Eden Prairie Mall, Eden Prairie, MN, United States of America

Driving towards the Eden Prairie mall, where I have gone countless times throughout my life, I found it strange to enter the building with a new critical and observational mindset.

The mall is already decorated head to toe for Christmas, the big tree and Santa included. There is garland wrapped on every surface imaginable, obviously topped with lights and a plentiful array of ornaments. It gives the ordinarily dreary florescent space a rather homey touch. Usually, this mall is pretty deserted; however, this Monday night, it is rather busy. My sister accompanied me in this people watching venture and we are sitting at a tiny table on the lower level of the two level building, doing our homework. Surrounding us are two families eating ice cream and popcorn from the adjacent SubZero frozen yogurt shop and the Doc Popcorn shop. The first family consists of one Asian mother, a White father, three male children, and one female child. The second family consists of an Italian father, a White mother, and two male children. As I swivel my head from left to right, I see a Caribou Coffee, the elevator, American Eagle Outfitters, Buckle, Justice, Scheels, and Teavana. People are darting around and I cannot see them longer than a few seconds because they either enter a store or quickly go to the other end of the mall. Most people are toting shopping bags. There is quite a variety of people, however, the majority are White middle-aged couples slowly browsing and window shopping. There are a lot of high school girls with their mothers. The only boys are either very young children or adults. As I have been observing, I barely noticed the kiosk workers because they are so stoic. The woman working at the Go! Games counter is watching a little boy like a hawk making sure he doesn't snag one of the toys. Another man has his headphones in and is playing on his phone; it is very apparent that he rarely gets business. A lot of people are walking while texting. Near the elevators are unoccupied wheelchairs and motorized scooters for the mall guests. My sister and I were going to take the escalator near the entrance we came in, but it was closed so we were forced to take the elevator, a strange maneuver in this small building. For some people, this is a social place. There are two pairs of women who are chatting and laughing and walking around. There are a lot of adult men shopping by themselves, some of whom seem totally comfortable and some who seem very confused. A woman brought her Great Dane to take a picture with Santa Claus.

I could go on with this forever but my eyes hurt from the florescent lights and Everytime We Touch by Cascada is blaring on the radio. I feel stressed out and want to leave.

7:30 p.m. Hold up, one more thing: a miniature train just started driving around the mall. It has compartments for the kids to sit in. There is also a children's play area, which used to be out in the middle of the hallway, but now has been put behind glass inside a store. This place is like an amusement park.

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.

A Brief Summery of my Travels

Growing up in Wisconsin, this was actually the first time I'd been at the Mall of America. I took the lightrail, as I don't have a car. The voice over the intercom said, "Now arriving at the Mall of America" in its prerecorded tone. I was confused. Out my window was just a few buildings, nothing that looked like the fabled Mall. Then I had the sense to turn around. Oh, my. There it was. It was enormous. Not height wise, but the sheer volume was overwhelming. I entered. The tide of people rushed around me. It seemed like mostly families or groups of young teenagers for the most part. Having forgotten to eat breakfast, I was quite hungry at this time. I prowled around, looking for a tasty meal. The stores were mostly clothing and shoes, and I wasn't quite that hungry, so I found an escalator. Finally, a restaurant! It was some generic hamburger place though. Next to it was a Long John Silvers. Sorry hamburgers, you just can't compete. The complete stranger next to me decided to start a conversation regarding the menu. I was taken aback at first, but was able to put forth a decent conversation. It seems the Mall presents a sort of camaraderie. Friend, stranger, relative.. all are fellow MallGoers. After my meal (chicken and fish strips in tartar sauce) I rounded the corner. No. No, it couldn't be. I had entered a food court. Panda Express, Qdoba, Buffalo Wild Wings. But alas, I was full, having already dined on the Long John Silvers. Deeply saddened by this turn of events, I bought some candy for later and left. This Mall had offered my Panda Express and I hadn't even noticed until it was much too late. I couldn't bear to be in its presence anymore.    

Of MoA and MVM

"On Sunday we went to the mall." So begins the diary entries of thousands of teenage girls. My first trip to the Mall of America, and to any American mall in general. Even without expectations of buying anything (I ended up getting a H&M hoodie nonetheless), I was super excited to immerse myself in the American browsing/shopping culture. Given that it's the biggest mall in America by numerous measures, I'd had some high expectations.

Unfortunately I was disappointed. The activity in the Mall of America was just about equivalent to my experiences back in Malaysia; perhaps even less because of its high status compared to the malls I visited with such frequency (sometimes two, three times a week?) at home. Maybe this was due to it being a relatively warm Sunday afternoon in fall (I hear they didn't use to exist?), so perhaps families had decided to spend their time in the actual outdoors.

In many ways the people I encountered were similar to the ones I saw in Malaysia. Tired parents chasing after children in the theme park. Groups of teenagers and young adults just hanging out, usually around food or drinks. Smaller proprietor stalls set up in the middle of the wider walkways. Chinese tourists snapping pictures of every little detail. Strollers were being pushed around everywhere. Most people only carried one or two smaller bags.

Maybe because of the nature of the Mall of America, there were quite a few differences. I hardly saw any people walking alone. Only a select few were wearing business formal, and they looked incredibly out of place. Groups identifiable as families tended to have only one or two adults, rarely more. Most curiously, not many people appeared to browsing the stores; if someone entered a store, they would generally move immediately towards a specific area and pick up an item; people didn't often seem to walk out of stores empty-handed.

In comparison to the Mall of America, I raise the Mid Valley Megamall, one of the malls I frequented most in Malaysia. The two are comparable in terms of size - MoA has 4.87 million square feet of space, while MVM has 4.5 million. Mid Valley is also easily accessible by rail. However, the Mall of America has major attractions in the Sea Life Aquarium (that's the name ">.<) and Nickelodeon Universe; Mid Valley has neither of these, nor is it advertised as the largest mall in Malaysia, as that accolade would go to several others first. These would seem to provide a greater diversity of shoppers in the Mall of America, yet the demographics do tend to similarity. Regardless, there are some sizeable differences.

Malaysian society is generally quite communal. As such, families are about the same size as American ones, but they go out alone less often; it is quite often the norm to invite extended family (aunts and uncles, grandparents, not-so-distant cousins) when going on trips to the mall. This means multiple sets of parents and children are often found together, in bigger groups than I witnessed at the Mall of America. Malaysian malls are also often integrated with corporate buildings; Mid Valley is no exception, being adjacent to a number of business hotels and the fancier Gardens mall. Business people are a common sight in Mid Valley, whether in the restaurants or just business-walking their way through the mall between the corporate offices littered throughout. A third point - Malaysians, and Malaysian Chinese in general, have a tendency to be incredibly calculative. It's incredibly common (maybe even to the point of negativity) to see shoppers going between multiple outlets and comparing prices, searching for the best deals. This kind of mentality pervades Malaysian shopping society regardless of race or age.

One thing to note is that Malaysia is HOT out. Malls provide a refuge from the heat all year round, and especially in the city there are few to no alternatives for outside space. This brings people desperate to escape the stifling heat from their homes in hordes on the weekends. Mid Valley is also unique in that the basement floor is almost entirely dedicated to food outlets, primarily fast food and middle-class-family-oriented restaurants. Because of the sheer number of cultures intermingling over generations, Malaysian foodies have an immensely extended palate, and malls must also be similarly accomodating. I've had numerous trips there with my family for the sole purpose of food, simply because the options are so diverse and accessible. Furthermore, the cinema in Mid Valley is one of the most established in the area, and the ticket queue can easily snake for up to half an hour on weekends.

The general shopping culture in Malaysia might also play a role. Because much of the Malaysian economy relies on tourism, the malls must be able to attract not only locals but also foreigners from various countries.This is to a great degree accomplished by providing varied shopping experiences that draw the attention of people from numerous cultures, nationalities and ethnicities, each of which have their own expectations and desires. Maybe a great diversity of customers and experiences is to be expected from malls in such places. Mid Valley is certainly not very different from the Mall of America in that regard.

Ethnography of Cub Foods

I did not have any extra time to get out to go to a shopping mall so i am going to discuss my ethnography on Cub Foods over in St. Paul.  Upon first arriving and parking in the parking lot you can see how full the store is almost right away.  The second you walked into the store it was almost like a huge burst of colors, different fonts, different signs advertising this deal or that and at first it is all very overwhelming  because you aren't sure where to start.  After I started walking I instantly notice how my cart is squeaking and how it veer's to the left without me shoving it back straight due to the bum wheel on the front left.  As I started walking down the aisles I noticed the different  all the different people;  Older men trying to decide what eggs they want like it is Who Wants to be a Millionaire, kids running up and down the aisles as if it were a playground, and the stockers stocking all the different foods into the coolers and shelves.  Regardless of all the distractions I keep moving from aisle to aisle picking up some ingredients here and there until I come upon one of the store's favorite selling techniques, the vibrant "its a sale!" sign.  Covered in all different colors to make it POP out to everyone, I begin to notice the sheer amount of sale signs in each aisle as I progress.  As I start to come to the end my ears become flooded with this extremely high pitched noise coming from all the registers, I pick a line and wait in turn for my items to be checked out.  While waiting I seem to notice every little detail about this register and the cashier such as; gum is on sale, his side of the register is extremely cluttered with coupons and old receipts, and also how each time he moves the belt he swipes his fingers over the sensor.  Needless to say my trip to Cub Foods was more than exhiliarating and still worked out well for this assignment.

Ethnogrophy

First of all I should say that I did not have a chance to go to a mall since our last class, so instead I will be writing about an experience that I had over the summer.

The experience I had was on a Saturday. I worked in the morning, but was home alone in the afternoon in my aunt's house that I had not stayed in for very long. I decided to go to the Maplewood mall with two goals in mind: buy a belt and kill some time. When I walked in I immediately noticed that the primary target of this mall was not for people like me. Many of the stores that I found there were targeted at teens or preteens. The mall was filled with stores like Aeropostle, American Eagle, Journeys and Hot Topic, stores that are of no interest to me.

The other thing I noticed about this mall was that it had plenty of places for children to have fun. There was a big carousel on the bottom floor, a special play area, a train that ran throughout the mall that kids could ride, and an arcade. I think this a smart strategy adapted by many malls. It lets parents know that they don't have to worry about bringing their kids with them because there are activities to keep them busy.

Northing in this mall was targeted at the early 20s male crowd that I belong to. I spent five minutes walking around, ten minutes looking in Barnes and Noble then left. Also my mom told me that there was an employee discount day coming up at the store she worked in and that she would buy me a belt on that day for a cheaper price. I completed 0 of 2 goals.

Ethnography of Skyway

The skyway system in downtown Minneapolis is an intricate and interesting maze that connects many buildings together so people can cross the area away from the normal humdrum that can be seen on the streets along with creating its own culture.

It is completely unorthodox. The system is not a mall per say but includes all the stereotypes of what we see a mall needs: many smaller stores, restaurants, and large department stores like Target and Macys. Although, every now and then you will walk into a building that is "off limits." You enter the business friendly museum and baking system in the Wells Fargo tower. You suddenly feel as if you don't belong walking by offices and exhibits.

Then you walk across the street in one of the fourth floor sky tunnels and you are back to normal buzz. There's this odd mix of people who are treating the skyways as a shopping area and slowly roam around and people who use it as just a walkway and quickly go to where they need to be.

Its this environment where its not a mall but is. On one had the skyway connects large malls and stores in different buildings together without making people use the street, but it also more. There are stores that are only accessible through the skyways. Stores that rely on people who actively go there to shop and not just trying to get form the convention center to the Target Center without having to deal with traffic.