From: rkay@ausom.oz.au (Richard Kay)
Newsgroups: alt.planning.urban
Subject: Re - Mall Of America
Date: 20 Aug 92 11:03:20 GMT
Organization: AUSOM - The Apple Users Society of Melbourne

dtasman@dante.nmsu.edu (Dan Tasman) writes:

DT> I hear K mart stores are very popular in OZ. What are shopping
DT> centers like Down Under? Considering the suburban nature of
DT> Australia, do they serve the role of a community center like many
DT> of them do in the States>


Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. I am going from memory here because there aren't many
large shopping centres down here in Tasmania - with a population of
450,000 people we are perhaps the most decentalised state in Australia.
Take a look at the size of Tasmania and then Los Angeles and compare
their populations and you'll understand what I mean. ;-)

When I lived on the mainland, K-Marts were going up all over the place.
We are talking 1970's and 1980's here by the way.

The site layout of an Australian shopping mall was typically a building
set well back from the road with most of the site dominated by hard
standing car parking areas. The car parks were, of course, broken up by
landscaping. A small area to the rear of the mall was usually provided
to enable access to shops by service and delivery vehicles.

The actual internal layout of the mall was generally two large "magnet"
stores at either end of the building with a number of speciality stores
between them, together with the "mall" proper. K-Mart down here sells
just about everything but foodstuffs. Coles, which I believe is owned
by the company that owns K-Mart, is a leading foodstuffs store. Coles
and K-Mart were, at least in my memory, the usual "magnet" stores.

The philosophy underlying the layout is that the two major shops or
"magnets" are located at either end of the building and are separated
by a number of speciality stores - people will gravitate to either end
of the centre, depending on their shopping needs, and in moving from
one end to another are "captured" by the speciality stores. The
"magnets" typically pay little or no rent. Most of the rent is obtained
from the speciality stores who seek to benefit from the spillover trade
from the "magnet" stores.

Obviously the philosophy behind the layout is more complex than my
description but I think that this is the jist of it. I suspect that
malls in the U.S. were once and perhaps still are, similar.

As I observe them, shopping malls in Australia are not "community
centres". They are simply collections of shops under one roof, with
ample car parking, in convenient locations. There are generally no
administrative or cultural areas located within the malls - things like
local government branch offices,libraries,creches or major
entertainment areas. They are, in my opinion, empty and bland and this
feeling is emphasised by the piped music that generally wafts through
them.

So what, in Australia, is a "community centre"? I'm damned if I can
answer that question. Here in Launceston the local K-Mart
mall is a social outing for some but it definitely is not a meeting
place or area of community activity. The Brisbane Street Mall
(essentially a closed street in the centre of town) is probably the
centre of community activity in Launceston - where street theatre,
bands, displays, promotions, civic receptions, fashion parades and the
like take place on an almost daily basis.

Perhaps some other Australians reading this could share their
experiences with the rest of us, as I am certain that Tasmania
is not a true representation of Australian commercial activity.

On a final note let me say that shopping in the U.S. appears to be
cheaper than shopping in Australia - Australian Business Monthly (July
1992) claims that "Australia's small retail businesses pay between two
and three times the rent and occupancy costs of their American
counterparts."

Hope that gives you some insight into retail Australia Dan. ;-)
-- 
| Richard Kay          | Telephone:     +61 03 362801                |
| PO Box 1567          | Facsimile:     +61 03 344572                |
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| Australia       7250 | BE REALISTIC.............PLAN FOR A MIRACLE!|