I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgivings — and it’s almost impossible to talk about Thanksgiving without following up to ask about people’s Black Friday experiences. This year was a lot more chaotic than last year (from what I remember at least). Not to mention the two ambulances that passed within 15 minutes of each other and the broken automatic doors that disconnected from its latch to the mall entrance. But other than that, there were the usual crowds, door-busters, and mile-long lines that you were forced to wait in. By the way, these pictures aren’t from any of my personal experiences — I just googled them. Lol

Black Friday. Why is the Friday after Thanksgiving called that? Why didn’t they name it Red Friday or Shop-till-you-drop Friday? Does anyone know? Well, I know. The Friday after Thanksgiving, and all the super-duper discounts that the retailers are giving, is a plot. That’s right. It’s nothing more than a psychological plot created by the retailers to ensure that they stay out of the red. Seriously. Are we that naive? The retailers should be giving us these so-called miraculous discounts throughout the year. Maybe if they did, they wouldn’t panic at the end of the year.
They give these tremendous, hurry-to-the-mall, discounts because they’re clearing out all their inventory for the year. In other words, they’re desperate to show an increase on their ledger sheets; whereby, keeping their books in ‘the black’ instead of being in the ‘red’. Get it? They named the Friday after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, as a symbol for staying profitable. Clever. Yes. Now I see. Maybe everyone knows this and I’m the last one to figure it out, but just in case you didn’t know it, now you do.

They have to get up prit-ty early in the morning to get over on this chickie. Hey, wait. They did.

Express Avenue is the new Mall to be coming up soon in the City of Chennai’s Landscape. The work is on full swing and there were announcements of tie-ups with various Retail Stores and Entertainment Service providers.

Expected launch is March 2010, i guess.

Nope, I haven’t forgotten about Black Friday and Cyber Monday! Here, I compiled a list of what brick-and-mortar stores, online stores, and home shopping networks that willl have Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals. Either you can brave the craziness and go out, or stay snug on your coach.

1. Old Navy

Their madness starts at 3 A.M. and will include fleece for $5! Better stock up!

2. QVC

This network is finally going to have their very first Black Friday sale. Theirs will start 8 P.M. on Thanksgiving night and will run for 28 hours straight. So while the guys watch football, the girls can shop! No news on what kind of deals that they will have. They better have really, really good deals if they want to compete with the stores! I did hear that their 3 Today Special Values might be from Susan Graver, the Sharper Image, and Playhut.

3. Wal-Mart

This heavily advertised store will be open at 5:00 A.M. on Black Friday and will have Cyber Monday deals on their web site.

4. Amazon

They’ve been having Black Friday deals all week. If you haven’t, check them out right now.

5. Forever 21

 

When the doors open, the first 100 shoppers will get a free tote. There will also be $6 tees and jeans, $4 pajamas, and $1 nail polishes!

6. HSN

In order to compete with QVC, HSN will be having Cyber Monday deals. And if you know HSN like I do, you know that they always have great deals on their site!

7. KMart

KMart will be calling their Black Friday deals, Blue Friday specials. Their doors will open at 6 A.M. and will include deals such as $29.99 Jacklyn Smith cashmere sweaters.

8. JCrew

If you shop at their site now, you will receive 20% off their Holiday Sale and free shipping on orders of $150 or more. Of course you have to use code EXTRA20 at check out. (Valid through 11/29/09.)

9. Sears

This often forgotten store will have Black Friday doorbusters starting from 7 A.M. to noon time.

10. New York and Co.

Everything will be 50% off on their web site.

Image Source: Google Images

Los niños comenzaron la celebración de Día de Acción de Gracias(Thanksgiving) con una fiesta en pijamas en las Disney Stores. Los minoristas en el Florida Mall y el Seminole Towne Center invitan a los pequeños príncipes y princesas a que se pongan comodos para oir cuentos y se entretengan con juegos, artesanías y comidas. Hay dos horarios disponibles: 5:30-6:15 y 7:00 a 7:45 pm
Los padres de familia pueden comenzar desde ya sus compras navideñas, o pueden esperar visitar las Tiendas de Disney (Disney Stores) a medianoche  del Día Acción de Gracias en el Viernes Negro.
Desde la apertura hasta las 10 am del 27 de Noviembre, los compradores podrán obtener un 20 por ciento de descuento en todos los artículos, incluyendo los que ya tengan descuento. Algunas de las ofertas de ese día son:

* Ofertas de $ 5 : Camisetas con personaje de Disney (precio regular $ 9,50), adornos navideños (precio regular $ 9,50 cada una) y tazas con personajes (precio regular $ 8,50)
* Ofertas de $ 10 : Classic Disney Princess muñecas (precio regular $ 16,50), los personajes favoritos de Disney Plush (precio regular $ 14,50 a $ 16,50) y camisas de lana (precio regular $ 19.50)
* Ofertas de$ 15 : Disney-Pixar Cars Lightning McQueen Runaway Racer (precio regular $ 29,50), Talking Toy Story Buzz y Woody Deluxe Action Figures (precio regular $ 24,50 cada uno) y Disney Princess Glamour Case (precio regular $ 19.50)

Ofertas para todo el fin de semana de Acción de Gracias incluyen:

* Castillo de Disney Princess Darling , $ 49.50 (precio regular $ 79,50)
* Muñeca Clásica Disney Princess 8-Piece Gift Set, $ 69.50 (precio regular $ 99.50)
* Coches Dinoco helicópteros, $ 39.50 (precio regular $ 59,50)
* Coches de lujo 20-Piece Die Cast Gift Set, $ 79.50 (precio regular $ 99.50)
* Juego de Cocina Minnie Mouse, $ 59.50 (precio regular $ 99.50)
* Por compras de $ 40.00 ó más, los clientes también pueden comprar un suéter de vacaciones Mickey Mouse de peluche por sólo $ 5, hasta agotar existencias.

Le recomiendo a los turistas visitar la sucursal de Disney Store en Florida Mall ya que aqui la tienda abrirá a la media noche después de Thanskgiving.

Orlando, Florida Guide, la guía más completa en línea de Orlando, le ofrece información  de tiquetes a Disney World, tiquetes a Universal Orlando, y tiquetes a Sea World Orlando.

Shopping malls are looking their festive best, Santa is in his castle and there’s a buzz of anticipation in the air… Or is that anxiety?

Here are a few simple tips to keep Christmas shopping fun not frantic!

1. Eat, drink and be less harried. Shopping is hard work. To keep your strength and patience up be sure to eat something besides candy canes and drink plenty of water throughout the day.

2. Visit your local shopping centre’s website to find out about store specials, mall events, promotions, holiday hours and more!

3. Shop mid week and during the day if possible. The mall will be a lot quieter and the customer service staff will have time to help you select the perfect gift or find that drop dead gorgeous party dress!

4. Be adventurous. Visit unfamiliar stores. You might be surprised to find the perfect gift for that “ hard to shop for” someone on your list.

5. Use your time in the cash register line well. Check out all the little items by the register. They make great stocking stuffers or Secret Santa gifts.

6. Watching your budget? Shop from the back of the store forward since sale items are usually located at the back.

7. Have someone else do the paperwork. I’m talking gift wrapping. Most shopping centres have a gift wrap booth with the proceeds going to charity. Use it!

8. Consider getting a babysitter. We love them but if you’re on a shopping mission, kids will sidetrack you every time. Besides its easier to shop for them, without them!

9. Don’t procrastinate! The closer it gets to the 25th the thicker the crowds will be at the mall…

And lastly…

10. Don’t panic. Gift cards are always appreciated and many shopping centres now offer mall wide and multi-mall cards. How good is that!

- Happy shopping!

I read poems
and took a nap
after we had
breakfast at
Cinnamons.

I got irritated
and wondered
if everyone else
was irritated with me
or if it was me
that was irritated with them.

I read two poems to
K about Happiness
and then I pretended to
be the fish that was
deep fried
while kept alive.

We went to the mall
and checked the movies.
I bought undergarments
and we looked for a toy
for a cat that isn’t
ours.

The mall was ready for Christmas
and I heard songs about Santa Baby
and Marshmallow World.

We shoplifted things that would never sell
and that no one would buy.
a bunny for me
stickers for him.

When there was nothing else to see
we went home.

Again, it is November, and the holiday shopping season is upon us. So, where do we go for the gifts we want to buy for our loved ones? There are options; online, strip malls, downtown shopping areas, and the larger shopping malls. Especially with the holiday season about to start, a Mall has lots of options.

Your local Mall will have many shops, ranging from twenty to thirty in the smallest, and up to several hundred at larger malls. This means that you will have the ability to do all of your shopping in one place. Whether you are looking to purchase clothes, household good, recordings, art, electronics, or toys, you should be able to find all of those items inside one of your local shopping malls. And as it is the holiday season, most malls fill their wide aisles with kiosks of specialty products. The specialty products are not easily found at other times of the year. This means that you should be able to get all of your holiday shopping done in one trip, and avoid shipping costs.

If you plan your shopping well, you can get a little de-stressing exercise in at the same time. Parking away from the nearest entrance will give your legs a stretch before getting into the stores, and walking the length of the Mall window browsing between scheduled stores puts more steps on your pedometer. Mid-week and early in the morning are good times for less crowded shopping as well as a good walk.

Again, it is November, and the holiday shopping season is upon us. So, where do we go for the gifts we want to buy for our loved ones? There are options; online, strip malls, downtown shopping areas, and the larger shopping malls. Especially with the holiday season about to start, a Mall has lots of options.

Your local Mall will have many shops, ranging from twenty to thirty in the smallest, and up to several hundred at larger malls. This means that you will have the ability to do all of your shopping in one place. And as it is the holiday season, most malls fill their wide aisles with kiosks of specialty products. Whether you are looking to purchase clothes, household good, recordings, art, electronics, or toys, you should be able to find all of those items inside one of your local shopping malls.  The specialty products are not easily found at other times of the year. This means that you should be able to get all of your holiday shopping done in one trip, and avoid shipping costs.

If you plan your shopping well, you can get a little de-stressing exercise in at the same time. Parking away from the nearest entrance will give your legs a stretch before getting into the stores, and walking the length of the Mall window browsing between scheduled stores puts more steps on your pedometer. Mid-week and early in the morning are good times for less crowded shopping as well as a good walk.

… So I am just a year and a half old in Bangalore … and now I love this place. But there was something that was driving me crazy and making me not like Bangalore in the beginning. And the reason was that I could not find the market place… and by market place, I meant sabzi mandi

Sabzi mandi I wanted, fish market I wanted, fruits and flowers market I wanted and I couldn’t find them. I was too fearful to venture out alone… ok, now don’t give me that what-do-you-mean-alone-look… I am just meek and unadventurous by nature

So anyways, I still wanted all that… I mean no amount of Big Bazaars and Spars and colonial supermarkets were helping me… I just wanted the rough, crude, fresh mandi…

And then one day my husband and I found it Found one of them… the HAL Market… there are many like that in Bangalore actually, but this was what I found quite close to my house… and did I love it or what!

Image courtesy: Mothernature.wordpress.com

My husband is a squeaky clean Monica Geller kind of a guy who hates wet mud, sweat and grime and anything crude. He loves the mosaic floorings and freezers in the food markets in malls … I like the mandi I squealed with joy when I saw it all, green, fresh, vendors yelling out the day’s price, fresh fish, baskets full of fruits and coriander leaves still with all the mud on them… trucks unloading tonnes of vegetables…it was just so amazing… fresh, green… to the risk of sounding over excited, I even told my husband that it feels great to be in these markets once in a while… Sujalam Suphalam malayaja sheetalam, shashya shyamalam, mataram… is what comes to my head….

Mother, I bow to thee!
Rich with thy hurrying streams,
bright with orchard gleams,
Cool with thy winds of delight,
Dark fields waving Mother of might,
Mother free.
Glory of moonlight dreams,
Over thy branches and lordly streams,
Clad in thy blossoming trees,
Mother, giver of ease
Laughing low and sweet!
Mother I kiss thy feet,
Speaker sweet and low!
Mother, to thee I bow.

(http://o3.indiatimes.com/gayathrinagarajan/archive/2006/11/10/2473321.aspx)

I love mandis and haats of any place… I have said that before… they define the character of any place, they say so much about the people who live in that city or town, what they like to eat, what they wear and what is it that they buy.

And the wafting smells of everything fresh is such an earthy and a humbling feeling…You must visit the mandi to know that… Give the mall a break and a skip and try the local bazaar… its fun!

Courtesy: Mothernature.wordpress.com

Visit Cardiff to see an example of good retail development doing the business for city centre regeneration.

‘St David’s 2’ opened a couple of weeks ago¹ and, as you come out of the Royal Arcade opposite, there is evidence galore that ‘The Hayes’ will be a success.

• The street, with its variety of shop frontages, is already vibrant; and
• A large part of the development is city centre homes, with front door access onto the street.

This section of the regeneration scheme is well founded: the street itself is on a long-standing footfall route – The Hayes is the city centre stretch of the historic linear connection between Cardiff Bay and Merthyr! It is part of the organic city form. And second, it is people that make shops work and people living there make for good business.

On the other hand, cross the threshold and you enter a barely updated and typically characterless mall, as still much favoured by British developers despite the concept passing its sell-by date in the U.S. perhaps 20 years ago. Apart from the contrived and controlled internal form, St David’s 2 is also weak on its east side, having learned nothing from the dreadful back street edge that has always undermined Marks and Spencer and its neighbours in St David’s 1.

As bad, the new mall has first floor bridges to St David’s 1 at the north side and to John Lewis at the south, bridging that further detracts from rather than contributes to the vitality of another of the first mall’s failings in Hill Street, so heralding design abdication just at the point where ground level connectivity and active frontages could have made a significant contribution to gingering up that street. The bridges are reminiscent of Minneapolis, where first floor bridging looks down on the poor and the traffic below.

Malls, if the developers insist, are best modelled on the likes of Princes Square in Glasgow, which sees itself as an ‘event’, perhaps even an attraction, in the city’s hugely successful Buchanan Street retail regeneration. Quite uniquely, Buchanan Street has shifted the focus of retail in Glasgow – a dangerous game, for it was never clear that this was the intention. At the top end, a vast mall, in the more typical developers’ style, blocks off two historic streets. In time, this is likely to prove to be a major planning blunder: Sauchiehall Street already displays symptoms of decline although its historic place in the city morphology is so strong that it may well take another decade to work through.

Princes Square and Buchanan Street exude commercial success and provide a vital lesson to planning by demonstrating that retail development is best integrated as a major and direct contribution to wider city centre life rather than (typically) St David’s 1 & 2, which seek to capture city streets and pedestrian footfall for their own ends.

No, it’s not the malls we praise here, it is The Hayes. Indeed, the rejuvenated street has more than a touch of Glasgow’s success about it. The development is already boosting trade in the hitherto struggling former department stores across the street (Howells and Morgans). And unlike the 100% vacant units heading east towards the new Bridge Street Square, shops on the former Morgans and Howells store frontages are already fully let and busy. These too, have apartments above. The Hayes clearly benefits city life as a whole and points to a healthy ’24-hour’ vitality that is so difficult to achieve in modern city regeneration.  

John Lewis and the City Library, 'a Lynchean edge'

Further down the road, the planners’ favourite, a ‘magnet’, in the form of John Lewis and the landmark city library, tend to define the spatial limits of the new city centre retail area (almost a Lynchean ‘edge’²).

The Hayes, looking east to Bridge Street

Brutalism in St David's 1

A further complement to bestow on The Hayes 2 (rather than on St David’s 2) is the visual vitality of the street frontage. Compare that with the brutalism of the adjoining St David’s 1 and it becomes evident how even quite modest architecture and urban design principles can make a significant contribution to the street-scape.

 

Lessons for Swansea?

‘Maes Abertawe’ nearing completion, still conceived, overwhelmingly, for motor vehicles

As its latest city centre scheme falls victim to the recession, Swansea should refocus on its core streets – Kingsway, Princess Way and Oxford Street, where homes, shops, businesses, culture and civic buildings are virtually guaranteed to bring results, given some of The Hayes treatment.

The former Kingsway Roundabout, the central gathering place of city movement, albeit still seen as a traffic, rather than a people place, cries out to be the bustling hub of the city. More city centre homes and encouragement to retailers will give the recently completed Zara block nearby, some apparently needed hope for the future.

The single act of strengthening the central place at Maes Abertawe (we have to stop calling it the Kingsway Roundabout!) will provide the rationale for all the other development options, the most pressing of which is now  Parc Tawe and the riverfront. Instead of giving the last of the family silver to Tesco (a terrible land-swap proposal currently lurking furtively in the background of the latest city vision), connect the Kingsway to St Thomas, build homes and ‘town’ next to our understated River Tawe and do more to bring people to our retail sector than any of the multitude of real and proposed city centre schemes since the 50’s has ever done.

_______________________

Notes

1. St David’s 2 opened at the end of October 2009

2. ‘Lynchean’, refers to Kevin Lynch’s, analytical method outlined in his ‘The Image of the City’, 1960, MIT Press

An edited version of this article was submitted to the local newspaper, the South Wales Evening Post, week commencing 9 November 2009 .

WESTFIELD Group said today it was lowering rents in its shopping malls in the recession-hit United States to attract business…. From The Australian. Full story

This site may contain information about: going shopping. The blog is also related to: mall online shopping.

WESTFIELD Group said today it was lowering rents in its shopping malls in the recession-hit United States to attract business…. From The Australian. Full story

This site may contain information about: recession statistics. For a different topic see watch types. The blog is also related to: recession 2008.

Parque Arauco busca vincular a sus strips con MegaPlaza

Se develó el misterio. Megaexpress será la marca que Parque Arauco empleará para la operación de strip malls en el mercado peruano. El primer proyecto bajo ese formato, denominado Megaexpress Villa, será inaugurado oficialmente en enero y contará con 27 locatarios menores.

Megaexpress Villa cuenta con un autoservicio Plaza Vea Super, inaugurado hace más de un mes, y sumará paulatinamente a establecimientos como La Curacao, Happyland, GMO, Interbank, BTL y el BCP. Según declaró Eduardo Herrera, gerente general de la filial peruana de Parque Arauco, a Invertia, el strip representa una inversión de US$7 millones y maneja un nivel de ocupación del 90%. 

“Vemos que en Perú tenemos posibilidades de crecimiento y hay mucho por hacer todavía”, señaló Herrera al ser consultado sobre la posibilidad de desarrollar nuevos recintos similares.

Cabe indicar que la marca Megaexpress respondería a una vinculación con MegaPlaza, mall operado por los mismos accionistas (Parque Arauco y el Grupo Wiese).

Only four in five have even survived the long recession… From VOA. Full story

This site may contain information about: recession now. The blog is also related to: stock market recession.

Get it NOW Here!

FIND ANY MALL, ANYWHERE!

NO MORE WANDERING–GO STRAIGHT TO THE STORE YOU WANT!

EVERY STORE, MAP AND PHONE NUMBER IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND!

—————————————–

Introducing the latest Shiny Metal Object from MEDL Mobile’s App Incubator: MallMaps. MallMaps is a comprehensive database of malls, shopping centers and Plazas across the US. MallMaps was submitted to the App Incubator by Tech Guru, Shayne Faerber of Naples, FL.

—————————————–

FEATURES
• More than 1,000 Shopping centers across all 50 states
• GPS Location-based search – find all the malls around you
• Browse malls by state
• Detailed floor plan of store
• Store list with corresponding map numbers
• Favorites: Choose your favorite stores for quick access—automatically categorizes to their respective malls
• Address, phone number and URL of each mall
• Phone number of stores within mall profile
• Google Maps directions to selected mall location

BENEFITS
• The mall’s entire floor plan and store list in the palm of your hand

• No more wasted trips

• New to a city or visiting for business or pleasure? Know all shopping destinations within seconds.

• Visiting friends or family for the holidays? Find the nearest plaza and arrive with the perfect gift!

• MallMaps took 7 months of research to collect the data within this app
• Currently contains over 1,000 malls, shopping centers and plazas
• New mall profiles, stores and additions added all the time

| View Show | Create Your Own

“Now the mall map is in the palm of my hand.” –Shayne Faerber, Creator, Data Researcher

(twitter.com/Mall_Maps_MEDL)