What do you think of shopping malls?
I am old enough to have been around when the first shopping malls appeared. It was definitely exciting – all of these stores bunched together in the suburbs. The first malls were all outdoor malls. The first indoor malls created excitement too. Wow, you could go from one store to the next without ever having to go outdoors.I think most of the luster of shopping malls has worn off. There are just so many of them and they all have pretty much the same stores. When shopping malls were still a novelty, you could actually get someone to wait on you. Now you are lucky if you can find someone who will point you in the right direction. You might as well buy on the Internet, which is what more and more people are doing.Many malls are closing and those still open have a kind of decaying quality. I think that if malls are going to survive they are going to have to reinvent themselves to be attractive places that encourage people to congregate.
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32 Answers
Everything about them sucks in my opinion!
If you wanted to torture me to the point of insanity, all you’d have to do is bring me to a mall and not let me leave for a few hours.
I think shopping malls are varied, some better than others, useful, and a good idea.
I personally adore shopping malls, but I’m a teenage girl and this is one of the many ways my mom and I bond. We don’t necessarily buy anything, but just conversing over the new merchandise and crazy fads makes wondering through the labyrinth of stores and crowds completely worth it. My preference is outdoor malls, especially in the summertime. I like the sunshine. :)
I spent hours in the mall local to the community I grew up in….as a teenager. I loved shopping and looking at things….wandering from store to store.
Now? I haven’t been inside a mall in years. I hate shopping. With little kids it is a form of torture…for them and me….
I have fallen in love w/ online shopping. I shop at my leisure in my PJs late at night. I never pay more than I would in a store. I put in my order…and….poof….like magic it appears on my doorstep days later. Fabulous!
Mall? Thinking about shopping in them gives me hives. Ick!
They are a huge commercial glut, in my opinion, and I find it much easier these days to shop online for things I could just as easily locate in any mall.
On the rare occasion that I do make my way over to a mall, I make sure it is never on a weekend or on a holiday due to the massive influx of people that just have to shop on these certain days and clog up all the malls.
Shopping malls are the ultimate in consumerism and the primary force in the decaying urban fabric.
Meh. I don’t like them much at all. I feel awkward in them and I’m not sure why. I think it’s the crowds.
They are outdated dinosaurs. I do all 95% of my shopping online.
Sometimes they are a Godsend…when you need many different items from many different stores a mall is great. Other times, like black Friday and major holidays they are the last place I want to be.
ok when its raining and dont want to walk from shop to shop outside…..... gone off shopping as I get older..prefer online for most things
it depends. the three closest ones to my house are terrible. i’m not really a supporter or mass-consumerism. i prefer shoping local and handmade, which is rare to find in malls. at least around here. i’d rather walk through the mainstreet of downtown.
Great place to people-watch.
I just love the environment, especially around Christmastime, which may seem incredibly awkward to most, but the larger than life decorations, excited shoppers, festive music, and spectacular new ingenious products manufactured specifically for the season get me all bubbly on the inside. I just adore shopping in general though. :)
Seem to me we should expect different answers from people who like to shop, compared to those who don’t.
I hate to shop. I hate shopping malls. They are too loud, too busy, too much standing and waiting, bad food, and no doubt other things that I’ve forgotten.
About the only store I like is a store with adult toys and you get to try them out. I don’t know of any such stores. And get your minds out of the gutter, when I say adult, I mean a place that sells gadgets and electronica that appeals to folks over 40.
@daloon I was going to suggest the Sharper Image, but I see that it went bankrupt 2/08 :(
@snoopy, whoa! What???? I swear we just received a catalogue a week or so ago.
Oh well, they will probably continue under new ownership. Or maybe not. Depends on whether other people think the concept works.
Still, that would be close to being a perfect store! Especially if it had knowledgeable salespeople.
@daloon: There’s still Brookstone but….Sharper Image was still better. I was wondering why I stopped getting the catalog.
@ snoopy and asmonet: actually it was the hammacher Schlemmer catalogue I got. My bad.
@daloon I have always thought that that was the weirdest name for a store….
Well, I love malls. Mostly because I like to people watch. I don’t go often, but when i do it’s an event. I worked in an uncovered strip mall in the 70’s and the interior mall is so much better, but to each her own. I am a mall girl. C’mon! Tell me that shopping on line is as much fun…no way no how.
@sueanne A few reasons why shopping online is waaaaay more fun:
no kids
no husband
free shipping
no tax (as long as no store in your state)
shopping multiple stores in seconds, not hours
cheaper than in the store w/ those promo codes
no rain, ice, sleet, snow, sub zero or sweltering temps
no “out of stock here but drive across town and they have it”
no road rage in the parking lot
no lines
no other annoying, stupid people
just me, my computer and my credit card….ahhhhhhhhh.
@Snoopy: You forgot shopping in pjs or better yet, naked! Not that I’d ever do that, of course…
You don’t have to shop from home to shop in your PJs! You just have to have PJs that won’t get you arrested for indecent exposure, and honestly not care if people give you weird looks. Why, yes, I do sometimes go out of the house wearing red flannel pants with yellow duckies on them. Why do you ask?
I see more and more college kids walking around campus with pj bottoms. It’s one of those innovations in style similar to the falling-down pants, if you ask me!
I used to adore malls, but I also think they have outlived their prime. Before internet shopping, you had to search in several stores to find that certain something that you were looking for. The mall made it easy to check several stores without having to drive all over town. But often you still didn’t find that pair of jeans or that pattern of dishes that you were seeking. Also, the malls weren’t crowded in “the day.” I swear, they were quiet and kind of classy. Now, they are filled with screaming kids running up and down, herds of people, sticky and dirty, and you would really have to want something badly to go. Of course,I could say the same about the movie theaters. I refuse to go anymore. I can just wait for the DVD to come out and watch it in on my own theater system.
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