Malls are really depressing

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I rather enjoy going to the Mall of America. The hugeness sort of gives way to it bring a microcosm of the Twin Cities area plus lots and lots of tourists. I'm a bit of a people watcher, so it can be fun to go there with a few friends and just mull around looking for good deals and making amusing observations. Also, it has a Chipotle restaurant, which is amazing.

yeah, the mall of america rules. when i was visiting my parents in minneapolis in the summer i went there and just went crazy, the exchange rate was so good against the dollar. it's awesome for one-stop shopping cause it literally has almost everything in it.

and personally, i find it a confidence boost to go to the mall. sure, the models in the ads may be gorgeous, but a large majority of the real life people strolling around are obese, hah.
 
Being in a mall makes me despise every other human being I see. I can't explain it. The environment just makes humans seem like such loathsome, detestable creatures.

I'm not even trying to be cool and subversive and "look at me being cynical and above consumer culture." It's just that malls make everyone seem awful.
 
When I was a kid/teen, the mall was great.

Now it sickens me.

I am working on a project about my hatred of the mall. I will share with GAF when the time is right.
 
Sometimes I'm just disgusted with ad's and consumerism, it kinda makes me feel sick especially in supermarkets.

Everything needs to have a pretty picture.

edit: Its not that it always makes me kind of offbalance, just once in awhile while waiting in line you think about it :P.
 
In IL the indoor malls have alot of store closures and seem to be less and less busy.

In the '90s we used to take road trips to the US a lot, and I loved stopping at malls. They were busy and full of things.

I took a road trip to the US last year, and the few malls we went to were quiet and half empty. It was kinda sad.

The shopping culture has changed. Who needs a bunch of stores when you can buy everything in one gigantic store?
 
I went to my hometown mall last time I was there.

What a depressing fucking hovel.

It was a huge shopping complex for a small city of 10,000. Two large buildings on either side for major department stores and three long "alleys". Used to be full up when I was a kid, with a book store, some shoe stores, lots of women's clothing stores, a few stores that catered to men, hobby stores, two drug stores, and a music store, a movie theater, with a K-mart one one side and a huge supermarket on the other side.

Used to be soooo packed during school shopping season and Christmas shopping season. The mall hosted contests every month and you'd have, like, giant ornaments made by school kids hanging from the ceiling. Once a week the center of the alleys would be for convention tables: comic book shows, local wildlife artists, sewing, hobby shows, etc. Fresh plants in all the planters.

Now both huge areas are empty (Kmart was never replaced when it left in 2000 and the supermarket moved to be closer to Walmart), the Chinese restaurant I used to almost literally live in is closed and you can hear your feet echoing as you walk because there's no one there to shop. All the planters were empty.

There are three women's stores, a jeweler, and the movie theater left.

God, I'm so depressed now. It was such a huge, lively part of my childhood where the community really got together and could meet up. My mom would shop and I would see a friend or two there and we'd all go somewhere together and meet up at a certain place...but now it's impossible to get lost and you would never find someone you know there. Just the last dregs of desperate fucks who probably live next door and don't want to drive somewhere else.
 
Wait until it's skirt weather and hang out under the glass-sided escalator, you'll cheer up.
 
I typically don't mind going to the mall.. but then again I only go maybe once or twice a year.

Used to be the coolest thing ever as a kid... going to the mall with my dad on his few days off, since there was an arcade in the corner of the food court.

Now.. half the stores are closed, or are reduced to a mere shell of what they were, food court sucks, arcade is now an extra large restroom area... all filled with overweight people that waddle up and down the walkways, homeless people, annoying, repugnant, pretentious teenagers. The place is filthy and half the stores and places are closed.

...now I made myself depressed .. :'c
 
If malls depress you why don't you just stay away? I haven't been to a mall since i was 12, that was 15 years ago.

I liked to make it a point to stay away from shitty places.
 
The most hilarious things about the ads is those ads highlight the pinnacle of human beauty yet a lot of the mall's patrons are overweight and stupid.
 
Malls around here (North Seattle, so Northgate and Alderwood) seem to be doing pretty well. They both have been expanding endlessly really..

And I never am depressed by them. Annoyed sometimes? Sure.. because if I'm at a mall it's to buy something. Kiosk hagglers, stores that reek like perfume.. annoying people who walk together slowly blocking the entire mall aisle, etc.

Other than that.. lots of good looking people to look at, and a convenient place to find things that I don't like buying online very much (clothes and shoes for the most part).
 
I was being serious and sincere.

Unless the OP was a joke or something.

oh :x

well no i didnt actually walk through the mall and feel really depressed. i just noticed that the point of the advertising was meant to make you feel inadequate and that's amongst other objectively depressing things like rampant consumerism etc.
 
Funnily enough pretty much the only time I go to the mall is for the apple store, never really purchase anything else there except for the occasional clothing.
 
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Aeris should really watch out for that monster behind her.
 
The most hilarious things about the ads is those ads highlight the pinnacle of human beauty yet a lot of the mall's patrons are overweight and stupid.

Depends on the mall. The big, bustling malls around here (the few remaining, like Eatons, STC, and Yorkdale) tend to draw-in somewhat attractive people, while the land-whales flock to Wal-Mart.
 
The most hilarious things about the ads is those ads highlight the pinnacle of human beauty yet a lot of the mall's patrons are overweight and stupid.
Why and how are they stupid? And why does it matter if they are overweight?

You sound like a shallow mindless person, must have a bunch of friends.
 
I thought this thread was going to be about how malls are so depressing because they're all empty and most of the stores have closed down.
 
Now when I go into a store, being married and a father, I don't have anywhere to go. Even in the big mall over in Gainesville. They closed most of the entertainment stores and there's only like three left: an over priced FYE, an overpriced music store, and Gamestop (lol).

So when I go, I just follow my wife, reading Twitter on my cell phone until I bump into her because she's stopped to look a skirt or something. I grunt when she asks me "oh this would look cute on the kid" or "do you like this shirt, woudl it look good on me?".



Edit: oh and arcades. Fucking a, I miss arcades.
 
Yah, i was thinking similar last week as I had to go to a big mall to use a gift voucher. I felt the depressed thinking about all the time and money I spent at malls looking for happiness.

Funny thing is my small local mall used to make me depressed, but now I like how small and practical it is. I just go there to get food when I need it.
 
Depends on the mall. The big, bustling malls around here (the few remaining, like Eatons, STC, and Yorkdale) tend to draw-in somewhat attractive people, while the land-whales flock to Wal-Mart.

one cool thing about eatons is that it doooes have a lot of hot women and it's probably the most racially diverse location on the planet.
 
well no i didnt actually walk through the mall and feel really depressed. i just noticed that the point of the advertising was meant to make you feel inadequate and that's amongst other objectively depressing things like rampant consumerism etc.

I guess I just don't see it that way. I don't see an ad of some toned dude and feel depressed, I just laugh at the silliness of how it has little to nothing to do with the clothing in the store.

It just seems like the viewpoint of someone who lacks self confidence.

Didn't mean offense by it.. I honestly just read the entire OP and couldn't relate to it whatsoever. I was more depressed thinking about the fact people actually are made depressed by pictures of attractive people.

I object to rampant consumerism myself.. but for some reason, malls don't really make me feel that way.

I'm far more annoyed knowing half of America has a smart phone and a 2 year contract to pay ~$100 / month for it yet will complain about lack of jobs, taxes, the economy, etc.
 
There's no way in hell I'm applying to all of those posts about my comment. It is what it is.
It is what it is? fat people and stupid people?

Still never explained how they are stupid, or what relevance it makes that overweight people go to the mall. Overweight people go EVERYWHERE.
 
I love going to the mall sometimes.

Sometimes I almost hate it.

It's always the same thing, I go left, I go into Hot Topic, I look around at the stupid crap there , I say hi to sometimes the cute girl that works there. Then I leave without buying a thing. I go to the Barnes & Noble and look around a bit, go back out, go upstairs for a wetzel pretzel with jalapenos and pepperoni. Go back downstairs, go in the opposite direction, go to FYE. I like FYE, good sales, I'd rather buy my games there than Gamestop.

Only girl that actually approached me at the mall was a military girl whom asked me if I wanted to enlist, said I "Looked like I wanted to shoot big guns" I told her I don't. I'm The King of Games.
 
Now when I go into a store, being married and a father, I don't have anywhere to go. Even in the big mall over in Gainesville. They closed most of the entertainment stores and there's only like three left: an over priced FYE, an overpriced music store, and Gamestop (lol).

So when I go, I just follow my wife, reading Twitter on my cell phone until I bump into her because she's stopped to look a skirt or something. I grunt when she asks me "oh this would look cute on the kid" or "do you like this shirt, woudl it look good on me?".

I feel extremely fortunate that I live in a city (Toronto) with excellent shopping districts in a vibrant downtown. I'd hate to live in a city where the mall, or Wal-Mart, was the only option.
 
It is what it is? fat people and stupid people?

Still never explained how they are stupid, or what relevance it makes that overweight people go to the mall. Overweight people go EVERYWHERE.

Around here it depends on the mall.

Northgate mall in Seattle is full of homely looking people.. probably because the fashionable people shop downtown (the mall is 20 minutes from DT).

Go another 10 minutes North to Alderwood Mall.. and it's full of people dressed up trying to look good.

Probably because their isn't much else to do 30 minutes from Seattle, and the fat/ugly people have Walmarts to shop at.
 
Around here it depends on the mall.

Northgate mall in Seattle is full of homely looking people.. probably because the fashionable people shop downtown (the mall is 20 minutes from DT).

Go another 10 minutes North to Alderwood Mall.. and it's full of people dressed up trying to look good.

Probably because their isn't much else to do 30 minutes from Seattle, and the fat/ugly people have Walmarts to shop at.
It's shallow ignorance like this that makes me hate people.

I pray that you aren't an adult because any adult that is that shallow must really hate life, glad i live in a humble town.
 
I guess I just don't see it that way. I don't see an ad of some toned dude and feel depressed, I just laugh at the silliness of how it has little to nothing to do with the clothing in the store.

It just seems like the viewpoint of someone who lacks self confidence.

Didn't mean offense by it.. I honestly just read the entire OP and couldn't relate to it whatsoever. I was more depressed thinking about the fact people actually are made depressed by pictures of attractive people.

I object to rampant consumerism myself.. but for some reason, malls don't really make me feel that way.

I'm far more annoyed knowing half of America has a smart phone and a 2 year contract to pay ~$100 / month for it yet will complain about lack of jobs, taxes, the economy, etc.

ya im not sure what the word is for what i did. it wasn't satirical but it was more of stating an opinion through story telling. whats the word im looking for?

but if you laugh at the ads, power to ya. they do work on a lot of people though, hence their prevalence
 
I feel extremely fortunate that I live in a city (Toronto) with excellent shopping districts in a vibrant downtown. I'd hate to live in a city where the mall, or Wal-Mart, was the only option.

In fairness, 75% of our shopping is done online, with the rest being at the local grocery or thrift store.

We go to the mall maybe once or twice a year and usually only right after Christmas or if my son really really needs some sort of clothing. If there was a reason to go to the mall more often I would be the first person to suggest we go. I'm a whore for consumerism.

It's shallow ignorance like this that makes me hate people.

I pray that you aren't an adult because any adult that is that shallow must really hate life.

Yeah, broad generalizations are fun for all. ha
 
The Eaton Centre is one of the malls that are alright. It's pretty bustling, and I enjoy going there sometimes. Personally, I'm secure enough that big posters of male models don't faze me on bit. (It's only looking in the mirror and seeing my hair that makes me feel insecure.)

What's awful are all the zombie malls littering the city. They're not quite dead, but they're sad, pale shadows of their former days, full of empty stores.

Then there's the horrid "Smart Centres" that are devouring suburbia. Part of me dies whenever I see those three fucking penguins.

They are, indeed, Penguins of Death.
 
I used to enjoy the mall in my town when I was younger. Back when it opened in the '80's it was the pinnacle of shopping in my area. The last time I went in it was just sad; shuttered store fronts, barely anyone else shopping. The crime at that place has driven most people away. No one dares go after sundown and there's even a police station in the mall now.
 
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