Opulence and crisis rubbing shoulders in newspaper columns.
Butlers/stylists/valets for the meltdowntowners.
From a few k away, we saw the new Shoppingtown steadily rising on the horizon by about 11%, opening for trade just as consumer confidence fell by 11%.
We checked out Donc* a few weeks ago in the not-quite-ready or Playtime phase, with visible cable lines and scaffolding surrounding the food-courts and fishmongers, and ye olde valets directing vehicles around the car parks with thumbed aplomb.
I liked the old Donc, actually, with its long narrow walkways of 70s mall, where walking groups of 70 year olds would sometimes stroll, its many exits, its mid century scale, its aspect looking squarely at the suburbs.
I am uneasy in Chaddy sized centres, disoriented in their no-place interiors, and certainly disturbed by pretensions of opulence in shops.
More at Sterne
* I don't think this name enjoys wide currency.
5 comments:
It did have a lot of exits, didn't it?
I've used "Donc" a few times, but mostly prefer "Shoppo", "Donnie", "Doncastle" or, if I'm feeling extravagant, "Donkeykongcaster".
- a good Exit ratio for the claustraphobes.
We've only been saying Donc here (this household) in the last few years. There's something vaguely onomatopeic about it, though I don't how...
I think I remember Donnie and Shoppo as being fairly widespread, and the latter kinda goes with the nouveau oppulence, not.
Future Shoppo.
Future Shoppo is excellent and I will tell it to my brother who lives near there. Near Tim, I think.
I know a woman who refers to Highpoint as Hotpoint and no irony is included.
An "$800million" arena for consumers is a scary thing.
I enjoy opshops immensely.
I notice that Westfield have just opened megamall in London W12.
A shopping Mall is, in effect, an anti-village; it's a place where no one lives.
The comments are worth reading too, for some erudite pommy whingeing.
Let's just hope the Op Shops stay small and unmalled.
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