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I feel like a lot of malls are just the same thing over and over and over.
I remember when I was little and was all excited to visit a mall when we went to a big city out east. It ended up being 80% of the same stores that we had in our big mall back in Iowa.
The mall concept seems to have fallen out of vogue in this country; when's the last time you heard about a new mall coming out of the ground? The 'town center' concept (an offshoot of the 'New Urbanism' movement) seems to have replaced it. That's really fine with me; I love to see street level activity...In Atlanta, Lenox Square and Phipps Plaza are wonderful malls but a mall set back from one of the city's most fashionable thoroughfares by parking lots is really not the optimal use of that frontage.
Growing up where I grew up (Bergen County, NJ)- Malls were a big part of life, lol.
The most malls per capita, and no sales tax on clothing- It was nice.
There was plenty of walkable downtown's as well- So it's not like Malls "took over"- Though they did take over Paramus.
What are those places like? The ones I refer to have had a mock version of a main street village, but you were surrounded by large parking lots and large highways, making it tacky and fake. Is the "avenue" like that? Or is it something different.
The Avenue developments are usually somewhat "U" shaped shopping centers with 2-3 rows of parking in front of the stores. Each storefront will have a different material (one will be brick, the next one stone, etc) to TRY to simulate a main street look. While they do look better than the standard cookie-cutter tan stucco strip centers that appeared everywhere in the late 90s, they're still just a shopping center.
Okay, so I want to know why are so many people against the malls these days and age? I suppose some people believe that malls kill downtowns, but it has to be more than that. I really enjoy malls and their food courts and walking around seeing all the different people. The only reason I can see people going downtown is for the bars, nightlife, and upscale shopping. Also, people are saying malls and strip malls is a conservative thing. How is that a conservative thing?
Yuck, I live by the Mall of America and I cringe every time I have to go in there.
Maybe I've been to the wrong "lifestyle centers" but the ones I've been to were basically malls, but just outside. They were still surrounded by large parking lots. They were car oriented as they were in the middle of suburban areas with large highways. They still had the same type of mall stores. They did have better food selections, but at the end of the day they were still chain restaurants. The lifestyle centers I've been too looked like poor attempts to re create a village atmosphere.
reps for this.
"lifestyle centers" are strip malls with more expensive stores.
Also, as populations grew so did a need for more stores. People like places like the gap and hottopic so there was a need to build more in a metro. Mall was the solution as downtown space is limited and expensive. Malls seem like a logical creation to me.
The starter of this thread asks why malls are conservative.
A city center is a public place. Public means that it is property of everyone. You can be free and behave so. If you want to protest, it is possible. Smoke? it's ok. Be a weirdo: possible
A real publice place (like downtowns are) can be the most progressive or creative place in a whole city.
Malls are private. With a lot of rules, do's and don't's. Especially dont's.
The shops there are from chains, the indoor weather is always warm and dry and the visitors auto dependent.
A mall is a fake reflection of society.
Downtown Chicago has 2 major shopping malls. 900 North Michigan (Bloomingdale's building) and Water Tower Place. Best of both worlds.
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