Mall Walking and Love Sacs
If you grew up in a town that had a mall, you more than likely are familiar with the term "mall walkers". If not, it usually refers to people (mostly elderly) that arrive at the mall early to walk around before the stores open up.
Long before people were worried about getting their steps in on a fitness tracker, mall walkers were there paving the way towards better health and longer life. Sadly (I guess it depends on your viewpoint), many malls are starting to shut down and become vacant. The one in the town I grew up in is a shell of what it used to be.
Of the five anchor stores, I think only two or three of them are still open. The fourth has become a medical center, and the fifth sits empty. In the past couple of decades, the traditional mall has been imploded and we have seen open air outdoor malls become the rage.
It's one of those open air malls that I visited with @mrsbozz this past weekend. We met our in laws for lunch down in Toledo and after lunch we decided to walk around the open air mall in Perrysburg, OH.
I've visited malls like this in the past. It's kind of cool idea, they are trying to give that mainstreet feel, but with more upscale and chain stores. There are lots of common areas where people can congregate and hang out, as well as a handful of eating establishments for when you get hungry.
The problem is, places like this don't work as well in areas that actually experience winter 4 months of the year. It was a sunny day, but still a bit chilly with temps in the low 40's on the day we visited. My niece had just come from basketball practice and she was wearing shorts. Needless to say she didn't feel like walking around too much.
The other thing I noticed about this mall was the fact that it was mostly makeup and women's clothing shops. There were only two or three shops that had any appeal to me as a man. Which I guess really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, but if you want to bring people to an area like this you need to have a full range of offerings.
Maybe the thinking is the men will sit at the bars while the women go shop. That's not a very progressive viewpoint, but whatever.
One store I did enjoy was the Love Sac store. While the ladies went into Sephora or something like that, my brother in law and I went into the Love Sac store next door.
He wasn't familiar with the product, but I had seen the commercials on TV. The concept is pretty cool. You can buy modules that you connect together to make all different kinds of seating options in your living space. They even have these wooden blocks with magnets in them so you can see the different configurations.
I didn't expect the sales people to be so aggressive and we ended up getting a full lesson in all the different options. It's a really awesome concept and my brother in law was blown away. If you ever get serious about Love Sac, you will likely also be blown away by the price.
Six section and six sides come to a minimum of $6000 USD. Then if you get some of the fancier fabric cover options, the prices go up from there.
Needless to say, we didn't buy anything. The ability to add speakers and charging modules into the "sactions" is also a pretty cool feature. I hope more companies pick up on the concept and offer it at a more affordable price in the future.
The AT&T store was another one of the few stores I likely would have wanted to go in, but I didn't. I just got a new phone through T-Mobile and there really isn't anything AT&T offers that I need right now. They have a pretty cool building though as you can see in the photo above. A corner spot that gives them lots of exposure.
I kind of wonder how many stores have rotated in and out of this location from the time it has been open until now. I would imagine it has to be quite a few. Especially during the Covid years when people weren't out in stores so much.
Despite all the cars, we really didn't see as many people as you might think out and about. It was probably around 2:00 in the afternoon when we were walking around, so maybe everyone was at home watching basketball and getting ready for the Superbowl the next day.
There was one women's clothings store that we all piled into (there were six of us). I quickly stepped outside as the young ladies looked around at the clothes. My brother in law said that some of the stores used to have seating areas at the front for the men to hang out while the women shopped, but I have a feeling Covid nixed a lot of that as well.
I was hoping to maybe find a bullion store, but I had no such luck. It's probably just as well, I likely would have spent way too much money!
As I said, I get the concept of these places, but it needs to be in the right location. While Perrysburg seems to be a more affluent area to support some of the designer shops they have, Winter, early Spring, and a late Fall times are likely a hindrance to an abundance of foot traffic.
Do you have malls like this near where you live? Did they replace traditional malls or do both co-exist?
Sports Talk Social - @bozz.sports
We call them shopping centers, and the walkers tend to stick to the outside places.
I remember the mall walkers from better call Saul, a great show.
Haha, yeah, that is a good point. I had forgotten about them in Better Call Saul!
Five anchor stores? Wow. The mall in my hometown had two, JC Pennies and Sears. It was just a straight walk from one to the other. When I was young the floor was tiled with a white line tracing a loop for the walkers. Later the mall remodeled and got rid of that because the decided they wanted to discourage the walkers since they weren't buying anything.
Now flash forward 40 years and most of the stores are gone and the walkers are basically the only people who go there. I guess we know who won that battle!
Yeah, isn't that the truth! It seems that is about the only thing malls are good for these days. Even the food courts have gone down hill. Yeah, we had Target, Penny's, Sears, Elder Behrman, and Barnes and Noble. I know Target is still in there and I think Hobby Lobby took over the old JC Penny spot. I don't know what else is there.
Mall walkers are still a thing in places where it gets cold, all of the elderly are there first thing to get that exercise in!
I've heard of Love Sacs but I looked at the prices online and it was an instant no from me. Too pricy... Too bad there wasn't a bullion store, that could have been fun but if it were me I would have overspent too!
Looks like a nice day!
Yeah, I think the price is way too high. I knew it was going to be out of the question when my other brother in law mentioned that he looked at them and they were quite expensive. He makes significantly more than me, so if they are too much for him, they are too much for me!
Well, I don’t think I have ever noticed some people walking around a mall even before it is opened
I’d try to make observations though
Really? Maybe the weather is nice enough there they don't have to walk in the mall.
We have a couple here but they are empty in the winter
That makes sense!
Indoor malls here are only in city centres and pretty much dead. The open air ones we call retail parks, and the problem with them is that they are on the outskirts so a pain to get to with public transport. So I try whereever possible to shop in town or online!
Mall walker, never heard of that, learn something new every day!
It's probably mostly an american thing. We have a lot of outdoor strip malls over here, but these things are a completely different beast all together.