Shopping At An Outlet Mall

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

“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,

The North Hanover Mall is an average shopping center with various stores and small attractions. Typically, the mall is not over-crowded; however, during the evenings and weekends it is well-traveled. There are the average chain stores such as JCPenny’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Hallmark, and Bath and Body Works. Likewise, there are some smaller, lesser known stores, for example, a few nail and hair salons, cafes, a pizza shop, and a sports apparel store. In general, there is a diverse mix of people shopping, from ethnicity to ages and group sizes. The night I choose to do my social observation the mall was much busier than I had anticipated. There was a Halloween event and an antique car show; both circumstances brought more individuals than usual into the shopping complex.

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

But there is more than what meets the eye. Hypnotism at it’s finest “The mall exploits our acquisitive instincts without honoring our communal requirements, our eternal desire for discourse and intimacy, needs that until the twentieth century were traditionally met in our marketplaces but that are not met at all in giant shopping malls. “ (162) When people think of a mall the last thing that comes to mind is coming together as a community and having a festival and enjoying ones company. People have turned the mall into a place of need.

In examining the article “Around the Mall and Beyond”, by Michael Kernan, the author seems to make an argument illustrating the existence of artifacts, practically everywhere. In this article, I concur with his position that there are likely artifacts and remains wherever one might go. This is because we are not the first inhabitants of this land, as such, remains of humans, animals, tools etc. could likely be found in any area if searched for in-depth enough. The author makes a specific reference to the National Historic Preservation Act, which I particularly agree with. The author goes on to use several instances in history where history were discovered on sites which were being considered for or in the process of being converted into

In Anne Norton’s, "The Signs of Shopping", Anne Norton, a Political Science Professor at the University of Pennsylvania determines the ways in which malls, catalogs, and home shopping networks create our sense of “identity”. In the first part of her essay, “Shopping at the mall”, Anne analyzes the ways in which malls and catalogs “tell you who you are by selling you what they want.” Anne first states what she believes the mall was created to be; she believes it was created to be an impulsive gathering place and place of centralized public activity. Anne then goes on to state how she believes the mall has come to exploit the lifestyles and identities of people, especially those of young women. Anne makes the claim that the mall appears to be

In the essay “Consumerism Minus Civilization,” the catalyst being described, is the effect of how Black Friday affects the general populous. The author goes on to describe the certain instances of how the holiday sale is actually harming humanity and the consumer market. The ads that are present are not something to be admired or amused by, but instead something to be feared because the affect of the season ruins humanity. The author then references major retail stores such as, “Target” and “Walmart” as some of the worst to breed this competition of Black Friday. With these ideals the author closes by explaining how everyone should take a break go shopping, and go a little later instead of immediately disbanding their homes to then flood

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.

I will open up a few tabs with some of my favorite stores and merely browse around. After hours upon hours of browsing, I will sometimes purchase something small and cheap to assure myself that I did not just waste my time. Lappe says that “buying thing seems to be a common human strategy to ease feelings of insecurity and fear” (Lappe 47). In many movies and TV shoes, you hear about those rich women who shop all day. Although these women do have the resources to do so, it can also be said that they need to shop to make themselves feel better. The typical rich, trophy wife type of woman is typically insecure with their personal relationships with others. The most common is that their husband is not around, therefore, they believe that if they can purchase things, it will fix all their problems in their relationships. In this case, their consumerism directly effects their personal relationships. As well as effecting their direct relationships, the shopping sprees also make these women feel empowered and effect how the other shoppers are perceiving them. I know the feeling of walking around a crowded mall with multiple bags on your shoulders. You feel like you are on a whole different level than those with one or two. As humans, “we focus more on money, image, and status” (Lapee 47). When these trophy wives walk through the malls, on the surface they feel proud and more superior than others when in fact, they are

Rue 21 is one of the many retailers that are geared towards teens, however what set them apart from the rest is their affordability. This company strives to keep all of its merchandise under 35 dollars. Rue 21 has locations in various strip malls with 52 percent, regional mall 31 percent and outlet centers 17 there are pros and cons that affect the company for each of them (Berman, 2009). Having this store in a strip center can be a really great thing for consumers put not such a positive thing for the company as a whole. The positive to a strip mall is that it is easily accessible for customers to find and shop at the location. Strip malls have less congestion when it comes to parking, which makes for a more pleasurable for shoppers like

For my observation, I decided to go the Town Center Mall in Boca Raton, Florida to observe the advertisements that are present in our community. I went to the mall to conduct research because I need to make a purchase for a vacation, so I thought this was the perfect place to go. Each store I walked into, there were advertisements for instant savings, but the further I walked into any store, the prices climbed higher. Truthfully, I was shocked by the amount of people who did not care that they were being bamboozled. Initially, we were told at the front of the store that there were discounts, but we had to find out on our own that the prices raised exponentially. This was the exact reason why I wanted to conduct my observation at the