Indoor Surfing: a Sign of Desperate Times
The New York Times has a report on desperate mall owners and their increasingly bizarre tactics to keep their retail monoliths alive.
In addition to dying malls now welcoming in formerly shunned "downscale chains" (there's a term to remember -- you'll be hearing it again) like Big Lots, the most amazing thing about the article has to be the segment on "The Flowrider," which some malls are installing to attract curious (and presumably unemployed and possibly brain-damaged) onlookers. Not only does the idiotic machine waste tens of thousands of gallons of water, but its developers are able to charge up to two million dollars for each installation.
Friedrich Nietzsche once famously said, "Those you cannot teach to fly, teach to fall faster." Or, you know: Hang Ten.
In addition to dying malls now welcoming in formerly shunned "downscale chains" (there's a term to remember -- you'll be hearing it again) like Big Lots, the most amazing thing about the article has to be the segment on "The Flowrider," which some malls are installing to attract curious (and presumably unemployed and possibly brain-damaged) onlookers. Not only does the idiotic machine waste tens of thousands of gallons of water, but its developers are able to charge up to two million dollars for each installation.
Friedrich Nietzsche once famously said, "Those you cannot teach to fly, teach to fall faster." Or, you know: Hang Ten.
Labels: end of the world watch
posted by ADD at
5:24 AM
2 Comments:
I really must say I cannot disagree with this review more, I am a regular visitor to the first Adrenalina store located in Orlando’s Florida Mall and home to the first in mall Flowrider. This is the same mall which deadmalls.com cites in its review of Kissimmee’s Osceloa Square Mall as being a contributor Osceola Square’s downturn, by no means a dead or desperate mall. This first store has been open now for more than three years, open for business before the recent housing bubble burst and resulting recession. It has been extremely successful since its inception, it’s is a revolutionary retail experience and its recent growth is because of that. To call it a “Sign of Desperate Times” is completely inaccurate.
Also the Flowrider recycles the water it uses, much like the rides in most water parks, so saying “the idiotic machine waste tens of thousands of gallons of water” is also painting a skewed view of its operation.
I agree with the previous comment. To say a Flowrider wastes water is fairly idiotic. By the way, the DeadMalls.com website is looking a little dead as well. The last blog entry was 6 months ago. Oops.
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