Some Random Thoughts After A Trip To The Mall…
Photo by Paul Keleher
A few years ago, whenever I needed to pick up clothes and other general items, I would invariably find myself at my local shopping mall. Of course, the internet has now all but taken over that role, and so I rarely find a need to drive out to the mall. Today, however, was an exception, as I found myself at the mall due to a last minute need by a family member.
It was interesting to spend some time in there. Just some quick thoughts I had on the way back from the mall:
- Holiday shopping is an overwhelming experience. First, there were just a ton of people at the mall — both in terms of the number of cars in the parking lot, but also in terms of the number of people inside. Once you get past issue of crowds, you have to combat the marketing campaigns all over the mall that are trying to induce you to spending more money. The holiday season must be when stores are at their best when it comes to wielding the power of marketing, advertising, and social pressures — you really need to mentally prepare yourself for the overload of a trip to the mall.
- Everybody seems to be having a sale - Seems the trend from Black Friday continues — retailes are taking deep price cuts to try to drive up sales.
- Aggressive sales people – Maybe I’ve just been away from mall shopping for too long, but I was surprised the extent to which some employees were aggressively seeking sales. Some were more chatty than usual, others were aggressively giving “sales pitches”, some continuously checked if you needed help, and some offered large amounts of unsolicited advice. I found this all to be tremendously annoying, but I suppose that it is just part of the reality for small business owners during these though economic times.
- Horton at Macy’s — Horton was everywhere. By “Horton” I mean the Horton Plush Toy from the Dr. Suess book “Horton Hears a Who”, and by “everywhere” I mean the Macy’s in my mall. They literally had flooded their store with Horton Plush Toys — you can see one here – which could be found behind every counter (whether it be the cosmetics department or the children’s department), next to the exits, along the escalator, on wall shelves, and more. There were so many of them that I started to wonder how they got there — it looked like you could have filled a truck with the number of Horton plush toys this Macy’s had. It must be a huge marketing campaign. That being said, at $15, they were not a bad deal.
- Stores going out of business – As opposed to Horton, this is not nearly as happy an observation — I was saddened by the number of stores that were going out of business in my mall. It was just a tad depressing walking along the store fronts; most of the handful of stores going out of business were independent “mom and pop” type places, many of which had been in this mall for quite some time. Certainly a sign of bad economic times. It is hard to imagine what the mall is going to look like mid-way in to 2009 if this continues; will we lose any major anchor tenants?
- Something nice about the holiday experience in the mall – Yes, this seems to contradict number 1, but hear me out. While it is true that there are lots of people, cars, aggressive marketing, and more, all told, the mall during the holidays seems to be a happy place. All of the holiday decorations, seasonal music, Santa’s workshops, and more, work to create a very festive and jolly atmosphere. Of course, the cynic in me rightly points out that is surely all a ploy to get shoppers to spend more money in the name of the “holiday spirit,” but it does do a good job of setting the mood. Furthermore, given the emphasis on gift giving during the holiday, there is something nice and appropriate about shopping for gifts amongst other people who are doing the same thing — it fosters a sense of holiday community that I think you just don’t get when you buy everything on the internet.
Have you been to a mall during this holiday shopping season, or are you sticking to the internet? What were your observations?
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