Shopping as an Entertainment Experience
67
distance of entertainment (Sennett 142-144). Thus, the shopping mall—the
modem store—has a long history as an entertainment venue. Retail environments
have evolved into major meeting places and significant “social centers” (Harris
64). People came to the department store—and still do—for more than simply the
purchase of a good or a service. They met there, had lunch, had a drink, and spent
the day. In the 1970s and the 1980s, Bloomingdales marketed itself as the social
center for the hip and the young. On Saturday mornings the Lexington Avenue
store was packed with trendy singles, as well as celebrities hanging out at the
place to be (Traub 116-119).
Shopping is now something one can do with their free time, or can fall
back on “to do” as a leisure activity. It is accepted as a leisure or entertainment
activity, the same as going to a movie or going for a walk. A key determinant in
this evolution is the fact that since many parents both work, shopping that can’t be
done during the confines of the workday has to be done in the evening, or better
yet, on the weekend. Shopping—going to the mall, Home Depot, Crate and
Barrel, and other stores—has come to be a key entertainment activity on the
weekend (Underhill 141, 142). Shopping becomes a very important way for
families to engage in leisure time together. As Thomas Hine has observed, the
“drive to transform into a form of family entertainment is in fact an attempt to
adapt shopping to contemporary living patterns” (Hine 189, 190).
Shopping also plays a vital motivation in travel. In the progression from
travel to tourism it is important to recognize that some tangible manifestation of
this experience had to be documented. The rise of “markers” to indicate travel,
such as work of art, a picture, or the ubiquitous T-shirt, serves to remind both
those who have traveled and those who haven’t that person X was away (Schor 2:
48). In fact, the third often cited reason for travel to New York is to shop
(Twitchell 26).
This process apparently amuses locals. As Susan Willis relates, people
who live in Maine (close to the famous L.L. Bean store which has become a
magnet for tourist) spend time watching families arrive and shop at all hours. She
terms this “consumer tourism” (Willis 39). People are increasingly traveling to
shop, which takes the notion of the souvenir to a whole new level. Unlike the
medieval pilgrims who traveled far to visit a shrine and maybe purchase a mirror
or a badge with the picture of a saint (Man 62), these tourists are motivated by the
reverse. Planeloads of travelers are now whisked in to destinations simply for the
purpose of shopping. Both the Mall of America and the West Edmonton Mall
(WEM) are supreme points in the constellation of consumer tourism.
The definitive example of the important role that shopping plays as an
entertainment experience is most probably the WEM. As Tracy Davis writes:
Since its completion in 1985, the Mall has become a leisure
centre for millions of suburbanites and tourists attracted by the