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Are Malls Over?

newyorker.com

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Re: Are Malls Over?

#151
post #69

Reminds me of this op-ed from 1995 "...how come my local mall does more business in an afternoon than the entire Internet handles in a month?" http://www.newsweek.com/clifford-stoll-why-web-wont-be-nirva...

LOL, that's good for a chuckle... at least as long as Newsweek is able to keep the lights on :)

Re: Are Malls Over?

#152

Come to Singapore. There's places where there are 7 or more malls all right next to each other and more being built. Kuala Lumpur seems to have lots of shopping centers being built and many of them get full as in the there's no parking left.

I was just in Guangzhou recently. Same thing there. In TienHe all of their multiple 6+ storey malls are connected by a sprawling series of underground malls. The shopping there is crazy.

Re: Are Malls Over?

#153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about if you did all that, but in your city center? I'd argue that that would have been a better experience than the mall.

1. Not everyone lives in or near a city. 2. Parking 3. Convenience. It's much easier to walk around a mall in winter than it is a city centre.

4. Weather. Occasionally a concern for those who live outside the bay area. Sometimes, you need to get shopping done and don't want to be walking around outside all day.

Re: Are Malls Over?

#154
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Europe, malls are still constructed in many places and they have the advantage of being built a few decades after many of the US malls. Where I live summers are a bit too warm and winters a bit too cold to make outdoor shopping joyful. Also, streets are noisy and full of aggressive drivers and the sidewalks are full of holes and broken tiles. So in the last few years this 1.5M population city has seen the construc…

There is no such thing as "Europe". I don't know of any malls being constructed in the Netherlands.

Leidschenhage (http://www.denhaagdirect.nl/winkelcentrum-leidschenhage-verb...)

In de Bogaard, includes 3 malls according to http://www.denhaag.nl/en/residents/to/In-de-Bogaard.htm

Re: Are Malls Over?

#155
Malls as shopping centers may be over, but those who transmute into amusement parks will survive.

I rarely go to the mall for shopping, but I go many times a week for a walk, a fancy dinner, or just to meet people.

Re: Are Malls Over?

#156
post #43

I don't go to them much anymore, but every time I do, I notice what a strange place it is. The stores are mostly bad, the food is of course terrible, very limited natural light, the list goes on. I can't imagine what "experience" we all thought we were enjoying in these grayboxes for so many years. True, there is a human need to congregate. But why do it in there? -- There is a reluctance among posters here to consid…

I can't imagine what "experience" we all thought we were enjoying in these grayboxes for so many years. The indoor shopping mall was, initially, a huge convenience. You could drive to one place, park once (usually for free), and visit a variety of shops in climate-controlled comfort (nice in rainy/winter seasons or hot summers). Most people found this preferable to driving all over town or even to a central downtown…

I thought the experience of malls were essentially like that of casinos, in that they were designed so you would lose track of time and buy/gamble more?

Re: Are Malls Over?

#157
one thing missing in these predictions is the fact that we are still social animals. It certainly is convenient to buy online, but teenagers, busy parents (where they can amuse there little ones in play areas or Santa) and people (increasingly) seeking relief from the heat (as in socal), gather at malls, and engage in both planned and impulse buys by just being there. I'm not saying malls are good, or efficient, or will survive in current form, but, there's a reason why Barnes and Noble has converted into a coffee shop with books - people like to hang. We may see malls take on more experiential offerings to make up for underutilized retail space.

Additionally, I know that best buy and guitar center will price match any price I show from an online retailer on my phone (this is so not obvious, but just ask). Just knowing that, I will occaisonally go to the mall or physical shop to actually look at things & try them out.

Re: Are Malls Over?

#158
post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's a picture of where I went to college: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Courtyard... You can think of it as Caprica from Battlestar Galactica, or the FBI HQ in the X Files. Brutalism in its full glory. Even crazier is the library: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Library-SFU-Burnaby-Britis...

I know some people have a rather low opinion about SFU academics, but maybe calling it a college is a little harsh ;) U of T did you one better: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Robarts_Library.JPG

I swear only Canada makes this distinction between "university" and "college". In the US they call what we call college "community college".

And.. holy crap, that library is freaking awesome. Although, I think the Geisel Library at UCSD takes the cake: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Geisel-Library.jpg

Re: Are Malls Over?

#159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about if you did all that, but in your city center? I'd argue that that would have been a better experience than the mall.

I live in Southern California suburbia. The nearest true city center is an hour metro train ride away, while the nearest mall is a ten minute drive. For me (and millions of others here) the malls are more convenient.

there are more "open air" shopping plazas here in socal than I can count, which I think is the reason indoor malls are a dying breed here: our weather isn't bad enough to warrant indoor shopping + the population/foot traffic here in California is growing and highly congested compared to other states.

Re: Are Malls Over?

#160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What were they like?

Among other things, - A sanctioned place to hang out with friends outside of school - A predecessor to online shopping. If you buy it online today, and you can't get it from Target/Walmart/Etc, chances are you would have gone to a mall back then. - Lots and lots of different clothes stores. The HN crowd probably doesn't care for this much, but other people liked that part a lot! - Bustling and full of people. This ha…

>and you can't get it from Target/Walmart/Etc,

When malls were in their heyday when I was growing up, there was no Target or Walmart. At least not anywhere close to where I lived.

>A sanctioned place to hang out with friends outside of school

Malls now are starting to outright not let kids in unless they are accompanied by an adult. I am dead serious, I got carded entering a mall in 2008 and was told the policy is nobody under 18 unless accompanied by an adult. http://abcnews.go.com/Business/shopping-malls-increasingly-p...

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