Sometimes, I’m propelled backwards in time as if aboard some demented time machine - at least in my memories. This happened on reading that in Livingston, West Lothian an extension to a mall is going to make it the largest in Scotland.
Leaving aside all the negative scenarios surrounding the impending recession, and all the discussions about low value retail sector jobs, as well as the notions that consumerism is the way out of a recession; that’s the spend, spend, spend version of economics (which as mother of an Olympic-class shopper, I have close knowledge of) I feel moved to comment.
Returning to my mention of malls, large and larger, I am reminded of my first encounter with a proper, civilised (?) grown up shopping mall. This occurred in London, Ontario about 30 odd years ago.
I grew up in a wee town dominated by the ‘Store’ otherwise known as the Co-op which provided for everything provincial Scots were expected to need or want. Most food we take for granted nowadays was unknown there. To buy celery was to step into the unknown, mushrooms were merely a slight aberration. So imagine how it felt to shop in a mall, even those of 30 plus years ago.
On that occasion, I vividly recall buying a dress. A handkerchief dress in white and blue. I also got an ‘Afro’ hairdo in this mall. But best of all, it had air-conditioning modifying the outside temperature of over 30 degrees so that it was cool and calming inside.
The contrast with my home town was marked. It was with great reluctance and not a little encouragement from my long-suffering hosts, that I returned home. But the impression never left me of comfort and ease of shopping, to say nothing of choice. Some of Scotland has caught up over the years, but we have lost that all encompassing birth-to-death service provided by the ‘Store’ (Co-op) that I grew up with. I’m not sure the trade-off has been completely positive, but the freedom to choose from more than common root vegetables and packets of chicken noodle soup can’t be underestimated.
This new development in Livingston will apparently house 1000 plants, so maybe there will be oxygen to spare when breathlessly contemplating a new dress.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7660837.stm
Leaving aside all the negative scenarios surrounding the impending recession, and all the discussions about low value retail sector jobs, as well as the notions that consumerism is the way out of a recession; that’s the spend, spend, spend version of economics (which as mother of an Olympic-class shopper, I have close knowledge of) I feel moved to comment.
Returning to my mention of malls, large and larger, I am reminded of my first encounter with a proper, civilised (?) grown up shopping mall. This occurred in London, Ontario about 30 odd years ago.
I grew up in a wee town dominated by the ‘Store’ otherwise known as the Co-op which provided for everything provincial Scots were expected to need or want. Most food we take for granted nowadays was unknown there. To buy celery was to step into the unknown, mushrooms were merely a slight aberration. So imagine how it felt to shop in a mall, even those of 30 plus years ago.
On that occasion, I vividly recall buying a dress. A handkerchief dress in white and blue. I also got an ‘Afro’ hairdo in this mall. But best of all, it had air-conditioning modifying the outside temperature of over 30 degrees so that it was cool and calming inside.
The contrast with my home town was marked. It was with great reluctance and not a little encouragement from my long-suffering hosts, that I returned home. But the impression never left me of comfort and ease of shopping, to say nothing of choice. Some of Scotland has caught up over the years, but we have lost that all encompassing birth-to-death service provided by the ‘Store’ (Co-op) that I grew up with. I’m not sure the trade-off has been completely positive, but the freedom to choose from more than common root vegetables and packets of chicken noodle soup can’t be underestimated.
This new development in Livingston will apparently house 1000 plants, so maybe there will be oxygen to spare when breathlessly contemplating a new dress.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7660837.stm
3 comments:
In my own childhood in the sixties the Co-op also played a significant role: my parents made a point of shopping at the Co-op to get the divvy. Did they have a little book? I'm not sure if I remember properly. I do remember the advent of Co-op stamps, though, and I used to be delegated to fill in the books once the drawer we stored them in was overflowing. I particularly liked the 'stamp' (it covered the whole first page) which was equivalent to a whole book of stamps. It had a logo so much of those times: a swirling-line design obviously done on a Spirograph.
As for Elements, I find it difficult to believe the Almondvale will have enough shoppers to make it viable. But I confess I don't know the place, and presumably shoppers come from all around.
Malls themselves I find fine, as I like the protection from the Scottish weather, but they must be spacious, and Elements looks like it is. As soon as they get a bit run down though, they're depressing - Dunfermline was going this way, though I think they have a new extension themselves which may revitalise the place.
Having said this, it is sad that inside any mall you can be anywhere in the UK; any sense of place is erased.
Thanks for the comment, jerzz. I did write a reply but inadvertently deleted it by mistake. It was, of course witty and elegant but I can't remember exactly how I phrased it. What I'd said was that your comment about the divvy reminded me that I was also given responsibility for sticking the stamps in the book, but not for choosing what to buy with them when the book was filled up!
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