Sometimes I suspect that NYC has suburb envy. For example, malls belong to the suburbs, no? But NYC seems to think malls belong on the waterfront, or...well, anywhere there is space in Manhattan. Manhattan developers believe, "if we build it, people will come." Consequently, new malls keep springing up all over the place, and indeed people do come.
Many of the malls appear to be food halls. So you have your Chelsea Market and the new Eataly (eat Italian, get it?).
And lets face it, Penn Station and Grand Central are both malls that happen to have train tracks connected to them so they can drop people off.
Yesterday, we went to the Century 21 Department Store in lower Manhattan. On the plus side, I never even knew it existed before yesterday. On the minus side, I now know it exists. It's not that I have anything against malls or shopping in general. But after yesterday, every time I see Century 21, I'm going to get a headache. Or have some kind of a weird Filene's Basement-esque waking nightmare.
Century 21 is billed as a gigantic department store filled with discount designer goods. But when you walk in, you see racks and racks (and racks and racks) of stuff. A lot of it is hanging on hangers, but a lot of it is half on and half off the hanger. Shoeboxes might contain only one shoe, or two shoes of different sizes. Worst of all, at any given time, 1/3 of NYC is in the building.
At least when I go to a boutique I can pretend that shopping is a dignified activity.
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