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Cultural Geography of Shopping Malls American popular culture is expressed to some extent in peoples attraction to spending time in shopping malls. This is because those places are designed to not just buying various things but also to entertain people. The main reason shopping malls are so popular is that they are very convenient. Most of them include clothing stores, a food court, movie theaters, arcade rooms, and much more.
Not every shopping mall is the same, but they all basically have the same things. These things are shopping and a place to hang out and cruise with your friends, maybe even meet new people. Also shopping malls are for all ages, not just teenagers, and for all kinds of different people. When you go to a mall you will find the majority of the people in there are teenagers. The boys usually just want to eat and play video games, while the girls just want to shop and gossip. Many usually dont shop at all; they just want a place to hang out.
And for most teenagers getting to your favorite shopping mall isnt that hard. They either have a car, or a friend with a car. Also, the bus stops right in front of malls or it is in walking distance of it. A shopping mall brings in a lot of money, with holiday shopping and tourists.
If you have ever been in a mall during the holidays you know how hectic it can get. There are moms fighting over the last toy her child wants and someone fighting over the last chocolate chip cookie at the cookie corner. Along with the holidays come the sales after it, which makes the perfect time to shop. This applies especially to Christmas. Also when the seasons change, sales come with it, as new shipments come in, with new styles. Plus with shopping malls come jobs and business.
Many businesses hire when the holidays are near, but this is only seasonal employment. Discounts usually come with a job at the mall, so this makes getting a job there more appealing. Many young girls and boys want to follow the trends they see on the television, also in magazines, and on the radio. They see commercials with a beautiful model wearing a certain type of clothing and they want to emulate that. The message they get from these commercials is that if they buy a certain type of clothing they will feel better, look better, and just be better. This message is neither wrong nor right, its just advertising.
So many malls advertise to appeal to the youth and get big business there. They also advertise to the older crowd, the teenagers parents. For mothers there are makeup stores and anti-aging remedies sold, just to make them want to feel younger. Many dads or men get sucked into the hard ware section, or the electronics. If you dont know what to buy as a gift, the mall is the perfect place to go. There are many gift ideas and prepackaged gifts, like lotion sets or makeup kits.
Many would suggest buying a gift certificate so the recipient of the present can choose what he or she wants. And if you want to be able to have the choice of returning the gift, you can get a gift receipt. Everyone wants what is in, they want to be accepted and they look to malls to help them. This goes to show the range of people who shop at the mall and the many reasons why they do.
Many people feel safe in shopping malls, and trust their children to go alone to the mall and be safe. For one thing its an enclosed building with security. The security guards ensure safety and promote it, and there are cameras to help aid them. Even outside there are security guards and shuttles to the parking lot. This means that you can get a ride closer to your stall. There are many reasons the mall is so popular and it has to do with the variety of things to do.
You cant pick one with out it leading to the other. Even if the mall were crowded people still go. The one that stands out is the fact that they are convenient. Its easy to stop at one place and not have to waste gas, time, and money going place to place. A lot of people would agree they would rather put up with a crowd, than to waste time and energy. So if you need a place to go, to shop, cruise, or eat with some friends, the mall makes the perfect place to go.
One reason I know why malls are popular is they are places to relax, socialize, and shop. For example we will use Ohio Valley Mall, in Saint Clairsville, Ohio. There are many examples of cultural activities going on there. For example on weekends some sport competitions happen there for kids. Since kids usually do not travel by themselves but with their parents Ohio Valley Mall guests significant amount of people of various ages. They may socialize and make plans for future.
People go to the mall to make their lives easier than past generations. They go to these malls to buy products that increase their status in society or increase their leisure or increase their ease of living. Also in the postmodern society, people tend to want to be different and look different. So, where else would one go but to a shopping mall where he will find a greater number of choices of whatever product he desires. This is where people go to shop for their identity makeovers. One of the major characteristics of todays society is that the postmodern self needs to be transportable.
People represent themselves by things that they can carry with them all the time. For example, clothing is a major way of representing ones self in postmodern society. One can express his views and beliefs just by dressing in a certain style of clothing. And of course, the mall is the place to go to get these transportable, representational items.
The layout of the malls intended to encourage browsing and buying. Even though, many kinds of stores are located in malls. Supermarkets are rarely included because grocery buyers do not like to linger there. Large department stores are deliberately located at the corners of the malls. In order to reach the department stores, shoppers must walk past specialty stores that sell products such as clothing, shoes and jewelry. Bad weather need not discourage mall shoppers because the temperature in malls is predictable all year round; it is sixty-eight degrees.
When shopping malls first opened, shows were present by featured movie stars and acrobats, to attract people to the malls. To conclude the research I will say that shopping malls are very popular in America nowadays. The tendency that it will be popular for years stays steady. The main geographical reasons that shopping malls are popular are the fact that they are usually placed in most of geographic locations of the country and they are easy to be accessed.
Usually they have big parking lots thus it may accommodate many cares and consequently people. People may have many reasons that were aforementioned to come by to a shopping mall: socio-cultural and practical as well. Bibliography: Rodger N. History of Shopping Malls.
Vol. I. London: HarperCollins, 1997. Keegan K. Customer Satisfaction Programmes.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999. Ferguson W. Modern Marketing Trends.
New York: Basic Books, 1999. Padfield P. Cultural Attitudes Towards Shopping. Oxford University Press, 2 nd Edition, 1996. Norton A.
The Signs of Shopping. New York: Viking Press, 2 nd Edition, 2000.
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Research essay sample on Cultural Geography Of Shopping Malls
