A shopping mall or shopping centre is a building or set of buildings which contain retail stores, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit.
One of the earliest indoor malls in the United States was the Lake View Store in Duluth, Minnesota which was built in 1915. The building is two-stories with a full basement and shops were originally located on all three levels. All the stores were located within the interior of the mall with some shops being accessible from both inside and out.
A mall crazy consuming culture:
It is not difficult to see that as Americans we love our malls. But it seems as if we have finally flat-lined. 2007 was the first year in half a century that a new indoor mall didn't open somewhere in the country-a significant decline since the mid-1990's when they rose at a rate of 140 a year.
Only the wealthiest survive:
When you walk into a mall, have you ever noticed that no matter what mall you go to they all have the same stores? (Now I haven't been to too many malls on the east coast so I make this assumption on western US malls but it could very well apply to the Eastern United States). This is because malls have been so successful that only the biggest brands can survive.
In Utah, depending on the size of the store and the location it costs anywhere from $20-$40 a square foot. This means that GAP pays around $450,000 a year just for their location, Anthropologie pays $385,000, Express and Banana Republic pay $227,000 and American Eagle pays up to $224,000 a year. These are rough estimates for prices in Utah, you could only imagine how expensive it could get in Los Angeles or New York. So what happens to the smaller clothing companies; well they usually end up dying off because they cant compete for mall location prices and nobody visits them if they have their own location somewhere else.
So what is this doing to our society? Well I think what it does is limits our styles to the select few wealthy companies that are found in the malls. We are restricted to clothing with GAP, A&F, Hollister or AE on the front of the shirt. Not that these brands are bad, but in Junior high and High school when it is essential to wear certain brands to fit in, kids have no other choice but to wear these mall brands. Kids are forced to be cookie cutter kids. I just feel like when kids feel like they need to wear certain clothes to fit into certain groups or clicks, they lose their ability to think for themselves.
My question is:
Do malls stifle creativity, individuality and uniqueness?
30 comments:
I think malls have a potential to stifle the creativity of some if they don't have a fashion sense of their own. But, I also think it provides a fun challenge for others...at least for me. I find it a fun game to see what pieces from different stores I can mix so that suddenly instead of looking like your typical jcrew cutout, it's jcrew with an urban twist or something like that.
I really liked this article because I could relate to it. I remember in high school, to be cool, you had to wear the name brands. It's really funny to me now, but that's just how it was. I don't think malls stifle creativity. If one wants to be all American Eagle, that's fine. If one wants to be all Hollister, that's cool too. I personally like to mix and match and find the stores that are unique, but that's just me. I think people dress how they do for a reason and if they really want to be creative they'll find a way by thinking out of the box.
Holy cow Brady. That was a dang good blog. So much research, so much thought. My brain exploded.
Now, I have never thought of Malls stifling creativity. But I have a strong opinion about some of the stores and how much I hate them. But...i guess the more creative option would be to have local designers and indepent retailers setting up more stores within the malls. But, then again... t-shirts and jeans=not creative, but good enough right?
I can see how one would think that mall would stifle creativity, but I personally think that it doesn't. Like the above statements - I find that you can mix and match and come up with your own style for what stores in malls offer you.
Interesting post. It's true- it seems all malls are the same. I've come to expect that I can find my desired store in any mall I walk into. I'm with Brooke. I take it as a challenge to try and create something different using the same pieces (at least the same options) as everyone else. I've worked at the Gap forever it seems, and most of my closet is from there. Hey, you can't go wrong with 50% off! But I'm always trying to make it my own with accents and accessories from other stores.
I think they might stifle it to a point. I mean, yes there are a limited number of stores that make it, but how diverse are those stores? Think about University Mall in Orem. There's Hot Topic, Anchor Blue, PacSun, Macy's, and Gap just to name a few. It might not be the most diverse listing of stores, but I'm not sure I'd call it "cookie-cutter" either. Of course, that's just one mall, and I do have to admit, like Brady, I've seen some that do seem that way.
I think the malls are very cooker cutter like I agree with the post
malls = cookie cutter? I guess motor vehicles are too.
Malls can be similar in how they are constructed (two or more stories, food court, types of stores...)
At the same time each mall offers a unique experience - I guess it could be like a park, each is a park but some are lame and some are cool.
Just like cars - each is a car - some are lame - some aren't.
I went to a famous mall in Campinas Brazil once.....pretty freakin' awesome, but also not in the US so completely unrelated - but still awesome.
Fantastic post. And yes, I do believe that the mall does contribute to taking away from individuality. I mean, I look at what people were wearing in high school back in 2002. Abercrombie, Hollister, American Eagle, the like. I can't tell you the last time I shopped at one of those stores. And luckily, most of the clothes I bought in high school still fit me and I can get away with them seven years later. I haven't bought new t-shirts or jeans that often since my graduation day. And the clothes that don't fit me from high school were passed down to my nephews because the name brands are still popular. If my nephews and I have similar styles, and they are 11 years younger than I am, does that claim we are individualistic in style? I say not. The style is still popular, acceptable and generally the same.
I think that's an interesting point. I think malls have the potential of stifling creativity. If you only have a few options, you don't have much of a choice. On the other hand, I think you have to take a step back, and be creative yourself. As was mentioned earlier, you must shop around, mix and match and you can find something that works. It does require some effort, but it can be done. And, you won't look like everybody else. So, in a way, a mall can also inspire creativity.
I don't think malls stifle creativity and originality. I think certain stores in malls might produce "cookie cutter"-type people, but in all, malls are a large assortment of quite a few different stores that conversely might even encourage creativity.
No, I really don't think malls stifle creativity or uniqueness. There are several clothing stores that aren't located in a mall. Most of the styles of clothing I like are sold in stores within the mall, but there are stores outside of the mall that I shop at as well. I think people that want to buy certain brands at the mall do so, but they aren't "forced" to since there are alternatives to the mall.
I've never thought about malls in this way before. I do think that malls can have a tendency to stifle creativity, especially if people don't ever branch out of mall shopping. There are interesting things to be found elsewhere, but oftentimes people just prefer the convenience of one-stop shopping, especially young people who are overly-sensitive to what the "cool kids" are doing and wearing.
Good work Brady! I enjoyed your insight, I guess I never looked at malls as a hinderance to one's creativity. But now that you mention it, I see it as a huge possibility. In high school I remember feeling pressure to wear designer jeans or other types of clothing in order to fit the image of a certain group. As I got older, I realized how dumb that was. But, the reality is that pressure to look good is there. I would have to agree with some of the previous posts, that if you are sure of yourself and your sense of style, then it is easy to mix and match and have fun with fashion.
Malls usually do have the same basic department stores and other shops, but out of them there are often many more options for clothes, etc. I think they would only stifle creativity for the uncreative people who only go to malls.
i hate malls. i feel evil inside. i'd rather go into marshalls or t.j. maxx and pick out something without a thousand people around me and a salesperson pressing me to get more and more. I find that malls do both stifling and encouraging of ideas. Just depends how people approach it.
Like Brooke said, malls have the potential to stifle some creativity, as do most shopping districts. You go somewhere to shop and they're most likely going to have to same chain clothing stores, unless you know what you want and where to go to find it, i.e. specific boutiques that carry your favorite brand, or you just create your own hodge podge style with what you get at the mall. It's up to the shopper to know or figure out who they are as to whether or not their creativeness is stifled by the cookie cutter world of the mall.
Interesting post. I do think that malls stifle creativity in a certain way. I remember buying a shirt from American Eagle in Junior High only to find, to my dismay, four other girls wearing the exact same shirt the next day. I think that creativity in clothing comes as we get older and aren't afraid anymore to look different than everyone else. I do think that you can still find clothes that are your style at the mall without looking like everyone else.
I think malls definitely cater to a certain audience. Every time I go I am bombarded with groups of junior high students clinging to each other. Also there are moms there, buying clothes for their children. Those who want to be trendy and fit in will most likely go to the mall to find brands they know and others will know. I feel like with the surge of ebay, whiskey militia and etsy, people are beginning to branch out and explore their own unique styles. I'm not sure if this will trickle down to junior high kids--most likely i think they simply want to fit in at that age and so malls are perfect for them.
My question to you is if I haven't bought any new clothes at the mall since I was 12, am I therefore extremely creative? Or just lacking any semblance of a fashion sense?
Who said we have to shop at the mall anyway? Anyone who feels their creativity is stifled at the mall will probably be one of those people (of whom I am one) who prefer DI, Platos Closet, Roths, anywhere else... More concerning, I would argue, are those who don't realize they are becoming cookie cuttered kids. In their case, I completely agree with Brady...
Malls, themselves, do not stifle creativity or uniqueness. You can own an American Eagle shirt and pair it with something completely wacky and be original. Kids in middle school or high school Want to find in. They want to be part of a group. any group. They choose to be skaters, goth, preppy, jocky, etc. The mall offers them outfits to fit all of these different cliques. It's not the mall that is creating cookie cutter teens, but the pressure of being a teen itself.
in every mall, shops are placed in the similar places, similar shops are put there, pretty much everything is the same everywhere you go in the usa. same fashion same stuff. malls don stifle creativity if you don't go there. but if you go there you will be buying the same somebody else somewhere in the us. elsewhere in the world there is a lot more variety.
I find this article kind of funny because it reminds me of how pissed off I get if I ever see someone wearing the exact same shirt that I have. I don't know maybe I am just strange but my mom is usually the one who buys me clothes from the mall but she will get me shirts every now and then from the name brand stores and I swear that whenever I wear one of them I will see someone that exact day and I hate it. The most irritating part is that the other person usually sees me wearing the same shirt as well and we both kind of look at each other almost pissed off because we are wearing the same thing. Anyways, I do think malls kind of stifle creativity though.
Shopping at malls may stifle creativity, but it is an evil I have to accept if I want to buy my ironic accessories at Hot Topic.
I agree with most people that the mall can limit personal style. There are only a limited number of stores that offer a limited degree of options. If you want to be a Abercrombie prep or a Banana Republic cut out you totally can. But, I think that personal style isn't so much dependent on what is available in a mall...If you want to look different, if you want to portray a particular image--You can. Where there's a will, there is a way.
All the store I have been I have seen all kinds of different trends and styles. As long as people are patient enough to go through each store they can come up with some creative stuff.
Whether they stifle creativity or not, malls are a semiotic of American culture today. They are what they are.
i think that malls do stifle creativity to some extent - people with "creative" wardrobes will often look elsewhere for clothing, but then again, the mall creates convenience. people who care less about clothes probably wouldnt go to a great lengths to be creative with their clothing with or without the mall.
I don't think malls stifle creativity since you have the crazy stores like Hot Topic. You also have stores that try to appeal to sub-cultures. I'd say that malls are pretty good places to do demographic studies. I feel there is a difference between the stores at the Provo Towne Center and University Mall, but the demographics of people who shop there are different too. That's how it was back home. There was a "ghetto" mall and a "trendy" mall and if you wanted to be cool you'd never be caught dead in the ghetto mall. The stores were different too, although there were your typical cookie-cutter stores.
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