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A collection of emptiness

Where are the customers?

Yvonne Abraham nailed it in her column today about the emptiness that the Uptown Wing of the Natick Mall has become.

The kidlet and I roamed its sparsely populated walkways today and man, was it empty (don't worry, we weren't there to either smirk or check up on Abraham; we happened to be out that way anyway so we stopped in at Sears to get something truly boring and then decided to walk around). Clerks stared out at us bored as can be, when they weren't too busy chatting with each other or, as in the case above, abandoning all pretense that any customers would come in and so just surfing the Web. Even Neiman-Marcus was pretty much empty, which is probably just as well, since the kidlet spent most of our short stay there loudly complaining about how expensive everything was (I admit I snorted out loud when I saw a Juicy infant romper, although I couldn't decide which was worse: The sexualization of infants or the fact that the thing was going for $73).

However, I'm betting Abraham stayed on the second floor, because we did find one retail bright spot on the first floor: The Apple Store, which, while not packed wall to wall, seemed reasonably busy.

Meanwhile, the Ghetto Wing, i.e., the original mall, seemed to have a decent number of people walking around. We actually had to spend 30 seconds scouting out a table at the food court (I recommend the Indian food). I have no doubt people are buying less there, as well, but it still felt like a functioning place of commerce rather than a Potemkin Mall.

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Comments

Needless Markup?

I'm sure their sales have plummeted now that the McCain/Palin ticket is done for ...

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Looks like the stores in the Copley mall - usually full of only salesfolks.

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Isnt Gucci opening a new store in Boston, and Prada one as well?

Meanwhile, its Linen and Things and Circuit City that are failing.

This section of the mall doesnt need hundreds to thrive, just one or two whales.

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maybe the "collection" demographic realized the quickest way to look unfashionable is to shop at a mall in the suburbs

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Kids love playing in that fountain.

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Being more low-rent types, our fountain fun consisted of winging coins into the fountain from the second floor.

It was interesting how they stationed Santa (yes, of course, Santa was already there) as far into the gated-community section of the mall as possible.

Highly annoying: The Wii Music demonstrators near the fountain, who had their volume turned up to 11, completely ruining the serene quiet of that wing.

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