Let's Talk About Shopping Centres/Malls!

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Your mall/shopping centre stories, loves, hates, opinions, pictures, observances, witty anecdotes etc.

jel -- (jel), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 20:16 (twenty-two years ago)

http://dcampbell.com/images/snoopy.jpg

suzy (suzy), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 20:20 (twenty-two years ago)

they are depressing and yet exert a sort of warm, comfy nostalgic charm

also, my complaint about the olympia mall is lodged deep in ilx's guts and it's employees and owners may long rot in hell

strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 20:20 (twenty-two years ago)

it was part of my growing up. in retrospect, i'm really sad this comprised a large percentage of my life. But it's what my family loved to do, and I had no choice. And I didn't mind because they all often had video game arcades. Why go anywhere else?

donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 20:22 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.arundelmillsmall.com/images/FYE.jpg

right next to this is a brewpub which also serves excellent food. Malls in which you can smoke and drink = classic.

Millar (Millar), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 20:23 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.arundelmillsmall.com/images/Muvico.jpg

This is the entrance to the movie theater. This picture doesn't do it justice at all. It's 24 screens and none of them are small. The joint is fucking HUGE.

Sometime this fall they're opening a Medieval Times here, too

Millar (Millar), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 20:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Every time I go to a mall I get completely exhausted from the crush of other people, and vow never to go back. Then suddenly two weeks later I find myself longing to go shopping. Doctor, what is wrong with me?

j.lu (j.lu), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 20:25 (twenty-two years ago)

I used to sell holograms there, Suzy! my family lives directly across the street from it!

M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 20:27 (twenty-two years ago)

is that the MoA?

gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 20:30 (twenty-two years ago)

the enormous Snoopy should be a fixture of all large scale retail outlets

stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 20:31 (twenty-two years ago)

That Mills Corp. mall is way better than the Grapevine Mills mall. It has a 30-screen theater, a Dreamworks arcade and a couple of theme restaurants. Other than that, it's basically an outlet mall from what I can tell.

miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 20:33 (twenty-two years ago)

I think you mentioned about living way too close to MoA before, Matos!

Everyone bugged by malls should GO NOW and read Edge City by Joel Garreau. I bought mine in a bookstore in Southdale, which is in this posh suburb of Minneapolis called Edina (we hate Edina, right Matos?) and is basically the first atrium mall, so the irony of the purchase was perfect (also was doing a story on the Mall of America for a British newspaper). My mum and aunt used to work at the 'sidewalk cafe' there when it opened in 1956 or whatever (possibly the world's first postmodern jobs, narrowly defeating any Disney option by a year or two).

suzy (suzy), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 20:35 (twenty-two years ago)

i like to hit' malls. in & out fast. if not, i get the vomit rage. pet shops in malls are wrong!

kephm, Wednesday, 23 July 2003 20:36 (twenty-two years ago)

I live in Edmonton.

fields of salmon (fieldsofsalmon), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 20:42 (twenty-two years ago)

dixie square to thread

http://www.deadmalls.com/malls/dixie_square_mall/dixie_sq_12.jpg

Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 20:42 (twenty-two years ago)

One of my friends and I have initiated a nearly weekly ritual of getting stinky drunk on Friday nights, crashing, then getting up and without showering or changing into fresh clothes we hop to the mall (the one I posted above), grab some bloody marys and see a movie. The first time we did it we both looked so utterly rough we could catch people trying to actively avoid glancing at us.

Last weekend however we went to go see POTC and the guy sitting next to my pal reeked even more than we did. He smelled like a fucking distillery, I kid you not. But we're not going to let him stop us. Oh no. Walking around the mall on a Saturday looking and smelling like scary poor people = somehow lots of fun.

Millar (Millar), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 20:49 (twenty-two years ago)

as you've probably guessed my friends and I are all totally punk rock and 100% out of control

Millar (Millar), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 20:54 (twenty-two years ago)

what mall is this?

H (Heruy), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 20:55 (twenty-two years ago)

when I was a teen in California we would get Orange Juliuses (kind of a slush orange thing -- somehow my friend would always convince me to get them to put an egg in it, which they would do) at the mall and we'd walk around sipping them for a while, then one of us (usu. me) would pretend to trip and fall over, in the process sort of launching the Orange Julius all over the place. I don't know why we thought this was so fun -- I guess just a way to make a big gross mess in the mall and not get in trouble for it.

Octothorpe, Wednesday, 23 July 2003 21:26 (twenty-two years ago)

They normally had a raw egg blended in them, I think it was later that they stopped that.

nickn (nickn), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 21:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Wow, so that's the Egyptian Theater. It's even scarier than I had imagined. Isn't there an As Seen on TV store in that mall?

daria g (daria g), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 22:48 (twenty-two years ago)

There are more malls per capita in the metropolitan Phoenix area than anywhere else, I read that somewhere. I don't know if it's true but it sure fucking felt like it. We had three proper malls on opposite corners from each other. They should've installed a fourth one, it would've been the vortex of the shopping universe.

Ally (mlescaut), Thursday, 24 July 2003 02:07 (twenty-two years ago)

what mall is this?

http://www.arundelmillsmall.com/index2.html

Millar (Millar), Thursday, 24 July 2003 02:21 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.deadmalls.com/

fletrejet, Thursday, 24 July 2003 02:28 (twenty-two years ago)

The kind of malls I like:

http://www.deadmalls.com/

Nothing I would want to buy in a mall that I couldn't buy elsewhere cheaper.

fletrejet, Thursday, 24 July 2003 02:32 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.norfolkwindmills.com/images/brentcross.jpg

brent cross

gareth (gareth), Thursday, 24 July 2003 08:04 (twenty-two years ago)

All shopping centres are, without exception, utterly fucking evil horrible places. In the same way that Tim Hopkins refuses to drink outside, I refuse to shop inside. Hate them hate them hate them.

Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 24 July 2003 08:23 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.photography-imaging.co.uk/images/meadowhall.jpg

Ed (dali), Thursday, 24 July 2003 08:53 (twenty-two years ago)

The only good thing about meadow hall is the double decker tinsley viaduct running net to it. The destroyed an industrial wasteland for this. Oy Vey!

Ed (dali), Thursday, 24 July 2003 08:54 (twenty-two years ago)

oh HOT DAMN. well that's just asking for abuse. Anyway, that's the main chunk. That light grey mass on the northwest corner is the theater, and the Outdoor World is the light grey mass on the east edge. Food court is on the opposite side across from the OW. From here I can actually point out nearly all the major outlets, the place I get my hair cut, FYE, the brewpub, etc. but I'll spare you.

Big fucker innit?

Millar (Millar), Thursday, 24 July 2003 09:03 (twenty-two years ago)

I also live in Edmonton.
and am going to the obsecene big mall today.

anthony easton (anthony), Thursday, 24 July 2003 10:54 (twenty-two years ago)

shopping centres make me ill - the bright lights, the screaming babies (not to mention screaming mothers), lost old people and poorly dressed teenagers. i am deeply disturbed by the prospect of going drinking in such a place.

David_X (David_X), Thursday, 24 July 2003 11:24 (twenty-two years ago)

There's a bloody Wetherspoons in the revamped Shepherd's Bush centre. It's like the nadir of pubdom.

RickyT (RickyT), Thursday, 24 July 2003 11:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Remember Dawn of the Dead? That movie alone made malls cool.

NA (Nick A.), Thursday, 24 July 2003 11:38 (twenty-two years ago)

wrongo Nick, Tiffany made malls cool.

Chris V. (Chris V), Thursday, 24 July 2003 11:50 (twenty-two years ago)

No, 'Night of the Comet' made malls cool.

suzy (suzy), Thursday, 24 July 2003 12:00 (twenty-two years ago)

malls have never not been cool

gareth (gareth), Thursday, 24 July 2003 12:04 (twenty-two years ago)

I once wrote an imaginary tv movie set in a mall. It was a disaster movie and starred Charlotte Rae, Scott Baio, and a lot of other tv personalities I can't remember anymore.

Larcole (Nicole), Thursday, 24 July 2003 12:06 (twenty-two years ago)

I was so excited when Leatherhead got a shopping centre when I was small. I didn't understand that building one was no good, somebody had to want to rent the shopping space. The developers obviously didn't understand that either. But I had the excuse of being 6.

Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Thursday, 24 July 2003 12:08 (twenty-two years ago)

what about the movie with the robots chasing down the kids having an overrnight party in the mall? choppers? i forget. classic movie.

i hate malls cause there are way too may smells going on at once. ugh

kephm, Thursday, 24 July 2003 12:29 (twenty-two years ago)

yay suzy! i loved Night of the Comet when it came out. shopping malls & zombies - what a great combo.

H (Heruy), Thursday, 24 July 2003 12:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Everyone in their right mind hates Edina. It's a fact of life in the Twin Cities.

I absolutely adore the MoA solely because it has a roller coaster.

Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 24 July 2003 12:39 (twenty-two years ago)

My favorite mall is the Tanger mall in Riverhead. I once absolutely insisted that a friend of mine--who had just driven down like 5 hours from Amherst MA already with two weird random girls that none of us really knew and my exboyfriend--drive all of us to Riverhead on the spur of the moment so I could go to Bath & Body Works. He pointed out that there was one near Grand Central that would've been much easier to go to but I was having not one bit of it.

Ally (mlescaut), Thursday, 24 July 2003 12:42 (twenty-two years ago)

our malls dolphin is lonely and we are waiting for it to die.

anthony easton (anthony), Thursday, 24 July 2003 12:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Hey Anthony did you hear about what happened the last time the dolphins conceived? The mother took the baby down to the bottom of the "lagoon" and held it there. Can you believe that?

fields of salmon (fieldsofsalmon), Thursday, 24 July 2003 13:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Dan, the hatred of a St. Louis Park native for Edina outstrips the efforts of hataz of Edina from all the other towns in the Twin Cities area COMBINED. It may have to do with Park folks being beaten up by Edina sportif types for being 'Jewish' pretty much since my mum was a kid.

suzy (suzy), Thursday, 24 July 2003 14:30 (twenty-two years ago)

30 screen cinema!!!

jel -- (jel), Thursday, 24 July 2003 15:03 (twenty-two years ago)

I LOVE MALLS!!

Wow, as I was looking at the website for my favorite mall, I learned some factoids about Denver! Apparently Denver is the most educated metropolitan city in America, with more college graduates per capita, yadda yadda. After that, though, it says "Smart people shop smart.." pffft.

Mandee, Thursday, 24 July 2003 17:00 (twenty-two years ago)

(Ed, was that a nuclear plant across the street from the mall?)

Chris P (Chris P), Thursday, 24 July 2003 17:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Fashion Valley in San Diego, a bit of a home away from home. The one sorta mall in Saratoga Springs -- well, it was there. But let us all praise South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa for its sheer avarice.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 24 July 2003 17:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Manhattan Mall (formerly A&S Plaza) on 34th Street in Manhattan. Without the actual department store it was built for, sticks upward like a useless thumb---where all the veins stick out.

Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Thursday, 24 July 2003 18:12 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.crowder.edu/solar/nationalmall.jpg

The National Mall, Washington, DC. Possibly the only mall in North America without a Gap.

j.lu (j.lu), Thursday, 24 July 2003 18:34 (twenty-two years ago)

my MoA story: I hung out all day trying out for Jeopardy. I thought it wouldn't take too long but no, whole day. I got out of the last round (held in the basement) hungry, tired, a little dazed. I came up out of this basement stairwell into November mall crowds and immediately my arm was grabbed hard by a older woman who barked "WHICH WAY TO SNOOPY?" I was too wiped out to say "head for the big fucking statue of snoopy" and just kind of waved in the right direction.

I dated a girl from Edina once, whoops.

g--ff c-nn-n (gcannon), Thursday, 24 July 2003 18:48 (twenty-two years ago)

I wanted to date a girl from Edina once. She was the most beautifulest girl in Minnesota for about three months.

Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 24 July 2003 19:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Classic Minnesota mall phenomenon: power-walking 'seniors' invade before stores open and do their exercise ration for the day.

My uncle married a woman from Edina. She is probably the preppiest woman in Minnesota.

suzy (suzy), Thursday, 24 July 2003 19:42 (twenty-two years ago)

ppl take aim at Edina because a. it really does suck, but b. it's high-traffic suck (huge retail areas) and c. lots of kids. I think Wayzata is waaay worse.

g--ff c-nn-n (gcannon), Thursday, 24 July 2003 19:45 (twenty-two years ago)

HAHA! That's where the other unattainable girl I fell in love with for three months lived!

Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 24 July 2003 19:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Apparently, there's something in Wayzata's water that slides into the gene pool.

Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Thursday, 24 July 2003 19:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Wayzata is insane. My mum made having-a-baby-in-hospital friends with a woman whose husband was caretaker for the Pillsburys and a couple of the other superrich families who lived in those Wayzata coves on Lake Minnetonka, and we used to visit the grounds so my mum could basically gawp at real estate. Edina is an inner suburb with lots of country clubs; Wayzata caters for the same sort of people but with horses and indoor swimming pools, aquatic taxidermy in the home and lake yachts.

(My cousin is from Wayzata, eek. He's a white-blond broadcast journalism grad from UC Boulder and was a big Phish-head, but looks like what would happen if Mark Ibold was 6'4")

Umm, Dan, I've gotta ask, what was the deal with these girls?

suzy (suzy), Thursday, 24 July 2003 20:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Apparently Denver is the most educated metropolitan city in America, with more college graduates per capita,

BAH. Well, metropolitan maybe. It's funny how smart people follow government contracting work though innit? My hometown of Huntsville AL actually has the highest per capita Ph.D ratio of any place in America - it's all engineers and rocket scientists. Yes, AL is short for Alabama. The most common surname in my HS graduating class was Patel and I DID NOT MAKE THAT UP.

Okay that had nothing to do with malls. Sorry.

Millar (Millar), Thursday, 24 July 2003 20:42 (twenty-two years ago)

so what is the worst/best mall area?

us NoVa/DC metro kids always thought we were overly innundated. If the Arundell MD mall has become as big as Millar's post indicates I believe the DC metropolitan area is still fighting for the role of way too many big malls in a small area. part of what drove me away from the region.

H (Heruy), Thursday, 24 July 2003 20:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Umm, Dan, I've gotta ask, what was the deal with these girls?

Edina-girl was drop-dead gorgeous and ultra-super sweet. Nothing happened because I had no reliable transportation to go see her and because I was too chickenshit to ask her out.

Wayzata-girl was drop-dead gorgeous and bitchy beyond all comic belief. Nothing happened because she was gaga over another guy (we all met at All-State Choir), but we did hang out and have comic misadventures that I can't remember.

Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 24 July 2003 20:52 (twenty-two years ago)

I believe the DC metropolitan area is still fighting for the role of way too many big malls in a small area

honestly though, malls in this area are where half the commerce goes on. I live 10 minutes away from Arundel in one direction and the Columbia mall (no small fry) in the other, and BOTH are completely packed to the gills every weekend.

Millar (Millar), Thursday, 24 July 2003 20:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Edina-girl was drop-dead gorgeous and ultra-super sweet. Nothing happened because I had no reliable transportation to go see her and because I was too chickenshit to ask her out.

As I find that kind of fear hard to believe, you must have been 12.

Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Thursday, 24 July 2003 20:58 (twenty-two years ago)

When I was 15, I had an unfortunate experience where a girl I was going to go on a date with was told flat-out by her parents that she wasn't going to date a nigger. All of my high school dating was restricted to girls from families who had known me and my parents for years after that incident.

Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 24 July 2003 21:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Dan, that sucks. Was this said by someone who had a hope in Hell of sending their kid to Harvard?

suzy (suzy), Thursday, 24 July 2003 21:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Of course not! It rarely occurred to anyone in town to consider sending their kids outside of the 5 state area for school, assuming that college was even on the radar. (One great tragedy from my town was a friend of mine who was a National Merit semi-finalist who couldn't afford UW-River Falls even with financial aid. Last I heard of him he was living on the streets as a punk hacker.)

Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 24 July 2003 21:18 (twenty-two years ago)

The scary thing is if your friend had applied, say, out East, he might have had incredible financial aid (like me).

suzy (suzy), Thursday, 24 July 2003 21:31 (twenty-two years ago)

The gritty mall, Springfield Mall (parking lot)

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/nhtsa/announce/nhtsanow/v5.4/Mall.jpg

Mary (Mary), Friday, 25 July 2003 07:16 (twenty-two years ago)

A step up, Pentagon City

http://www.arlingtonvirginia.com/gif/pentagon.jpg

Mary (Mary), Friday, 25 July 2003 07:21 (twenty-two years ago)

On route to the Reston stand-by, Tysons Corner

http://www.ylekot.com/images/pictures/va/va-267_tysons_corners.jpg

Mary (Mary), Friday, 25 July 2003 07:27 (twenty-two years ago)

The cream of the crop, Georgetown Park

http://www.urbanretail.com/newurp.nsf/7baaf9f4840230f68625699200760d59/0ba2d92acb62492888256c2f00562734/$FILE/Georgetown%20Park%2001%20hrlcp.jpg

Mary (Mary), Friday, 25 July 2003 07:30 (twenty-two years ago)

OH MY GOD WE MUST GO THERE! It's like a mall made out of candy!

Ally (mlescaut), Friday, 25 July 2003 12:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Georgetown Park is pretty freakin' great.

Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 25 July 2003 13:07 (twenty-two years ago)

It looks like Peter Maxx having sex with Frank Lloyd Wright and building a mall with the jizz!

Ally (mlescaut), Friday, 25 July 2003 13:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Eh, Georgetown Park is the mall for my parents. It's "acceptable" because it's all snooty and there aren't any 12-year-old girls dressed in frighteningly slutty clothing walking around or Cinnabons or movie theaters, but why the fuck else would you go to the mall?

NA (Nick A.), Friday, 25 July 2003 13:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh if I have my say there will be girls in frighteningly slutty clothing walking around there. Or at least a girl.

Ally (mlescaut), Friday, 25 July 2003 13:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Don't be a curmudgeon, NA. The stores suck but the mall itself is purty.

Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 25 July 2003 13:22 (twenty-two years ago)

It makes me feel like I'm going to be shot just for being in there.

NA (Nick A.), Friday, 25 July 2003 15:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh, if you want posh in the DC area you have Mazza Gallerie
http://www.dcfd.com/mazza%203.27.2.jpg

and Tysons II
http://gosnell.com/int_gateway/gateway_media/gateway_gallery/gallery_pic_tysons1.jpg

j.lu (j.lu), Friday, 25 July 2003 22:56 (twenty-two years ago)

five years pass...

Anyone been to Westfield in London's busy Shepherds Bush/White City area yet?

I'm curious to have a look round it and would have done last weekend had I not had a stinking cold, had it not been pissing down like Jericho and had Chelsea not being stuffing Sunderland 5-0 up the road from me.

Is it any good (in particular are the restaurants/cafes any good) or is it just Brent Cross South/Gatwick Village North and liable to give me a headache?

The answer is NOT Volkswagen (Marcello Carlin), Thursday, 6 November 2008 08:37 (seventeen years ago)

Haven't actually been (and probably won't as I hate shopping centres), but the consensus seems to be:

- It is very large
- It is a shopping centre, a bit like most of the others, but bigger
- There aren't enough places to eat
- It is very very crowded

Matt DC, Thursday, 6 November 2008 09:42 (seventeen years ago)

also: (not been)

That there is not much car parking to promote use of public transport, but generally people *like* to use their own cars to go, buy stuff, put it into car rather than go, buy stuff, lug it home on the underground etc.

Mark G, Thursday, 6 November 2008 09:48 (seventeen years ago)

Plenty of bus and tube links at Westfield (when the tube's working) so really it's the culture that has to change.

The answer is NOT Volkswagen (Marcello Carlin), Thursday, 6 November 2008 09:57 (seventeen years ago)

I can understand why people would want cars to get to and from places like Brent Cross or Bluewater (which are both essentially plonked in the middle of nowhere) but Westfield's in town!

The answer is NOT Volkswagen (Marcello Carlin), Thursday, 6 November 2008 09:59 (seventeen years ago)

true.

Will have to check it out. There's plenty of 'friendly' parking streets around South Ealing. Or there were. No doubt they're all parkingnazi'd by now.

Mark G, Thursday, 6 November 2008 10:01 (seventeen years ago)

i have been. i can confirm it is a shopping centre. it is large and shiny.

> There aren't enough places to eat

there are 47 restaurants ffs. one of them is probably the world's largest, poshest, nandos.

> there is not much car parking

their website says:
"Our advanced car parking facility has 4,500 spaces"

which doesn't really help when 500,000 people turn up over the first 4 days but...

> Plenty of bus and tube links at Westfield

including a brand new wood lane which is just next door. shepherds bush market tube station (as it is now) is almost as close. 3 minutes from each, if that. then 15 minutes to get to the shop you want.

luckily, for me, the nearest corner of the vastness to my flat is where the bookshop is...

koogs, Thursday, 6 November 2008 13:37 (seventeen years ago)

i love malls but i need an exit strategy, ya know?

a country packed with ponies (sunny successor), Thursday, 6 November 2008 15:01 (seventeen years ago)

I went to Westfield last week! I saw Thomas Lau from the Halifax adverts.I bought a jumper in Uni-Qlo. I almost bought some trainers in the Vans shop, but I didn't.

Autobot Lover (jel --), Thursday, 6 November 2008 17:05 (seventeen years ago)

Here are some pictures:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/jel2004/S4301503.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/jel2004/S4301506.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/jel2004/S4301495.jpg

I mainly liked the ceiling!

Autobot Lover (jel --), Thursday, 6 November 2008 17:09 (seventeen years ago)

Whoops, bit big!

Autobot Lover (jel --), Thursday, 6 November 2008 17:10 (seventeen years ago)

http://www.thenational.ae/article/20080612/REVIEW/206990272/1042

What if you built the world's largest mall and nobody showed up?

I DIED, Thursday, 6 November 2008 17:11 (seventeen years ago)


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