Let's get some SHOES!

From the Washington Post article, this quote stuck out to me the most: “Bush seems to have calculated -- cynically but correctly -- that prolonging the credit-fueled consumer binge could help keep complaints about his performance as commander in chief from becoming more than a nuisance.” I became very mad upon reading this. When Bush told us to “go to Disneyland,” I was only a sophomore in high school, and was probably comforted by this statement. Now knowing what it has caused our nation with the present recession, I am very upset with what our former president told us. As a teenager, the shopping mall was where I went with my friends to socialize, and with my mom to kill time (and always bought random things that I “just had to have” and we spent money without even thinking). Even through my junior year in college, I spent a lot of time at the Mall of America because there wasn’t much to do on a Sunday afternoon (especially when I didn’t want to be doing homework). My fiancé and I live right next to the Light Rail station, and would just pop on the train and head down to the mall whenever we felt like it. That was when we didn’t have to worry about bills or future student loan payments, ect. Even though we didn’t go there with anything in particular to buy, but sure enough, we’d be riding the train back home with multiple bags in our hands.

After reading about the history of the shopping center and mall, it got me wondering about when was it within that history that marked the time when going to the mall became more than just a trip to get necessities for the home? When did it become a social phenomenon? As a kid growing up, I had always been somewhat aware of the fact that Southdale Mall in Edina was the first fully enclosed shopping center in the states, but to think about what an impact it had on the rest of the nation is incredible! From 1956 to 1968, shopping centers became more than just a place where you could go buy clothing for the family, or pick up some new towels at the department store. It became a place where one could go to admire the architecture and the wonderful décor of the interiors.


This is all I can post at the moment, as my computer/internet is being wonky. I'll get the rest posted before the end of the week!