New lifestyle center is a mall of confusion - The Boston Globe
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The above link is a great article from the Boston Globe about the newest craze in shopping experiences, "Lifestyle Centers" or as I call them, outdoor malls. I guess it's not really a new craze, but it is a fairly new craze. I used to love the idea....instead of being confined by fake plants, escalators, and wall to wall stores, one gets to enjoy the outdoors, the sky, real plants, all surrounded by your favorite chain stores. And that's where it gets uneasy for me.
Now, don't get me wrong...I love shopping. I do not hide the fact that I love J.Crew, but just this past Saturday, while shopping at the Wrentham Outlet Village, I began to question my love for J.Crew and chain shopping in general. The outlets were MOBBED with people...and it's not even close to peak shopping season yet. Stores like J.Crew, Gap, Banana Republic, Guess, were so over run with people and so disheveled that it made me ill. And as I shopped around, taking it all in, I started to wonder...where were these items made, with what kind of care and craftsmanship, and why do they always look so much better on the model than on the racks at the store?
It's hard to not be sucked in though, especially when you can walk out of a store with a $150 winter coat for only $70, which I did. A few years ago I would have dove right in, spent hundreds, and shopped til I dropped...but this time I just couldn't. Every item that I picked up was already in the hands of 20 people around me, making me feel like a drone. And when Adam and I walked up to the line of people that wrapped around the store, I just lost all interest in following the masses, and left my "great deals" on the racks. Really, did I need another poorly made, ill-fitting garment selling for the "sale price" that it should be anyway?
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