Description

This shopping mall is located in the middle of the town of Bridgewater, Nova Scotia right on the bank of the river LaHave near the Old Bridge, on the busy intersection with Dairy Queen, Tim Hortons and a car repair shop. A movie theater, Home Hardware and many other small stores are in a close walking distance. The Mall is a long rectangular building with a flat roof and brown brick siding with some names of the businesses, such as Zellers, Payless Shoe’s and Sobeys in big letters attached to it. Along the front side of the building stretches a parking lot for customer’s cars. From this parking lot, three doors lead the way inside the mall: one is placed in the middle of the front side and two some distance to the right and left of it. This two doors lead into the biggest stores: the retail outlet Zellers occupies the right end of the mall, the food market Sobeys the left end. The central entrance leads to a “central court”, a spacious square in the middle of the mall. There is an information desk and also two small sitting areas, which belongs to a Chinese eatery and A&W. The other sitting space of the mall is near Sobeys. This one belongs to Tim Hortons and Dairy Queen. Tables and chairs are fixed units made of wood. Only the Chinese eatery has single pieces of furniture. The floor of the corridors and sitting areas is covered in beige tiles, while the floor of the shops is gray linoleum. All the walls are painted white. The mall is brightly lit by electrical light. Along the corridors and above the sitting areas are lamps installed in the ceiling. Each shop has each its own illumination. Some have chosen halogen light, some big lamps and some smaller direct lights. All the shops have huge floor-to-ceiling glass doors and windows, so that I can easily see everything inside when passing by. There are two small private shops: the cobbler’s business and a children’s toy store “Smarty Pants”. Well-known chains such as Shoppers Drug Mart, Radio Shack, Coles, Reitmans, Eclipse, Dorlene, Payless Shoes, San Francisco, and Charm Jewelry occupy the other places. Employees of Sobeys, Zellers and Shoppers Drug Mart have uniforms, employees of other stores don’t. There is Scotiabank and the office of a dentist. The mall is well air-conditioned. The only smells are is the smell of coffee from Tim Hortons and cheap Chinese burning sticks from San Francisco, when I am close to those places. One quarter of the shops is empty and windows have posters “for lease”.

Analysis

The mall occupies the best real estate spot in Bridgewater. Parking spaces provide convenience for many customers, especially from surrounding areas of the town for many kilometers. The mall itself is absolutely unremarkable. Nothing signifies the connection of the mall to the town of Bridgewater. Architecturally, the building reminds me of a shoebox with many small compartments, walls of which could be taken out easily. The interior design is impersonal and ordinary. The same shops can be found everywhere in Canada. After my own yearlong shopping experience, I can say in general that none of the shops compare to the competition on the market belongs into the category “expensive”. Even Charm Jewelry highest prices don’t go over 300$, which is the low end in jewelry business. The uniformed employees of Sobeys, Zellers and Shoppers Drug Mart could work in any other store of those chains from coast to coast. The Chinese eatery, the cobbler and children’s toy store are the only ones, where I would look for something special and pay close attention to their products, menu or services, while in others I almost always know what I came for and from which rack or shelf to take it. The food from A&W, Tim Hortons or Dairy Queen is cheap and intended for customers as a fast meal between shopping errands. The sitting areas are clean, but uninviting and chairs, like in all other fast food stores are not comfortable to linger for a long time. The owner of the Chinese eatery tried to get attention and distinguish his business in the mall from the others trough Chinese fans and pictures on the walls and single chairs and tables. The number of empty spaces in the mall is extremely high, especially for this time of the year short before Christmas, while at the same time right outside town Wal-Mart is building a huge department store with a shopping mall attached.

Interpretation

The shopping mall attracts many people along the South Shore because Bridgewater is the only place to get services and to shop between Halifax and Yarmouth. The aim of the management is to attract people from lower and middle incomes. The Chinese eatery is the only place where the customers want to get a fast meal but still something special while A&W, Tim Hortons and Dairy Queen target any customers who takes their services out of convenience. The personnel of Sobeys, Zellers and Shoppers Drug Mart wear a uniform, as in all their chain stores. But even if the employees of other chain shops wear their own clothes, it still doesn’t make the businesses look more individual. I think that only the offices, the bank, children’s toy store, cobbler and Chinese eatery have permanently employed personnel. All other positions are temporary and the employees have not much interest in what they are doing. If the answer to my question is not on the label or the box of the product I most certainly won’t get it from a sales clerk. The probability, that I will see them in couple of months working at Wal-Mart is very high. The closed down shops of the mall probably decided to relocate to the new mall or close down before their businesses take any losses, caused by new competition.

Judgment.

I think that the idea to build a shopping mall in Bridgewater was good for everybody: for the business community, for the employment situation, for the town and its citizens. The execution of it was extremely poorly done. Investors, putting such big buildings in the middle of Bridgewater and creating an impact on town architecture should think not only about profits, but also about their social responsibilities toward the community. The place, chosen for The Bridgewater mall on the river is surely the best prime land in town, but the architect didn’t take advantage of it. In fact, the side facing the river is the back of the building with fireproof doors. It would be good for a city design if the mall had a large long deck on the LaHave side, so the management could rent the attached stores to coffee shops, restaurants and maybe some offices. Small lounges could tempt many owners of the boats on the water to stop there, have a cup of coffee, meal or shop during the warm months. Interiors with some small touches, such as, for example blue tiles for flooring could make a connection with the color of the river. A glass roof, maybe of a half circular form would provide a great deal of light during the day time, bring some elegance and eliminate the feeling of enclosed spaces. I am pretty sure, that the management of the mall didn’t build any relationship with its tenants, didn’t care about attracting expensive, unusual or interesting businesses. The number of closed down shops is because of management’s policy in maintaining the image of low prices and cheap deals, but in this market there is always somebody who comes along and is lower and cheaper.

more about Bridgewater and the Shopping Mall read here:

Of Hovels and Houses