Thursday, May 8, 2008

New Day #133

With the continuing death of independent bookstores, an author spends a lot of time on book tour visiting shopping malls.



Well, there are malls and then there's the Grove. I'd say it's like Disneyland for shopping, but Disneyland is already the Disneyland of shopping. Each store in this outdoor shopping experience is designed in a different kitschy period style: Tuscan villa, Art Deco, New Orleans style.The Abercrombie and Fitch is a Georgian town hall, complete with live models.

From there I went to the Americana, which recreates an old-fashioned town square, but with added improvements like the dancing water fountain and round-the-clock Sinatra music. It just opened this week and already there's a waiting list for the condos, which begs the question of why so many people want to live in a shopping mall?

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6 comments:

gay CME guy said...

keep posting pix of guys like the A&F model! Gratuitous beefcake is never a bad thing!

lkmadigan said...

Duh.

The live models.

Rick Bettencourt said...

What a place!

That seems to be the new fad - living in shopping malls. We too have one here in Massachusetts.

dpaste said...

Was the boy on sale? Was there a two-for-one special? Can he be shipped overnight?

Erin said...

The last time we had a half-nekkid dude hanging around our mall, it was the homeless Gorton's Fisherman-lookalike who smelled of cigarettes and cheese, and kept shouting gibberish to the cashiers on the main level.

Can we trade up, please?

Shephard said...

There's nothing like The Grove, is there. Even the Americana, in my own back yard, is not quite as polished and colorful as The Grove.

~S