Posada 1

Glenda Posada
Professor Koning
English 113B
9 March 2014

Malls: Where Your Money and Time are Wasted

The new shopping malls make possible the synthesis of all consumer activities, not least of which
are shopping, flirting with objects, idle wandering, and all the permutations of these.-Jean
Baudrillard

Luckily, it is only a thirty-minute walk from California State University, Northridge.
Down Plummer I go. The walk there is not that bad. Making my way downtown, walking fast,
faces pass and I'm home bound. Staring blankly ahead, just making my way, making a way
through the crowd... (Carlington) I sing on the way towards Plummer and Tampa Avenue. I
think to myself that they most likely built it there because it is very close to CSUN. The first
thing I see getting there is the big sign saying Northridge Fashion Center.
Shopping to people is addicting, or they only do it when they actually need to purchase
something. What are shopping malls intended for? Is there a need to have a big building with
various types of store that all sell about the same items? Most of the items sold in the shopping
malls can be bought at any regular store like Target or Wal-Mart. However, malls do differ
between one another. Just as the Northridge Fashion Center and the Antelope Valley Mall. Even
though they are all different from one another, they all lead into the same thing. The Northridge
Fashion Center and the Antelope Valley Mall both reflect their respective communities. While
many may view malls as a simple place to relax and hang out, they are a trap for unnecessary
consumerism.
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The Northridge Fashion Center is located in
Northridge, California, and its developer is J. David Gladstone, and is owned by General Growth
Properties. It was first opened in September of 1971, with anchor stores including J.C Penny,
Sears, Macys and Pacific Theater. On January 17, 1994 the mall was destroyed due to a massive
earthquake and reopened in 1995 (Alger). It has two floors and more the one hundred and
seventy stores, and approximately a bit over six thousand parking slots which has a two level
parking structure by the entrance of one of three Macys.

Many malls attract upper class individuals such as the Northridge Fashion Center.
Northridge Fashion Center is about a couple minutes away from the California State University,
Northridge campus, and it is only a twenty minute walk. It makes it really easy for those college
students to go there and shop, eat or socialize. It is really close to the community as well. The
community that surrounds Northridge is not any lower class, but more in the middle and upper
class. There are mostly houses that surrounded the mall, which makes it easily accessible. Even
to those who do not have a car, there are buses that leave you right in front of the mall. It is also
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not too far from Los Angeles, Santa Clarita and the Antelope Valley. The mall is designed in a
type of cross, with two stories. It has many entrances including the one by the Macys, and H &
M. Outside the entrance of the H & M, it has a very nice fountain around which there is seating.
There is also a fountain inside. They just added the food court which has various types of dishes,
not including the restaurants on the outer layer. There are about six thousand parking spaces that
are all free. You do not have to pay, unlike the Rodeo Drive parking. Some may have noticed
that on the top level of the Northridge Fashion Center has its higher end stores such as Coach,
Guess and Wilson Leather.
As for The Antelope Valley Mall (known by locals as the AV Mall) is located in
Palmdale, California, and owned by ForestCity Enterprise. It first opened up in September of
1990. The AV Mall has only one hundred and forty stores, with anchor stores including J.C
Penny, Sears and Forever 21. It is only one story.
Some malls target upper class individuals;
however, there are many malls, such as the Antelope Valley Mall, that do not. The AV Mall does
not have the same stores as the Northridge Fashion Center. It does not have an Apple Store,
Coach, Guess, or Wilson Leather nor does it have two levels. The Antelope Valley is not known
for its upper class families, but more middle-lower classes. The malls speaks of how that is
because there are not much stores that are expensive. The AV Mall is not the kind of mall in
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which people from other places such as Los Angeles or Northridge, would come just to visit. It is
only the other way around where people from the AV would go to the Northridge Fashion
Center. The size of the Antelope Valley Mall is much smaller compared to the Northridge
Fashion Center. The AV Mall only has one million square feet and the Northridge Fashion
Center has one million and five hundred feet square. The mall is actually very distant from much
of community itself. It is about a twenty minute drive from the center of Palmdale and there is
neither a college nor schools close by. However, the AV Mall is where mostly everyone goes and
socialize. There is also a Cinemark Theater located behind the mall near which all the food
places are placed. The food court in the mall is not like the Northridge Fashion Center and the
food court in the AV Mall is just typical American fast food restaurants like MacDonalds and
Taco Bell.
Regardless of what type of stores are inside the malls, they are leading you into
unnecessary consumerism. Neither the Northridge Fashion Center nor the Antelope Valley Mall
have clocks in them. The reason why they do not have clocks is because they do not want to
show you how much time you have wasted during your time there. They want you to spend as
much money as possible, just was your time. If you see how many hours you have spent at the
mall you might quickly want to leave; that is why they do not have any clocks. The restaurants
help you stay as well. The both have restaurants inside and out so once you get hungry you can
go get some food whether it will be inside or on the outside, which helps them keep you there
longer to spend more money. What they also have in common is the inner accessibility of
entertainment. Both the AV Mall and the Northridge fashion Center have theaters on the side.
Once you are done watching a movie you can go to the mall, walk around, shop and eat, or even
before the movie start.
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Whether the malls have higher end stores or any basic store, they are there for one
purpose and that is to spend. There is no need for these malls to be built when there is any basic
store like Walmart or even the 99 cent store. The two malls have ATMs in them so it makes it
easy for you to access money to spend. Just as Mike Davis says in Fortress Los Angeles, we
are all in a battle field, just as we are with malls, because we have to fight our way into not
buying things we already have or things we do not even need. Malls are there to take your money
and waste your time. Even with teens that do not have any money. That is their hang out place
since there is not really much a teen can do. If malls continue to promote higher end stores then
consumers will become victims of unnecessary consumerism.














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Works Cited
Alger, Douglas. "Northridge: Fashion Center Will Reopen With a Bang." Los Angeles Times. 02
Aug. 1995. Web. 6 Mar. 2014.
Davis, Mike. Fortress Los Angeles: The Militarization of Urban Space. Print.
"NORTHRIDGE FASHION CENTER: Complex Enjoys Increasing Popularity." Los Angeles
Times. 1978. Web. 6 Mar. 2014.
Villarreal, Luz. NORTHRIDGE FASHION CENTER to REOPEN: VALLEY Edition." Daily
News. 1995. Web. 6 Mar. 2014.