Westfield leads the blanding of L.A. shopping. (Commentary).Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. has a new branding of shopping centers shopping center, a concentration of retail, service, and entertainment enterprises designed to serve the surrounding region. The modern shopping center differs from its antecedents—bazaars and marketplaces—in that the shops are usually amalgamated into . Westfield America, the Australian real estate investment company, intends to generate hundreds of dollars per square foot as it boosts its portfolio of shopping centers onto the L.A. landscape. Neighborhood shopping centers have traditionally owed their identity to their location. Not any more. Westfield Shoppingtown Centers have changed that. They all have anchor department stores This is a list of department stores. In the case of department store groups the location of the flagship store is given. This list does not include large specialist stores, which sometimes resemble department stores. , children receive free balloons, strollers resembling fire engines are provided for moms, and "pay and play" areas are provided for toddlers to ride in toy helicopters. Hundreds of look-alike kiosks flood the walkways making a stroll more of a "dodge-the-carts" shopping experience. Huge lounge areas beg weary families to sit down, rest, and shop again. Westfield Shoppingtown executives want us to think "branding." When we drive to Santa Anita Santa Anita may refer to:
adv. 1. In a frenzy to do violence or kill: rioters running amuck in the streets. 2. . Century City's shopping center was once a timeless beauty. This has been turned into the dull look of an anywhere shopping mall. Large red "waving-in-the-wind" Westfield banners are on every lamppost. In a city of savvy design, L.A.'s formerly well-defined neighborhood shopping malls have turned into identical sisters. And each Westfield Shoppingtown sister is as dull as the next one. Instead of keeping the old customer, Westfield management wants to attract the new customer. They thrive on their shopping mall experience of branding from other cities. They also copy the "lifeless life·less adj. 1. Having no life; inanimate. 2. Having lost life; dead. See Synonyms at dead. 3. Not inhabited by living beings; not capable of sustaining life. 4. " spirit of their other cities shopping centers. What's next? More traditional horizontal malls peppered around Los Angeles? More reconnecting streets to limit shoppers from exiting into neighborhoods to shop? A Westfield Shoppingtown song? Westfield-Marts? Carol Wade is a Los Angeles writer. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion