David Guterson's Endured: One Week At The Mall Of America

The socioeconomic significance of malls is seen through visual culture, where the mall has become a place to meet up with friends and family, on any day of the week – weekends being the busiest. Hence “the mall has become a centre of life, where the most memorable moments, holidays and birthdays are spent, dinners are held all under one roof” (Stokrocki 80). In Toronto the two largest malls I explored were the Toronto Eaton’s Centre and Yorkdale Mall – both of which included over 200 stores, eateries, rainforest cafés, and a movie theatre. However what was evident about these two malls apart from the rest included anti social behaviours despite families being grouped together. Although people were together, the sense of togetherness was plastic just like the manikins of store displays. It appeared as though families were shopping just as an excuse to go out as a “family” even though children, teens and adults would disperse into the stores of their choice and meet up at the end for a takeout meal, contacting each other through their phones. In addition to this observation included the fact that families shopping with other families or family friends were more of an exploitation of social and economic class. People being able to spend at stores like Michael Kors, Coach, Tory Burch, Abercrombie & Fitch, Lululemon, Kate Spade and many more, without worrying about going over budget meant being affluent. What really needs to be questioned is the idea that if these people spend at

Urban Outfitters is a popular clothing and accessory store that was founded in 1970, and generates success from the type of merchandise it retails, as well as through the contemporary culture and ethos that it promotes to its customers. The store has stated that it is targeted towards a specific audience that ranges from eighteen to thirty years old, who are well “educated, [and] urban-minded” (“Urban Outfitters”). Urban Outfitters offers a specific shopping experience that is unique to its store, because it focuses on a well-defined audience that is attracted by its modern environment and trendy clothes. Many individuals are unconsciously lured into the store first by the placement of the store itself, then by what the consumer can see in the front windows, and lastly by the specific and well thought out placement of the store’s merchandise. It is evident that the theories regarding retail geography defined by Paco Underhill, including the stores location, the decompression zone, the invariant right, destination items, the

Black Friday shopping is a controversial issue in the United States; while many believe the day after Thanksgiving is a part of holiday festivities, others view it as destructive. Throughout “Black Friday: Consumerism Minus Civilization,” Andrew Leonard argues that the chaos of Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in which crowds of Americans shop all night for extremely low prices, lessens the sophistication of Americans and the true meaning of the holidays. People become so consumed in the idea of endless sale prices that they forget to embrace what they already have, such as family, food, and shelter. He believes that Black Friday shopping has become out of control and describes the negative effects of excessive consumerism. he explains how most consumers act completely insane while Black Friday shopping and how society encourages this behavior by creating commercials and advertisements. Furthermore, Leonard states that it hurts the economy and damages one’s mental health. While Leonard is probably wrong when he claims that Black Friday shopping is completely troublesome to America’s well-being, he is right that consumerism overpowers the true significance of Thanksgiving.

Malcolm Gladwell’s piece, “The Science of Shopping”, causes his audience to fear retail anthropologists such as Paco Underhill. On the surface, Gladwell appears to write a short documentary of sorts about the manipulation of businesses and stores. Venturing deeper into the story provides the reader with vision of the importance businesses place on their layouts and strategies. Gladwell continues to assure his point that consumers are not mindlessly obeying what retailors want them to do. Store owners are required to accommodate to how their customers behave, and what their target market wants. Gladwell refers to significant moments with Underhill by directly quoting Paco. He also vividly describes different aspects of Paco’s practice.

“Outlet shopping is perhaps luxury’s greatest ploy to get its goods into the hands of anyone and everyone,” (Thomas, Pg. 246). “But outlet shopping is the antithesis of the flagship, the antithesis in fact, of luxury itself.” (Thomas, 2007. Pg. 247) Columnist Karen Heller explained to Thomas after visiting Woodbury Common Premium Outlets in New York, “The clothes were marked down, picked over and repeatedly pawed, the opposite of how they were originally displayed. Their power to enchant seemed minimized, even at a third the price, smashed together like produce in a storage hold.” Thomas explains how luxury merchandise is purely just that, leftover “luxury” products: overproduction. No longer does luxury embody the experience of pampering nor does it signify class and wealth. Some

In “Enclosed. Encyclopedic. Endured: The Mall of America,” David Guterson’s description concerning the Mall of America researches into numerous surfaces that are entrenched throughout the mall both physically and psychologically. David Guterson claims that the Mall is a psychological impact on the applicants inside. He makes this claim through his portrayals of the shopping mall’s: exterior and interior environment, the people he interviews, and the malls many titles.

A famous writer for the New Yorker, Malcolm Gladwell has written an article, “The Science of Shopping”, which is based on Paco Underhill’s study of retail anthropology. The intention of a retail store is obvious- that is to attract customers and convince them to perchance as much as they can. There is so much knowledge that we can study, such that how the environment affects people’s thinking. These are tiny details that we don’t usually think about. The reason of how Paco Underhill success is because he notices these details. Details determine success or failure. Paco Undnerhill—a talent and passion environmental psychologist, provides us a new point of view of the science of displaying products,

Because businesses were struggling in the late 1990’s, Malcolm discusses the issue in a public report to draw the attention of those affected. Gladwell writes in his report, “But today [speaking of 1996], with the retail business in crisis, it is a gold mine. The time per visit that the average American spends in a shopping mall was sixty-six minutes last year—down from seventy-two minutes in 1992—and is the lowest number ever recorded” (99). In 1990, the average age for readers of The New Yorker was 46 (New Yorker). Not to mention, the average household income of those readers in 1990 was higher than the

Shopping has become a daily activity which happens a billion times in America and around the world. We cannot imagine how our lives would be affected if shopping was suddenly stopped. Malcolm Gladwell and Anne Norton both write articles about two sides of modern day shopping: how consumers have impacted the retail industry and how the industry influences consumers. In the article " The Science of Shopping," Malcolm Gladwell, a well-known writer and journalist, analyzes the shopping behaviors of customers and how retailers can lure customers; while Anne Norton, a professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania, in

The mall in this book is much larger than the mall in my town. “From there it was a quick jog around the central fountain to the elevators up to the third floor, which contains a multiplex theater, giant bookstore, bowling alley, ice-skating rink, and sit-down

The rapper Kanye West stated “She don`t believe in shooting stars but she believes in shoes and cars.” Malls, Outlets and online resources are the most common sources for shopping experiences for many people today. There are also the many food outlets and sales that encourage people to purchase items that may or may not be necessary. In her essay, “American Consumerism,” Jamie Bentley reflecting on Simon Benlow’s essay “An Apology to Future Generations” that expresses concern about consumers’ negative impact on the environment reveals this generation’s obsession with materialism, with the hope that people will learn to do more with less. The many options available to purchase items create a problem for individuals who desire to have what they

For generations, Americans has been brainwashed by the media to believe that what is displayed on television is the ideal perception of what real beauty have manipulated American citizens of what style looks like. Furthermore, with their many brainwashing strategies, that means more and more consumers spending beyond their budget. Our perspectives have been heavily influenced by what they believe is nice, but can we afford it all? With unrealistic combination of goods in store, plazas, and mall, consuming has become a bad behavior of some. In support of my argument of the “Overspending”, author Gladwell’s article “The Science of Shopping” also argues that stores adjust to fit the needs and wants of the shopper are evidently presented. With that being said, we have no idea when we are being manipulated into unrealistic shopping behavior that is influenced by the way the advertisement is presented in visual sight. Author Gladwell gets a “retail anthropologist” and “urban geographer” named Paco Underhill to give breakdown points of how he helps brand name stores influence consumers into persuasion of buying more. However, most of us fall short of that discipline, while being persuaded to overspend during our store visits.

In an interview with the New York Times, filmmaker Dan Bell reveals the complex emotions behind his Dead Mall series. In the videos, he documents abandoned malls which flourished in the 80’s and 90’s, but their ambience has become rather dull over the past few years. In fact, America’s cultural transition is the primary reason for the decline in popularity of shopping malls. As a result, Mr. Bell’s videos evoke nostalgia in his viewers, many of which were patrons of the malls he films. The sensation of nostalgia is wonderfully intricate, which Kurutz describes as “A conflicting swirl of emotions,” which often vary from serene to mournful. Notably, this made me question the effects of nostalgia, and if this amalgamation of sentiment was bad

He begins the article by describing a basic mall scene and the many types of people and objects one would see. By doing this he is attempting to get the reader to acknowledge how cultures all around the world are no longer as diverse as they used to be. Rice-Oxley believes America’s culture tends to overshadow and influence other countries. Stating that “As the unrivaled superpower, America exports its culture on an unprecedented scale” (Rice-Oxley 163). The

From an etic lenses, American society can be perceived as overly repetive and/or simplistic; with retails chains that seemingly defy state and even county boarders. From an emic lense; for the most part, these chains provide the American community with a sense of "comfort" ("In Praise of Chain Stores") but in turn can also act as catalyst for ill-advised hostility. Citizens in which hold misplaced sentiments towards the concept of retail chains believe that the store "really is all that matters", therefore, developing a sense of mistrust towards "what the chains sell". This widespread misconception can cause an upbringing of speciaility stores that shelves items that mimic "exactly what the chain sells" only without the brand name attached. It may also cause low-value stores to "stay empty" due to the chains placed conveniently on the other side of the street.