What Are Gender Roles In Modern Day Malls

Even though Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus retailers had the same basic store structure, the differences are noticeably visible in the costumer’s eyes. Entering into Neiman Marcus, customers have the feeling of having found a high-class store. This sensation makes Nordstrom rank as a store for people with an average purchasing power. Meaning, people of upper middle class. Similar to Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus has a showcase on both sides of the main door. The peculiar and different between both stores is reflected in the modern glass structure of the Neiman Marcus showcase, in which the facade of the main door is made, together with its shop windows or showcase. That structure provides it a luxurious touch of the last architecturally speaking trend. Neiman Marcus’ shop windows, unlike those of Nordstrom, they are oversize and have the same height as the main door although, they are wider. They occupy the entire main façade or, almost all of it. In addition, they are always stinging some of the most exclusive seasonal products in fashion in the show window. Neiman Marcus store does not have a central corridor that takes you straight to the central stairs, placed in the center of the store. Nevertheless, we can assume its main corridor or aisle is circular. A great strategy to make customers spend more time in the store and buy products that were not on their list. The first thing you come across when entering the store is a welcoming mannequin (in form of an elegant

Shoe stores, clothes, and even a kitchen store, I was soon bored with shopping. It always amazed me that there aren’t any stores for men in these malls. We entered a Bass outlet store because Karen had been searching for penny loafers, once she found them and I went off to find a men’s room.

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.

During this second observation at Coastal Grand Mall in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, I learned many things. I went to this location on a Saturday night, where it was full of young people. The weather outside was warm, but rainy, so I believe this caused even more people to look for indoor fun, so the mall was packed on this Saturday night.

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.

In the U.S, many public organizations are highly influenced by its connection between its outlooks about sex and its use of space. Within these gendered places, men and women act out masculine and feminine characteristics and gendered actions. In this ethnographic research paper, I will establish how a normal department store strengthens the gender and space association through its use of space, products within those spaces and customer use of these spaces.

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

The store in which I completed my observation was Target. Target’s general layout made it easy to decipher the section designated for boys and the section designated for girls. While Target did not specifically label the aisles by gender, it was not difficult to decipher where the toys for each gender were located. The section designated for boys encompassed about three aisles consisting of various toys that would interest boys, while the section designated for girls encompassed three aisles as well. Target also consisted of about two aisles of gender-neutral toys. The kinds of toys offered for boys included guns, action figures, building sets, and cars. Types of toys offered for girls included dolls, stuffed animals, play kitchen sets, and

According to the textbook, the retail life cycle consists of the introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. (Perreault, Jr., Cannon, & McCarthy, 2011) To keep a local suburban regional shopping mall from reaching its decline, one must spend time and money during the maturity phase to keep with today’s trends.

My original topic I chose was intended to be the study of the shopping differences between men and women, with other factors being taken into consideration. I had picked this topic because I know in today’s society, women are pictured as over-emotional and over-spending who can’t control themselves. I wanted to somehow prove this wrong. During my four hours researching, I found that no one was buying anything. I decided to switch my question into something that was more applicable: Are people still buying things at the mall? I would watch as groups of people walk past carrying nothing. If no one was buying, why are malls still being built?

Feeling bored on a Saturday afternoon inside the Hillsdale mall, I ventured to find a new staple to thoughtlessly dispense hard earned money on and found myself inside a Lush store. Scanning all the wooden crates on the shelves filled with these brightly colored, fragrant bicarbonate orbs and hand crafted soaps, I began to observe my fellow shoppers around me. One thing in particular that I noticed in the store is the audience it attracted. All around me, was the presence of a predominantly young to middle aged crowd from all races. Unsurprisingly, the majority of these shoppers were women with the exception of a few men dragged by their partners that were reluctantly standing by the exit. With the intent to find out more about this store,

Going into different stores, one can easily pick up on the major gender roles each store supports. Even the morals of an innocent toy store, such as KB Toys, is tainted by the gender-differentiating dolls for girls, and trucks for boys. Upon entering the store you can tell right away which aisles attract which kids. To the left there is pink fluffy bears, pink Barbie and friends toys, white teddy bears etc. To the right there is a less vibrant color setting, coordinating army green, black, and gray color schemes. I think it is apparent to anyone who enters these stores that the pink pretty isles are meant to attract little girls, and the dark green and gray isles are meant to attract boys. Upon the packages of toy trucks and guns, there are pictures of young boys playing with them and/or cartoon male figures controlling them. On the packaging of Barbie and her friends there are also other girls on the packaging. I was unable to pick up on a single female on the package of any toy truck or gun throughout the entire store. The

After all those steps, I learned things from our research on the Hilltop Mall’s past. We learned that the mall was opened in 1976, went through 5 owners, and was foreclosed in 2013 (Fei, 2014). We also learned that only 16% of Hilltop District residents shopped there (Sciacca, 2016). This made us wonder why the mall failed, when our Digital Media teacher. Ayesha Walker, expressed to us that during her childhood, it had been filled with customers and was “the place to hang out” among teenagers.

Originally, the research was going to be conducted in large-scale departments stores found at malls such as Nordstrom or Macys. It was thought that sampling in stores such as these were a great way to gain more data on both females and males, along with families and friends because department store environments were ideal to see a multitude of social situations between varying people. These bigger stores ideally would have many people shopping alone and in a group so comparisons can be made between the two, while also allowing a large enough environment where changes could be made to cater to people shopping in a group.

This may sound childish, and theoretically unscientific for a cause of male insurgence at malls, but the statement lies in fact. Whenever a new computer product, sports equipment, or "masculine" item show up, one of the first places that these new toys are showed off are at center concourses in malls. Nowhere else in the world can a person see flocks of guys leaving their wives at jewelry stores to watch a woman who looks like she was sculptured by a Greek master work-out on some new, crazy-looking contraption (which I hear can be very dangerous if a person likes his credit account, or if he doesn't have a very trusting wife). Another chief reason for men going to malls is because that location is where all the women are, or at least malls and single's bars (another statement said without trying to sound chauvinistic). When the question is really looked at, there is only one cause for the sudden insurgence of both male and females going to shopping malls.