IWA #5 My unique Valley Fair experience

As a person who comes from a small city with just a modest shopping mall, to me, Valley Fair mall is awesome. Never have I been bored of visiting the mall, regardless of whether I go there to buy things or just hang out with my friends to kill time.  But, this particular visit is a lot different than usual. I had to pay attention to the architecture of the mall, its lighting, the stores, and happenings that take place inside the mall, which I usually never did. This time, I was bringing a pen and a paper with me, and ran behind time as I was given limited time to complete the assignment. Some people even approached me and asked me what I was doing. It felt weird in the beginning, but nevertheless, I found this assignment so attractive. I was like on an amazing race show. Interesting.

I feel comfortable hanging around in this mall. Its simple and classic architecture provides a glamorous feeling for the visitors. More importantly, its natural and not-too-bright lighting gives a sense of convenience for people. I believe this is done purposely as I once read an article on how lighting affects how long a customer will be around in a store. The lighting in Valley Fair mall gives an impression of ‘heaven’ inside the mall. Once we get into the mall, we get into our comfort zone already. It seems that we don’t even care about what happens outside the mall and just wanting to spend more time inside. Time flies really fast when you are at the mall as you enjoy it.

             However, I feel that the society is kind of segregated in the mall. Seemingly, the branded shops are located together in a group, with more affordable shops are also clumped together in a group, yet the two categories are located at a distance between each other. The most vivid indicators would be the two entrance doors that the mall has. One entrance door is located next to Nordstrom, which is a high-end department store, while the other one is located near Macy’s, a more affordable store. A much more clear segregation is visible between the ground floor and the second floor of the mall. As we know, the entire branded and high-end store are located at the ground floor. The ground floor also seems to be wider and more luxurious as it has ceramic floor, while the second floor only has carpeted floor. I conclude that the mall is trying to impress every customer with its extravagance. However, I noticed that only a few people dared to enter these branded stores, while a few visitors just passed by the stores; much more people are on the second floor than on the ground floor.

        One problem with this Valley Fair mall is that most of the stores are not affordable for most San Jose residents. According to the statistics, majority of San Jose residents only have medium income range. Furthermore, with an average of 3 kids per household, for sure the residents cannot afford most of the stores inside. I believe, the management of this stores should implement more affordable stores and cut down the number of branded stores inside the mall. There are two major shopping malls in San Jose, The Valley Fair mall and Santana Row. Santana Row is a mall full of branded stores already, so why don’t we make the other one more affordable? Should some people want to buy these expensive items, they can just go to Santana Row instead. So, everyone is better off.

       Another problem would be the need of racial diversities among employees working at the mall. Although the race group is San Jose is about equally diverse with Asians, White, and Hispanic being the majority with around 30 % of the total population each, it is clearly seen that majority of the employees are White. Few of them are Asians and Hispanic. I saw most of them work at the food court instead. I am sure some of these Asians and Hispanic people feel this unfair. The make up majority of the population also, but why is it hard for them to get more proper jobs inside the mall? Would it have been wonderful if the employees were equally diverse just like the population? I believe everyone would be content if it does happen.