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SHOPPING MALLS TODAY
The idea of building shopping malls was to bring a whole range of shops and services together, under one roof, ostensibly making shopping more convenient for customers. I belive that the underlying intention was to encourage shoppers to spend more money, tempted by the goods seen as people pass a variety of other shops on their way to their destinations. This is a little like the common practice of supermarkets where they place the staple foods such as bread and milk in strategic positions so that shoppers need to go past higher priced items to get to them. Malls also encourage us to linger by providing cafes and restaurant. Everything is designed to entice us in and trap us for as long as it takes to persuade us to part with as much money as possible!
People are now very used to the experience of shopping in big malls but has this been to the detriment of the smaller specialist shops in the locality? It was believed a few years ago that smaller shops were suffering badly as a result of the bigger malls and there were scenes of deserted high streets because shoppers were forasking them in favour of the more convenient malls. However, as malls have increased in size in recent years, it is now feared that they have tried to get too big too quickly and boarded up shop windows are appearing more and more often in the new, modern malls. Perhaps this will mean that a revival of the High Street is on its way.
These days shopping malls are having to compete for business with a formidable opponent - the Internet. As money has got tighter, people are turning to shopping online to find the best range of products at the best prices. Recent figures show that football at a shopping mall, only constructed three years ago, was down by twenty-five per cent on the previous year. Customers are being encouraged to return to this mall by the offer of a range of entertainment such as music groups and competitions for children - even games and quizzes, as well as cultural events such as art exhibitions and book readings by new authors. Will this bring us back? I'm not so sure.
