Hangin' Out At the Mall

I went to the local mall this afternoon on the forced march my son makes me take. OK, I'll be fair. He doesn't really force me. It's worse than that. If I tell him I'm not going, he gives me the old pouty, I'm so disappointed in you look. I can only fight that so long.

So, there I was, at the "Fashion Mall". It is probably the most pathetic excuse for a mall anyone has ever seen. Many, many empty spaces. For as long as I can remember, it has been owned by various groups from as far away as California. It sold a couple of years ago, and the owners went in a cleaned it up, repainted it, and put a bunch of kiddie toys in the middle and down one aisle. Even when there are no kids in sight (and, usually there aren't), the toys have kiddie laugh-tracks that you can hear all over the place.

I have not seen more than half a dozen people in the mall in a long time. At the front end, there is a Penney's, a Goodies, and behind them, West's and Maurice's. You can go into any of these stores on any given day (except during Christmas), and not see another customer. In fact, you might not see any sales people, either.

And, yet, our newspaper editor urges us to shop at home. Maybe if we had a REAL mall, more people would find a reason to shop there. In the meantime, there is a steady stream of cars heading for the Branson malls. They're only 30 minutes away, after all, and you can get your lottery tickets while you're up there. And have dinner at a restaurant where you get waited on, and you can have a glass of wine if you want to.

I'll go as soon as the tourist season is over in the fall.