded lately

I wonder why...

 

[Sparrowhawk]

Well, I have the good fortune (or not) of living within sight to the largest mall in the world. Yes, it is actually the largest of all malls

West Edmonton Mall

I hate it. It's full of so much consumer crap, bad food, and crowding that I almost never go there. Actually, I'm not a big fan of any malls, although some interest me from an architectural standpoint. In fact, the only thing I really like about any mall is the local EB Games outlet.

 

[VoodooAce]

The poster child of capitalism.....The Mall.

Heck yeah, I go to the mall. Because whichever store I'm looking for at any time is likely to be in a mall.

I don't go to the mall for fine dining OR a hotdog on a stick. I do go there to shop, though.

Say what you want about their 'cultural' negatives (not to mention the parking), but fact is they are convenient.

 

[VoodooAce]

Originally posted by IceBlaZe
For some strange and mysterious reason malls in Israel have been less crowded lately

I wonder why...

Aw, come on, MAN!!!

Aren't there enough threads for this kind of cr*p, already?

Besides, what ISN'T less crowded over there in THAT part ofthe world, anyway, the way you guys keep going at it.

 

[amadeus]

Originally posted by VoodooAce

Say what you want about their 'cultural' negatives (not to mention the parking), but fact is they are convenient.

I fail to see why they are considered "culturaly negative," at least, that's not how I see it around here.

 

[PinkyGen]

At home I have few malls near me. Here in Ithaca NY at college, we have a mall a bus ride away, and compared to what's around, this is indeed a wonderous place. Special trips also go to Syracuse to visit their many malls, and soothe our shopping needs.

 

[Sixchan]

We have the Buchanan Galleries, St. Enoch Shopping Centre, Braehead and Clydebank Shopping Centre.

But, since the shops are just down the road, and you can get cheaper clothes elsewhere, unless I'm going to buy a non-nintendo video game (I'll go to Byres Road for a nintendo game), I never really go.

 

[VoodooAce]

Originally posted by rmsharpe


I fail to see why they are considered "culturaly negative," at least, that's not how I see it around here.

I agree. But isn't there something of a stigma surrounding malls? Seems to me that there is something of a general negative opinion about them, despite the fact that they ARE always so crowded.

 

[IceBlaZe]

Originally posted by VoodooAce


I agree. But isn't there something of a stigma surrounding malls? Seems to me that there is something of a general negative opinion about them, despite the fact that they ARE always so crowded.

If you build them right, it doesn't give that impression always.

 

[TubaGuy]

PinkyGen, where at in Cincinnati do you live? and by any chance do you go to Cornel(sp?)?

 

[Hitro]

Originally posted Voodoo Ace
I agree. But isn't there something of a stigma surrounding malls? Seems to me that there is something of a general negative opinion about them, despite the fact that they ARE always so crowded.

That deosn't have to be without sense. People who dislike malls go there as well, simply because they take away the alternatives. That's why they're crowded.

 

[allan2]

"People who dislike malls go there as well, simply because they take away the alternatives."

They don't, by themselves, "take away the alternatives." PEOPLE do that. I.e., if they want to keep the mom-and-pop places around, they should choose to go shop in those places so they stay in business. And in some cases, that's just what they do--I myself do it. I live in the city, and the malls are in the suburbs--HARDLY convenient for me.

The Mall of America is 8 miles from my home, yet I've only been there twice in all of its existence--once to see it out of curiosity, and once to take a friend from out of town there who wanted to see it out of curiosity. I'm not a "mall" person--I like to go into a store, get what I want or need, and get out. If I'm seeing a girl who likes malls, she can go there by herself, thank you. There is always constant heavy traffic around the places, and finding parking.... Plus the crowds.

There's a K-Mart right in the city, 8 blocks from my house, where everything is cheaper than the mall stores. I get my clothes, housecleaning stuff, and other basic stuff there. I get CDs at the Cheapo's (a new-and-used CD store down the street), books at various small bookstores all over the place. I don't NEED to drive out to the burbs for anything except work....

 

[Simon Darkshade]

I do not like shopping malls; I do not like shopping. I am a male.
When I want something, I go in and get it, and then get the hell out of there before I suffocate from the perfume samples.
Therefore, to me, malls are both good and evil. Good, because a lot of what I need is all in one location; bad because other people will be there, and if there is one thing I cannot stand, it is hordes of seething humanity.