The Shopping Mall .. A Great American Tradition
The shopping mall ... a great American tradition ... made its debut when the downtown areas of the cities and towns of America became too dusty and crowded for pleasnat shopping or living and people began the "suburban scrawl". The stores followed .. in the form of the mall.
It became a far cry from the Friday night Main Street shopping days .. when all stores located downtown stayed open until nine and everyone from everywhere came in to do their weekly shopping .. of every age. Of course.. every other day of the week all stores closed at six.. except on Sunday when they were closed.
However .. competition in the malls has become steep ... driven by the chain stores ... the big names ... and the prices follow.. either up or down.. which drives some people away to look elsewhere for bargains.
The factory outlet malls offer great bargains to all who are fortunate enough to live in an area from which they can reach them easily.
Online shopping is another of today's big bargain offerings .. whether it be in specialty shops .. the big name brand stores .. or auctions. This is the form of shopping that seems to have overtaken the catalog shopping of the past ... and it offers everything you may need at the touch of a button .. often with shipping fees waived.
Of course ... online shopping cannot replace the touch and feel and try that the shopping mall offers... but if you already have touched and felt and tried .. the online bargains are hard to beat.
Will online shopping ever overtake the shopping mall?
Of course not.
Along with shopping... the mall is a great place for senior walking .. a great place for teen meeting teen .. a great place to have a great lunch... a wonderful spot to meet for a chld playtime.
The shopping mall is a great American tradition ... and we Americans love our traditions.
