China has a lot of vacant retail space, including many underused shopping malls. An urban policy scholar describes how the Chinese are rethinking what the mall is for.
Quiet hour is a strategy aimed at making retail spaces more inclusive for people who struggle with sensory overload, but they’re not the only ones who welcome a pause in the assault on their senses.
Skiing in a mall is bizarre enough. But a mall dubbed the ‘American Dream’ – when malls are vanishing, along with the postwar vision of the American Dream – is its own brand of eerie dissonance.
Marketers once liked to think they could virtually steer people through shops and malls. But it appears shoppers’ movements, possibly driven by primal instincts, aren’t so easily directed.
To survive the crisis, fashion companies are relying on new technologies. New players, new customer experience, big data – the whole sector is changing.
Urban retail space is being transformed yet again. Predictions of the demise of physical retailing in the face of online competition overlook its resilience over two centuries of disruptive innovations.
Disney recently announced a forthcoming streaming service, leading some to wonder if the company is gearing up for a battle with Netflix. But not all streaming services are locked in a death match.
The mall’s inventor, Victor Gruen, envisioned thriving hubs of civic activity, rather than bland, asphalt-enclosed shopping centers. Is his original vision now being realized – or further corrupted?
Redesigning spaces of conflict starts with creating life on the edges. Geelong offers contrasting examples of city centre spaces: one with problems inherent in its design and a nearby one that works.
Unlike vision or touch, sound is much more difficult to control or avoid; music in particular spills across thresholds and intrudes into situations where it is unwelcome.
A mix of economic unease and fears of the growth of online shopping is pushing retailers to offer ever-steeper discounts, but there’s a better strategy to make it through the holidays in the black.