Hello!
I was interested to read your blog
about the outlets. Shopping areas are quite familiar to me, but I felt as if I
was seeing them in a new light with your perspective. I enjoyed the detailed
descriptions you presented about mundane things that may often be overlooked. I
would like to challenge something you said about South Coast Plaza catering to
the rich and the outlets being a place for middle class to shop. I would like
to take a look at the kind of shops that are at the Citadel Outlets. The store
directory can be found here http://www.citadeloutlets.com/go/dirlisting.cfm?fl=all.
After reviewing the directory, I do think there is a broad range of stores that
would appear to middle class. However there are still designer stores such as
Coach, Juicy Couture, and Michael Kors. Despite theses being outlet stores, I
can speak from personal experience when I say that the prices are still high.
Therefore I think it is possible that the outlets would also attract consumers
of a higher class. I mean after all everyone loves a good deal (or they
should). In all seriousness though, I would agree that the outlets don’t really
attract lower class shoppers. Those of
the middle class may represent the majority of shoppers. The middle class
shoppers are trying to emulate people who are high class, by purchasing status
symbols that would assert their position in society. This venue is a fantastic
example of consumerism at work.
I
would also like to bring up your comment about the ideal location of the
shopping center due to its proximity to factories. I wonder though, and suspect
that it is a quite small number, how many of those factories actually make good
sold at the outlets? I suspect that globalization is a key factor here. It is
likely that the vast majority of the products being sold in the outlets were
made outside of the US. Since many companies have outsourced in order to
maximize profits, most retailers are not producing their products in the US
despite being American companies with American consumers. This would not have
been possible if globalization had not occurred.
Anyway
I thought you blog brought up some interesting points well done!
