daily, weekly, monthly. . .

It doesn't matter when or how we get there, only that we do.

I finally finished Paco Underhill's Call of the Mall: The Geography of Shopping. I loved his first, Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping, so I just knew that I couldn't pass this one up. I would highly recommend it for anyone interested in shopping, spending time at the mall, architecture, visual merchandising, advertising, design, retail, in general - and the list goes on and on. I cannot wait to fall into his next and final book, for now, What Women Want. Now, although my background is in retail and soon-to-be more of the psychology of the consumer, as a consumer myself, I found this to be such a great read. We have ALL been in a mall, COUNTLESS times and, like the book mentions, I'm sure we have all had a few 'wtf/scratching the head' moments - mostly in reference to asking the question: what were those companies thinking? Or maybe that's just me? Nonetheless, Underhill puts everything into perspective for both the consumer and corporate minds in charge of all of these shenanigans; what works in the mall and what doesn't - and what should be changed immediately (small tweaks that could raise profits DRAMATICALLY). He refers to the Mall of America and Southdale (the first enclose shopping space, or mall, which help us locals paint a better picture. It also makes me so much more interested in consumers, in general, how they act and why and what these retailers are doing similarly and differently over the years that have been fool proof.

This book also brings me back (about a year ago) to working at a mall kiosk. If you are really curious, I sold calendars and games - at times, it was very insightful and interesting, on the other hand, it was boring and often times embarrassing (never thee ideal job), but really - I learned a lot from that job. I would stand there (yes, we weren't allowed to have chairs - even for the 9 hr. shifts) just observing/people-watching. To think back on it, I had a front-row seat to the mall, all of the action, especially during the 3 month holiday season, when our kiosk stood strong, and we did well, might I add. I would place items on the ground (we had a toy monkey that rolled around on the floor, laughing) or start playing with toys (bouncy balls, hand-held, wooden puzzles, ANYTHING) that would attracts kids to the stand. This strategy (although it was done mainly to keep my sanity) worked about 80% of the time - even if they wouldn't buy anything, it got them interested, asking questions and, ultimately, looking. This is just one of the many examples of an on-the-job activity that I would 'experiment' with while working in a retail setting. However, one could only stand there bouncing a ball for so long. Eventually, I got smart, went down to Border's and got lost in a good book.