Shopping at the Mall

For me shopping at a mall depends on the anchor stores and the weekend sales. The US has a much larger selection. When we go to Vegas I end up at Fashion Show Mall. I go to Dillards & Macy’s & Nordstrom and you wouldn’t believe the walk to get from one end to the other.

If a mall is totally enclosed and incredibly huge, I have a panic attack.

Generally, I don’t want to go to the mall. West Edmonton Mall (Alberta) was once the largest in NA. We’ve been around there a couple of times and I had no interest. Pre-me, my husband took his kids because they wanted to go on the rides. I can barely drag him in any store.
 

I have not been to our nearest mall in about 3 or 4 years; it's been so long that Macy's even closed my account. I never did buy anything there and just stopped going to the mall. I prefer shopping in my favorite shopping centers which are smaller.
 
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Shopping malls in our area are rapidly declining. A lot of the stores that were once the "anchor", such as Sears and JC Penney's have closed, and left large unoccupied spaces. This is probably as a result of online shopping, where more and more people are finding that they can get items cheaper without paying for the "overhead" of some of these retailers.
 
Don M. said:
Shopping malls in our area are rapidly declining. A lot of the stores that were once the "anchor", such as Sears and JC Penney's have closed, and left large unoccupied spaces. This is probably as a result of online shopping, where more and more people are finding that they can get items cheaper without paying for the "overhead" of some of these retailers.
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ours are too expensive and the shop rents are so high that a lot of them are closing here. i won't be surprised if by this time next year we have no mall.
 
I hadn't been to a mall in many years until the year I moved here. I went to it to have my ears pierced. In my previous life, from about 1975 to 1992, I shopped at the mall all the time. It was social as well as shopping. I belonged to a health club right across the street and after going there I'd go to the mall. Back then I could afford it. The last time I have been to it was when my bf took me to a race car show there. It is closing now and it is sad to see but I do most of my shopping online. I can't take the walking or standing in line and especially the people, even though it was pretty empty.
 
In the 1980’s, I practically lived at the malls over weekends. It was almost a lifestyle. You’d go on Saturday morning, walk around a bit, have lunch at one of many possible places, hit more stores afterwards, then maybe catch a movie matinee before calling it a day. The stores gradually became more specialized and expensive, then the great anchor stores like Wards, Penneys and Sears began to fold, which was the beginning of the end. Today malls in rural America if not fully closed are ghost towns, sad shadows of what they once were with mostly empty store fronts. You almost expect to see zombies shambling about... 🙀
 
CinnamonSugar said:
Another problem with mall shopping is most of the stores are geared to the twenty-something crowd. I’m still waiting for thr clothing store “Classy Clothes for A Lady of a Certain Age”
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That's how I feel.. it seems to me that the stores at the Mall are there for the younger crowd these days.
Teenagers especially, go there for the entertainment factor. All the movie theaters and snack bars and fast food restaurants in the Mall attract them.
The stores are secondary.
 
Some advantages of malls:

Free parking.
Covered walking in the winter. Many seniors PC walked in the mall in the morning when the stores weren’t open.
Cool in the summer
A variety of stores, if they’re a big current mall.
Socialization.

This is a small urban centre. I notice lots of new strip malls going up for businesses (e.g dentist) rather than for goods. The goods stores don’t tend to last. People rarely want to drive from one little strip mall to another to window shop.

The older strip malls have businesses that are closing, just like a big mall.

My favourite shopping is downtown. Hate paying for parking. Hate finding a spot even more. Rarely go there,

Most of my ’other’ shopping will be done when there’s a grocery store as the anchor.
 
Aunt Bea said:
I wish that my Chevrolet dealership was located in the mall!

I wouldn’t mind waiting for routine maintenance or repairs if I could spend the time shopping, having lunch or catching a movie.
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All these dealerships that are located in Auto Malls are out of the way when you need maintenance. Even though they promise the shuttle is handy, it sure isn’t. We were told we’d have to wait over an hour for one once to take us back to the dealers. Ridiculous.
 
Don M. said:
Shopping malls in our area are rapidly declining. A lot of the stores that were once the "anchor", such as Sears and JC Penney's have closed, and left large unoccupied spaces. This is probably as a result of online shopping, where more and more people are finding that they can get items cheaper without paying for the "overhead" of some of these retailers.
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That's a concern of mine. I feel that once the shops lose out to internet shopping, prices will rise online, and then we have no choice but to pay them. I feel where possible people should support our bricks and mortar stores...
 
Jules said:
Some advantages of malls:

Free parking.
Covered walking in the winter. Many seniors PC walked in the mall in the morning when the stores weren’t open.
Cool in the summer
A variety of stores, if they’re a big current mall.
Socialization.

This is a small urban centre. I notice lots of new strip malls going up for businesses (e.g dentist) rather than for goods. The goods stores don’t tend to last. People rarely want to drive from one little strip mall to another to window shop.

The older strip malls have businesses that are closing, just like a big mall.

My favourite shopping is downtown. Hate paying for parking. Hate finding a spot even more. Rarely go there,

Most of my ’other’ shopping will be done when there’s a grocery store as the anchor.
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No free parking at our malls...except if you park your car a long way out from the entrance . The first mall (lakeside charges £3.50 to park... the second one I posted (Westfield)..in Shepherds Bush.. is £9.50 for anything over 2 hours...
 
Bonnie said:
That's how I feel.. it seems to me that the stores at the Mall are there for the younger crowd these days.
Teenagers especially, go there for the entertainment factor. All the movie theaters and snack bars and fast food restaurants in the Mall attract them.
The stores are secondary.
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we don't seem to have that situation.. the young here don't go to the mall any more than the grown ups... (y)I think we have less to do for them in our Malls..only cinemas.. and maybe a few entertainments, but nothing really too exciting..and the malls are so far out of town , with the exception of Westfield, they mostly can't or won't drive there...
 
We have Westfield Malls here in the U.S. I believe they are an Australian company. I knew a mall designer years back. Ed DeBartolo was a designer of many malls in that era across America. I am pretty sure he was also a previous owner of the SF 49er's. Actually, he was a friend of my dad's, not me.
 
oldman said:
We have Westfield Malls here in the U.S. I believe they are an Australian company. I knew a mall designer years back. Ed DeBartolo was a designer of many malls in that era across America. I am pretty sure he was also a previous owner of the SF 49er's. Actually, he was a friend of my dad's, not me.
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yes I only learned recently that the Westfield group are from Sydney...

As well as the UK, and the US...they have malls in Croatia, Poland, Italy, Czech republic, Sweden, New Zealand , France & Brazil
 
hollydolly said:
yes I only learned recently that the Westfield group are from Sydney...

As well as the UK, and the US...they have malls in Croatia, Poland, Italy, Czech republic, Sweden, New Zealand , France & Brazil
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Right on, but they are headquartered in Australia. They are a very large outfit.
Here in the U.S., I visited the Mall of America one time only. That was enough for me. You can't get through it in a day. I couldn't stand being there, so I left. I went for the food because I was told that their food court was the best there was in that area.
 
oldman said:
Right on, but they are headquartered in Australia. They are a very large outfit.
Here in the U.S., I visited the Mall of America one time only. That was enough for me. You can't get through it in a day. I couldn't stand being there, so I left. I went for the food because I was told that their food court was the best there was in that area.
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yes like I said ..Sydney..

As for food courts, that's what I like the best about all of our Malls...even the ones in Spain..
 
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