Dec 26, 2006 09:44 PM
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What’s a mall? - A Fantasyland with more make-believe than the real one (REAL ONE: the one at Vikhroli-Jogeshwari Link Road).
And always abuzz with customers, subjects of curiosity themselves – for they mostly are all head over heels about this new glitzy shopping experience.
And mostly targeted towards the more-than-the-slightly-upper middle-classes.
Some reasons that these “consumers” give me (some of mine included):
"I prefer shopping here coz I get everything I need under one roof, and can finish it in one go"
"It's fun to shop here.”
“It's different, yaar”
“more variety, more choice, more discounts, more this more that”
Just five or six years ago there was nothing like it. Hmmm… maybe Akbarally’s at Chembur and SantaCruz, (mushrooming at a innocent age when I didn’t have a wallet, and they talked about FAT wallets in the mentioned places) but not this snowballing globalized huge-scale phenomenon called a Mall.
Now hosting everything from multiplexes to pizza joints the malls now seem to be exploited as window shoppers paradise for folks to meet and hang out.
However this a time for you, the savvy shopper a bit loose on his her purse strings / card swipes, to keep this gyann firmly in mind:
Malls love to discreetly “hide” discounted things away from you and show products at MRP prominently. Not that they are cheating you of course, the stuff is positioned in such a way that it will be eventually “discovered” by you and a delighted you will put his / her prize catch into the basket – a precious find to be packaged and billed at once.
Malls are not interested in giving you discounts. They are more interested in your money than the local shopkeeper. Thought you knew that? Here’s what you may not have realized – all the stuff that tots around and boasts of its own shelf / dias / thrilling display just cost the mall something your bill makes seem insignificant. Beware – malls eat into your eating habits, read into your reading habits and change your spending habits before you know that you used to enjoy glucose biscuits dipped in Waagh bakri Chai.
You are placed as a direct competitor to your store-companions – this “rivalry” fuels into the proverb of “keeping up with the Jonses”. Sometimes I end up going in for groceries and walking out with the whole shop… not quite but getting there. :-)
They make you cozy, cool, relaxed and ensure that this is your version of nirvana. So you hang around for more than a few minutes – ever did that your kiranawala grocer bhaiya?
About the video... I especially liked the part where the cute kid rushes with glee to the doll he "finds" - in summary we are all like that kid - hunting for discounts and delighting over the finer aspects of thrift.
At least I am. And end up spending big at the discount stores!
"All the world's a stage, and all the men merely players"
P.S. : I have added this review to Corssroads, but in fact it is intended in general to provide tips on the "Mall Culture".
Did this because there is no vidseo review support for "Adivce" categories - only product categories.
