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Enclosed shopping malls are often derided by many for being soulless, too modern, chain-dominated and symptomatic and emblematic of the auto-dominated suburban lifestyle, but I have to say, while I appreciate high street shopping as much as anyone (well when I have something to buy), I think enclosed malls aren't all bad, even though they sort of lack the eclectic character they had in the 70s and 80s. They're better than those strip malls on the highway, at any rate, even though I admit those have a place, especially with things like furniture stores.
But yeah, in Asia malls are as big as ever, and they're always a welcome respite from the heat (or in the case of Japan, China, Korea, the cold, which was one of the main reasons why they began in Minnesota). One can also walk around and stuff and get a little exercise, and they're not all dominated by chains either. It's convenient to have everything under one roof. I hope they don't die off, honestly. I mean in England the same old high streets can get boring too.
Of course, the US is probably TOO mall dominated in parts, I think malls still have their place though, a long with on-street shopping. What do you think?
Open-air malls are the rage now, but I think it's a cycle.
In maybe 30 years, once open-air malls lose their freshness, enclosed malls will probably start making a full comeback, partly for various practical reasons (shelter from weather, security, flexibility, etc.)
Enclosed malls are great, especially in bad weather, but I think they built too many of them. Also, some sort of ended up in bad areas due to demographic shifts, in which the mall has basically no control over.
Open air is nice also, but is all the same. I see open air malls as some lame attempt to make a "Euro" feel to it, when in fact the entire town/city should be that way in the first place.
Yeah I like some 'open air' malls, which are often just partially open air. I like the Santa Monica Mall, or say the shops on Hollywood Blvd, near the Kodak Theatre etc. Yeah the rage now is to have extensions to malls that look like your typical dining street, with restaurants, bars, cafes.etc.
The design of enclosed malls, in respect to the urban landscape isn't great. But for example, I like the enclosed mall in downtown SF, as it doesn't take away from the street experience. And the open air mall in Walnut Creek created a thoroughfare that connected with the existing downtown. 2 blocks is the mall and immediately adjacent are a mix of city owned and private commercial districts. All on the normal street grid. With parking garages instead of surface lots.
Shopping malls are very convenient. Places that people go to at least once a week such as grocery stores, pharmacies, restaurants, coffee shops, and bars belong in downtowns and along highways. People go to retail stores for specific reasons like shopping for birthdays, holidays, or looking to expand one's wardrobe. For this reason, retail stores should be centralized into one location for the sake of convenience.
When I'm Christmas shopping, I need to go to multiple retail stores. When I'm looking for new pants or shoes, I like to visit multiple stores to find the right fit. A shopping mall is much prefered over stores randomly scattered throughout an urban area. Urban neighborhoods benefit more from restaurants or bakeries than from a shoe store or retail shop.
Shopping malls are very convenient. Places that people go to at least once a week such as grocery stores, pharmacies, restaurants, coffee shops, and bars belong in downtowns and along highways. People go to retail stores for specific reasons like shopping for birthdays, holidays, or looking to expand one's wardrobe. For this reason, retail stores should be centralized into one location for the sake of convenience.
When I'm Christmas shopping, I need to go to multiple retail stores. When I'm looking for new pants or shoes, I like to visit multiple stores to find the right fit. A shopping mall is much prefered over stores randomly scattered throughout an urban area. Urban neighborhoods benefit more from restaurants or bakeries than from a shoe store or retail shop.
Huh? This makes no sense to me. I like to consolidate all trips, groceries/shopping/etc. id rather park once and go to the dry cleaner, grocery and department store. Even if I have to walk a bit, as long as the walk if pleasant. There is no need to separate the uses. In fact all of the businesses benefit from each other.
Prior to moving to australia i'd been in a mall twice in the previous 5 years. Once was to go to the Mac store (because it was closest) and the other was to go to a kids shoe store because it was the only one in the area.
Strangely, even downtown in Brisbane most shopping seems to be inside of one mall or another or at least along the outside of one.
I worked in a mall as a teenager. Even back then (20+ years ago) we made fun of it endlessly and never spent any of our free time there - opting for the nearby towns or Manhattan instead.
I've always found the setup inconvenient. I'm not one to spend hours shopping. When I need something I buy it. If I don't have a pressing need for a particular item I don't go to stores. So malls, to me, are just a waste of time. If you're not intimately familiar with them it's impossible to know where to park to be near the store you want to go to (unless it's one of the anchors) and even when you're inside it's purposefully disorienting.
In any case, there are arcades in North American, Australian, South American and European cities that are at least as old as anything resembling a modern shopping mall. This one probably being the oldest of all - Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
While there undoubtedly many folks that claim to find malls inconvenient the sales data strongly suggests that for many kinds of retail categories enclosed malls are still very profitable.
The funny thing too is that while many firms have invested signficant sums in their "flagship" stores the sales per squarefoot in those locations is often less than impressive and the justification for these locations ends being more about "image" than economics...
I grew up going to the second enclosed mall built in the U.S. (Harundale Mall, Glen Burnie, Md.)
It was mostly demolished and converted into a small strip mall several years ago. I wish it was still there in its original configuration, including the bird cages, one of which housed a mynah bird who had a most interesting vocabulary thanks to the local kids who were the first mall rats.
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