Fashion

[songbird]

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@NameAlreadyTaken wrote:

Actually the government started working with universities, at the request of store owners and shoppers in the early to mid 1980s to transition from that type shopping to small strip malls and eventually to take back the cities based on crime.

So due to the above, universities began teaching architecture and city planning in a different way, the reason we see lofts popping up in cities where once drug activity was the chief business of large, abandoned businesses.   

Due to the interstate system and the easy access to malls, there was more crime than we had experienced and due to population rise, crime was hard to control.

Too many large malls with department stores that lured shoppers in, in large quantities were easily accessed and easily exited and were targets for strong arm robbers, rapists, murders, the new criminals who could use get-away cars to escape law enforcement, the ladies working and shopping in these malls were often targets of rape and hostage crises and with gas stations located nearby, these gas stations were hit late at night by armed robbers.  

Better shopping areas are now built with mazed streets so they are not easily accessed nor fled. Of course ,there is also the internet but the interstate was really the forerunner of easily committed crimes in the USA.

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Any change in technology alters the way consumers go to purchase goods.  You might as well start with the car.  A vehicle that invented serial killers and  unintended boost of billions in the world population.   

[Nataliesgramma]

Our mall is pretty much dead most days...weekends it's kids only hanging out..

[Brigitta]

The Mall of America has always had their own police dept. Crime has always been a problem there and I guess it's gotten worse over the years.

[Group 5 minus 1]

It has been years since we've been the 2 big malls in town. There are a few smaller ones but we haven't been to those either.

[Danielle46]

It it wasn't for the better department stores i.e. Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Lord & Taylor & Saks Fifth Avenue, I would never go to a mall.

[CatsyCline]

don'y know what they were thinking but the only Nordstrom in my area is in the city where the mall is three levels of pure he#. lots of stores there but i never even get to them . they certainly don't draw the demographic.  no security,   the milieu is so torqued up with testosterone.  20s tough guys and older teens, mostly male, cruising for trouble and dates.  there is a lot of gang posing.  the parking garage is the only way in and out.  i rarely need to go there and then make sure no one follows me to my car. it's insane.  the parking must be paid at a kiosk before leaving. god forbid you get delayed the 15 min grace period.

[software]

I still like the big indoor malls, they do have their problems as mentioned.   I used to work in the biggest mall here, so I know the best places to park, the safest, easiest way to enter & exit.   But a tip all shoppers, unless it's forbidden the best place to park is where employees park, also use the employee entrance & exit if possible.   

I just haven't warmed up to the "town center" type shopping.   I feel like I'm going around in circles to find my store or restaurant, then when I get there, the parking is a nightmare.   I don't feel comfortable walking from store to store. So I always go to my car then drive to the next store.   That's usually when I talk myself into just going home.   I'm already in my car, time to go!

[hoosieroriginal]

I really think malls are going by the wayside - many here in Indiana have closed.  People are buying online instead (sad!)

[151949]

The closest mall to where I live is 30 miles away and I have never gotten accustomed to how it was built - many wings  - you have to keep leaving the main area to walk off into these L shaped areas. Very odd and those areas do not feel safe to me. So we rarely go there and I never go alone. Occasionally I go to Penneys and I always park right at Penneys door and I'm in & out. 

Our mall is always almost empty because it is difficult for seniors in Florida to walk around malls.I don't know why walking in the mall hurts my back so much but it really does.

[GRACIE]

I  love B/M stores. Not necessarily Malls , I like small shopping center , that has s stores like Publix,TJMAXX,Ross,Homegoods, and boutique jewelry stores and consignment  stores. As for safety anywhere, be aware of your surroundings,keys in hand and not talking or texting on the phone while walking.