ABSTRACT
Thus the new mall structure generated high pedestrian densities with high rental value. This added value lay in the potential to seduce the passing consumer into impulse consumption. This is the time-honoured function of the shop window. Yet the capacity of the architecture to transfer the attention of the consumer was new and was attributed to the architect as the ‘Gruen Transfer’ (Crawford 1992). The spatial syntax of the ‘dumb-bell’ structure ensures that the magnet stores which hold the power of attraction are located as the deepest cells of the structure such that entry to them passes first through the mall spaces and past the specialty shops. Yet it is in the interest of both the consumer and the anchor store to give direct access from the parking lot to the anchor store, permitting the consumer to engage in convenience shopping and avoid the mall entirely. This of course undermines the viability of the smaller stores which rely on passing traffic and impulse purchasing. Thus the structure of the mall is fundamentally coercive in that it manipulates consumers into long pathways to maximize impulse consumption. The shortcut of the urban arcade becomes a detour in the suburban mall.
