Is there anyplace on this planet more miserable than the mall? We live about two hours away from any sort of major shopping and with money lately, even when we have gone out, we have avoided the mall. But, due to our vision plan, we found ourselves at the mall. There was a billion people. Parking was miserable. There was even a line to the baby changing table in the bathroom! People were rude. We finally finished up with our eye appointments and like fools we continued to walk around the mall!

We were there about an hour, getting irritated and crabby, almost talked into a really expensive phone (husband's work), spent $12.00 on 3 cookies and drinks, when I looked at my husband and asked, "Why are we here?" We had other things to do. We wanted to hurry up and get home and yet there we were roaming a mall that we had no desire / need to even be at! But it was just a natural response, after finishing with our eye appointments we walked straight into that mall.

Needless to say we got out of there as fast as we possibly could!

I have friends that regard the mall as some sort of holy land, but I'm with you...can't stand it and avoid it if at all possible! I am an online shopper now. You can find better deals and not have to deal with the stress and hassle of parking and rude people...which is worth the cost of shipping to me!!

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~ Jen
http://halfpintjen.blogspot.com/

Our local mall makes it easy to avoid shopping there. It is small, and filling up with exclusive designer label shops that are overpriced. I can never find anything there worth the trouble of finding a parking spot and walking through crowds.

I too found myself at the mall yesterday, first time in 3 years. I hate the mall, it's a teen hang out and over priced goods IMO. But I was pleasantly surprised at what I found.

Youngest DS wanted to go and get his school shoes there from Steve and Barry's and I caved after he told me the price-$15. With our busy schedule, the only night to get out there was Sat. and we were out of time as school starts tomorrow. Told DS we were not going to walk the mall, rather park outside the correct store and only go into it. Sat. is the wrong night to go to the mall in the first place especially on the last weekend before school.

Expected a parking nightmare to begin with, but found an empty lot and got front door parking. Got inside the store and noticed the place was empty, but looked out their windows into the mall itself and noticed the whole place looked rather desserted. At least for mall standards. The shoes my DS wanted were nice looking shoes and indeed $15. Got my ohter kids talked into getting their shoes there and managed to buy all 6 members of this house, self included, a pair of tennis shoes. Total cost-$96. So I gave DS a pat on the back as I had originally planned a trip to Wally World today to get shoes which would have cost me $90 for 3 pair.

I still refused to walk out their doors and into the mall to "browse" any further, and instead walked back out to my car. Happy about my experience, which was better than going to Target or Wally World.

Will this change my opinion though of shopping at the mall? NOPE!!!! Still hate the place and will avoid at all costs. In fact it will be another 3 years before I get there again, you can bank on it.

I just realized after reading this thread that I have hardly been mall shopping since my son was born just over 2 years ago! Heck even before that! I live in a growing community that seems to have a penchant for brand new strip malls with nice useful shops (my opinion of course about them being nice and useful ) and I've found it makes it so much easier to just go into the store you 'need' something at and buy your item(s) then leave. Regular malls you're stuck, having to walk through them and pass by so many stores on your way out.

When I was a pre-teen and teen - I loved malls. Now, not-so-much. I agree with the poster that mentioned online shopping. No driving/parking nor searching for hours for something only to find nowhere carries it. Not buying food or a latte from the food court, not getting sucked into buying things from other stores that you didn't need, and not driving probably adds up to what shipping would cost + no hassle and you're guaranteed to find your item in the comfort of your own home!