Mall experience

My experience of the mall essentially draws on my experience of it when I was younger, and for a suburban kid it was to me a kind of wonderland.  The people, the smells, the sights, the sounds, the fun at Camp Snoopy.  There were countless and diverse possibilities and experiences to be observed, and it was being an observer that characterizes my experience of it.  Reflecting on it now seems reminiscent of the flaneur talked about in a kind of observational ethnography.  In this way, I enjoyed being at the mall for the same reasons I enjoyed being in a city - being caught up in and simultaneously observing activities and sensations with much greater diversity and at a much faster pace than I could have experienced in the suburbs. Almost all of my visits were school events to the amusement park or visits with family from out of town, both of which constituted almost full-day and certainly remarkably rare and fun events, like vacations.  On the other hand, going into a store (reluctantly following my parents) that was an almost opposite experience, where "shopping" was much more boring and uninteresting than the people watching and activity of walking in the mall proper.