Mall Comparison

For this activity, my group observed the malls Carrboro Plaza and Streets at Southpoint, and from my analysis it seems like both malls have at least partially established themselves as ‘cathedrals of consumption’ as described by Ritzer in Enchanting a Disenchanted World. The Streets at Southpoint have a lot more of the characteristics of a cathedral of consumption, and this difference is logical, as these two malls have a different demographic they are trying to target. The clientele of each mall differs in what social class they belong to, which in turn limits the extent to which the consumers are able to experience the enchantment of this modern consumerism culture. Carrboro Plaza is a lower end, open-air complex with around twenty stores.

Southpoint is a beautiful place, with classy looking brick buildings, water fountains, glass walls, naturally-lit inside. It makes every attempt to be a nice and enchanting place to be in, and the presence of several benches spread around the mall both on the inside and outside areas show that they expect the consumers to sit, appreciate the scenery, and ‘people watch’. The mall has the dumbbell style described by Ritzer, with large department stores on the ends and a large hall of stores in between them, surrounded by acres of parking area. Ritzer described how malls try to keep the consumer inside by having few exits, and this is true for Southpoint, which not only has few exits but several of those are in one of the department stores, forcing consumers to walk through them to get to the mall’s main hallway or to get out to the parking lot. Southpoint also has very few escalators, with a pair located on each end and in the central plaza area to giving access to the food court, forcing consumers to walk and look at several stores on the floor they are on before they are able to go to a different