Entropy and exclusivity: gender and change in the retail environment, Alexandria, Egypt (1970-2011)

As one of the most visible signs of the modern world, the myriad of shopping places and types can be considered as a valuable lens through which to examine the contemporary city. In Alexandria, Egypt, the situation was particularly interesting because retail space was moving in two polarized directions: exclusivity and entropy. First, there was an emphasis on creating high-end restricted modern space while at the same time, low-end retail, both modern and traditional, were proliferating and becoming less organized. The high-end modern retail created exclusive spaces in which traditional forms of gendered space could be upheld, although in a reconfigured manner. On the other hand, the proliferation of lower-end retail space allowed greater female participation in consumerism but in an increasingly insecure situation. Insecurity took many forms including lack of personal safety, price volatility, unpredictable earnings, and an unreliable supply of goods. This dissertation will examine how the retail spaces in Alexandria affected gendered space and how ideas about space were reconfigured to allow women to navigate the modern globalized world without abandoning their status or virtue. This research specifically targets the difference between the shopping mall, as the embodiment of high-end retail, and the urban shopping street, as popular retail space. Through these two environments, we will see how they are defined in opposition to each other, particularly in terms of status, and their appropriateness for women, and how they are gendered differently. Specifically this research will examine the extent to which the genders mix, in terms of goods sold, shoppers, and shop workers, as well as the extent to which women are allowed privacy. This will show how the retail environment of Alexandria responded to its citizens' desires to be modern and globalized through both the creation of exclusive spaces and devolution into chaotic zones.

ENTROPY AND EXCLUSIVITY: GENDER AND CHANGE IN THE RETAIL ENVIRONMENT, ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT (1970-2011) by Marika Dalley Snider A dissertation submitted to the faculty of The University of Utah in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Middle East Studies / History Department of Languages and Literature The University of Utah December 2012 Copyright © Marika Dalley Snider 2012 All Rights Reserved The Unive r si t y of Utah Gradua t e School STATEMENT OF DISSERTATION APPROVAL The dissertation of Marika Dalley Snider has been approved by the following supervisory committee members: Peter von Sivers Chair 10/18/12 Date Approved Peter Sluglett Member 10/18/12 Date Approved Bradley J. Parker Member 10/18/12 Date Approved Caren J. Frost Member 10/18/12 Date Approved Mohammad Gharipour Member 10/18/12 Date Approved and by Robert Goldberg the Department of Middle East Center Chair of and by Charles A. Wight, Dean of The Graduate School. ABSTRACT As one of the most visible signs of the modern world, the myriad of shopping places and types can be considered as a valuable lens through which to examine the contemporary city. In Alexandria, Egypt, the situation was particularly interesting because retail space was moving in two polarized directions: exclusivity and entropy. First, there was an emphasis on creating high-end restricted modern space while at the same time, low-end retail, both modern and traditional, were proliferating and becoming less organized. The high-end modern retail created exclusive spaces in which traditional forms of gendered space could be upheld, although in a reconfigured manner. On the other hand, the proliferation of lower-end retail space allowed greater female participation in consumerism but in an increasingly insecure situation. Insecurity took many forms including lack of personal safety, price volatility, unpredictable earnings, and an unreliable supply of goods. This dissertation will examine how the retail spaces in Alexandria affected gendered space and how ideas about space were reconfigured to allow women to navigate the modern globalized world without abandoning their status or virtue. This research specifically targets the difference between the shopping mall, as the embodiment of high-end retail, and the urban shopping street, as popular retail space. Through these two environments, we will see how they are defined in opposition to each other, particularly in terms of status, and their appropriateness for women, and how they are gendered differently. Specifically this research will examine the extent to which the genders mix, in terms of goods sold, shoppers, and shop workers, as well as the extent to which women are allowed privacy. This will show how the retail environment of Alexandria responded to its citizens' desires to be modern and globalized through both the creation of exclusive spaces and devolution into chaotic zones. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT..........................................................................................................................iii CHAPTERS 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 1 Major Historical Events in Modern Egypt Relating to Retail Development................................................................................................................2 Overview of Sources...................................................................................................6 Secondary Sources ....................................................................................................20 Chapter Summary .....................................................................................................22 2 A BRIEF HISTORY OF MODERN SHOPPING SPACE....................................25 Introduction............................................................................................................... 25 Consumerism ............................................................................................................ 25 The Development of the Department Store ............................................................29 Suburban Growth: from Shopping Center to Shopping Mall ............................... 34 Shopping Mall Typology ......................................................................................... 44 Critiques of Consumerism and Shopping Malls .....................................................48 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 52 3 CONSUMERISM AND SHOPPING MALLS IN THE MIDDLE EAST..........................................................................................................................59 Introduction............................................................................................................... 59 Modernism, Consumerism, and Globalization .......................................................60 Shopping Space in the Middle East and A s ia .........................................................74 Egyptian Malls in Perspective .................................................................................83 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 94 4 HISTORY OF ALEXANDRIA AND RETAIL SPACE.....................................106 Alexandria History..................................................................................................106 Department Stores in Egypt and Alexandria ........................................................117 Department Stores Versus Street Shops ...............................................................136 Ramleh Shopping Center ....................................................................................... 139 History of Shopping Malls in Alexandria.............................................................141 Mall Advantages for Women.................................................................................154 5 OPPOSING TRAJECTORIES: UPWARDLY MOBILE SPACE, POPULAR SPACE AND (TRADITIONAL) IDEAL SPACE .......................... 178 Divergence of a Bifurcated Middle Class.............................................................178 Popular Space: The Deterioration of the Cosmopolitan City ............................. 195 Traditional / Idealized Space .................................................................................221 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 224 6 EXCLUSIVITY, MODERNITY, AND GENDER IN SHOPPING MALLS ....................................................................................................................240 Creating a Modern Space....................................................................................... 240 How to Get a Reputation........................................................................................ 245 Female Friendly Spaces in Small Malls................................................................ 253 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 258 7 ENTROPY, INSECURITY, AND INCONSISTENT PERCEPTIONS IN THE CITY CENTER........................................................................................ 262 Introduction............................................................................................................. 262 Mapping Downtown ...............................................................................................264 Woman and Space in the Suq and the Informal Economy...................................272 Insecurity in Downtown Retailing ........................................................................ 274 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 293 8 CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................302 Gender Mixing ........................................................................................................302 Interpreting Gender Mixing and R etail................................................................. 307 Entropy, Exclusivity, and Modernity.................................................................... 310 Modernity Defined by Both Exclusivity and Entropy .........................................312 GLOSSARY ........................................................................................................................314 APPENIDIX .......................................................................................................................321 BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................................... 345 vi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION In the summer of 2007, Mohamed Ansary announced to his Arabic students that he would show them "the real Alexandria." I expected he would show us some secret suqs or unknown mosques hidden in Attarine (one of the oldest districts), and I was quite disappointed when the fieldtrip ended at an upscale cafe in Green Plaza Mall. The open-air style mall was so similar to Salt Lake City's The Gateway that its resemblance to a contemporary American mall was anticlimactic. However, for upwardly mobile, internationally oriented Alexandrians, the modern shopping mall was far more representative of their reality than the deteriorating section of the old city. This began a series of questions in my mind to reexamine the city and how it should be understood in the context of the modern world. As one of the most visible signs of the modern world, the myriad of shopping places and types can be considered as a valuable lens through which to examine the contemporary city. In Alexandria, Egypt, the situation was particularly interesting because retail space was moving in two polarized directions: exclusivity and entropy. First, there was an emphasis on creating high-end restricted modern space while at the same time, low-end retail, both modern and traditional, were proliferating and becoming less organized. The high-end modern retail created exclusive spaces in which traditional forms of gendered space could be upheld, although in a reconfigured manner. On the other hand, the proliferation of lower-end retail space allowed greater female participation in consumerism but in an increasingly insecure situation. Insecurity took many forms including lack of personal safety, price volatility, unpredictable earnings, and an unreliable supply of goods. This dissertation will examine how the retail spaces in Alexandria affected gendered space and how ideas about space were reconfigured to allow women to navigate the modern globalized world without abandoning their status or virtue. This research specifically targets the difference between the shopping mall, as the embodiment of high-end retail, and the urban shopping street, as the popular retail space. Through these two environments, we will see how they are defined in opposition to each other, particularly in terms of status, and their appropriateness for women, and how they are gendered differently. Specifically this research will examine the extent to which the genders mix, in terms of goods sold, shoppers, and shop workers, as well as the extent to which women are allowed privacy. This will show how the retail environment of Alexandria responded to its citizens' desires to be modern and globalized through both the creation of exclusive spaces and devolution into chaotic zones. Major Historical Events in Modern Egypt Relating to Retail Development In the nineteenth and early twentieth century the central business district and department stores of Alexandria were very much oriented towards Europe and France in particular. This began to change in the mid-twentieth century with the rise of nationalism before the 1952 Revolution. Department stores, which were primarily owned by Jewish 2 families who had strong ties with Europe became vilified as non-Egyptian entities, while stores owned by "ethnic Egyptians" became proud manifestations of Egyptian nationalism. The irony is that the "Egyptian-ness" of a store was not based on the origin of the goods, but the ethnicity of the owner, and thus commerce continued to have a global dimension, even during the period of revolution and nationalism (Reynolds 1999/2000, 91). After the Suez Crisis (1956) most of the department stores were sequestered and nationalized because they were "identified as typical foreign capitalist interests, and undesirable symbols of foreign and bourgeois conspicuous consumption" (Kupferschmidt, Who needs 2007, 175). After nationalization, department stores declined in status but continued to serve the Egyptian population especially in the purchase of durable goods. Thus, as retail space expanded beyond the traditional suq, it became even more important both socially and politically. The effects of politics on the retail environment were even more pronounced after the Infitah. Beginning in 1974, Anwar Sadat (1970-1981) instituted political changes to open the economy and reverse Gamal Nasser's (1956-1970) socialist policies. Egypt switched orientation from the Soviet Union to the West including a capitalist agenda. The Infitah policies encouraged foreign investment (including modern factories which often dominated local production) and opened the way for importing large amounts of foreign merchandise (which also competed with local goods). In addition, Sadat attempted to reduce government subsidies, sometimes with riotous results, such as the bread riots after attempts to raise the price of bread. Under Hosni Mubarak (1981-2011) the economic liberalization policies were continued and in the 1990s many of the government-run sectors were privatized. Most subsidies were removed (except for bread, cooking and mineral oil, sugar, and gas), 3 tariffs on agricultural products were greatly reduced, and social security such as a Nasser's guarantee of a job for every university graduate were slowly abandoned (Ibrahim and Ibrahim 2003, 94-99). This economic liberalization resulted in the construction of high-end shopping malls, international brand name stores, and cheap Asian consumer goods. By the turn of the twenty-first century, the Egyptian retail sector was well integrated into the global consumer culture. Both political and economic changes affected retail space in Alexandria, but by far, the greatest transformation in retail space was caused by the introduction of shopping malls. The malls introduced a higher-level of shopping space that was thoroughly modern. Within these new modern spaces, the way in which space was gendered reflected modern ideas about space, women, and social life, but did not abandon traditional principles. Instead, traditional ideas about space were folded into the retail life and created a reconfiguration without obliterating traditional ideas. Gender, Space, and Shopping Traditionally, space was considered to be divided into a male/public sphere and a female/private sphere. This conception of space manifested itself in three relevant postulates: domestic space belongs to women while public space is reserved for men; men and women mixing should be avoided to preserve morality and family honor; and female social life is welcome as long as it occurs outside of public view. This idealized conception of gendered space was neither possible nor desirable for almost all women in modern Alexandria, but because these ideas were associated with home and status, they colored concepts of gendered space, even in the contemporary city. 4 The genius of the shopping mall was the creation of a space which felt separated from the outside world and surrounded the visitor in an upscale environment, thus reinforcing status and morality. The space was perceived as a place which was secure, exclusive, upwardly mobile, homelike, and blurred the line between public and private space. Frequently Western critiques about shopping malls seek to expose the "false public" nature of mall space, but in Alexandria, the private and controlled nature of malls was exactly what made them so desirable, especially for women. In essence, malls became an extension of the home, where women could go to reinforce their status, to manage their households through shopping, and to socialize appropriately. Thus, malls provided opportunities for women to participate in modern consumer society without being subject to the degradation found in the street. Street shopping, on the other hand, had an entirely different trajectory. The shops, department stores, markets, "cabinet vendors," and street peddlers inhabited a space which has been in the process of degrading. Unlike the American suburbanization phenomenon, the central retail districts of Alexandria were not vacating. Instead, there was an increase in the number of retail establishments as more shops and vendors inhabited the same space and alternatives to mall shopping remained extremely desirable. These goods offered on the street were usually of lower quality and price which allowed a larger segment of the population to participate in consumer culture. Although popular, street shoppers were also subject to more physical and economic insecurity. Thus, the retail space outside of malls increased in fragmentation, deterioration, and chaos; or entropy. The shopping street was also gendered entirely differently than the mall, even though they were both products of modernizing forces. In the street, the space was less 5 controlled and more gender-integrated, but these factors resulted in an area which was less female-friendly. Although this area could be considered more free, there were fewer accommodations for women to have privacy, such as female-staffed clothing stores or security personnel who protect against sexual harassment. While the freedom of the shopping street was not beneficial to women's status or honor, it was the only option to participate in consumer culture for a large portion of the population. Although moving in divergent directions, the mall and the street worked in tandem to support the consumer society. The mall relied on the street because it was defined in opposition of the street: a place which is separate, safe, modern, and upscale. Whereas the street continued desirability in opposition to the mall as a place where everyone could patronize and find affordable versions of mall goods. Both the street and the mall were affected by global trends, but each adapted to modernity differently. In the street, there was a relaxing of regulations and conventions which resulted in increased challenges for women while the mall attempted to reinforce certain ideas about gender in order to generate a desirable upper-class environment. Overview of Sources Scholars have accomplished a great deal of research on modern religious spaces (mosques, churches, synagogues) and residences in the Middle East, but little work has been devoted to retail space, and especially shopping malls. This is surprising since in the Western world and the United States especially, there is a rich body of professional literature about shopping space and abundant writings critiquing retail space, especially the shopping mall. The only scholar researching retail space and consumer culture in 6 Egypt is Mona Abaza, from the American University in Cairo, who disparages of the uncritical approach to consumerism in Egypt. She notes "That Egyptians have changed their consumer habits is evident, but no Arab sociologist has gone through the painful process of analyzing these transformations. Yet this is worth looking into in the Middle East; consumer studies are still mistakenly considered as a trivial field by Arab academics" (Abaza 2006, 44). Additionally, there is a small but emerging body of work covering consumer spaces in the Middle East. The geography with the highest concentration of new studies which touch on consumer space are located in Cairo, presumably because of the concerted effort of Cairo-centric scholars like Diane Singerman and Paul Amar whose book Cairo Cosmopolitan coined the term the "Cairo School of Urban Studies" in 2005. Since then a number of rich studies dealing with social and economic life in Cairo have been published with a large number coming from the American University in Cairo Press. The existing research leaves a large number of scholarly holes which this dissertation intends to begin filling. First, my research responds to Mona Abaza's call for increased scholarship about consumerism, consumer culture and consumer spaces in the Middle East. Second, urban social research in Egypt is dominated by Cairo. Although Cairo's size and complexity provides a rich research environment, Alexandria has mostly been excluded from this type of research. As Egypt's second largest city, and containing more than 4 million inhabitants, Alexandria also provides fertile ground for urban research and provides a counter point to Cairo-centric research which implies that Cairo is representative of the entire country. One notable exception is Samer S. Shehata's Shop Floor Culture and Politics in Egypt in which he conducts an ethnographic study by 7 personally working in factories in Alexandria (Shehata 2010). By studying Alexandria, research can show alternatives which may confirm or contradict conditions in Cairo and thus provide a fuller idea of the general conditions in urban Egypt. Third, urban studies of Alexandria have been sadly neglected since the late 1960s. The cosmopolitan period, which lasted from about 1830-1960, and was considered a second high point of Alexandrine architecture (after the Greco-Roman period) but since this period, the city has been maligned as being in decline. Fourth, gender and its relation to shopping and to Middle Eastern cities is often oversimplified. My research seeks to complicate the view of gender by examining it through field work rather than rhetoric. Finally, this dissertation hopes to integrate architectural and social science approaches to consumer spaces to better understand how the built environment and identity interrelate. It is only by accident that the time period of this research corresponds with the presidencies of Anwar Sadat (1970 - 1981) and Hosni Mubarak (1981 - 2011). The beginning date was chosen to include the period just before the economic Infitah policies which started the "opening" of the economy and integration into the global economy. This becomes important as many of the issues raised by my research relate to the globalization of the retail sector and the desire to be incorporated into the world economy. My research concludes at the end of January 2011 when I completed my field work exactly two weeks before the beginning of the Egyptian Arab Spring Revolution ousted Mubarak on February 11, 2011. 8 Sources on the Retail Sector in Alexandria Primary Sources. Government Reports. The primary documents for this research included official government reports, industry reports, interviews with mall managers, interviews with citizens, site visits and people counts. The government reports include official data1 about the shopping centers from the Alexandria Governorate. The most useful document is "Alexandria Province Statement of Mall," dated January 6, 2011. The statement includes information on sixteen shopping centers in Alexandria ranging from the large international-style malls to small malls. The data includes floor area, number of floors, number of stores, area of shops, number of cinemas, capacity of cinemas, hotels, residential complexes, spaces for food, recreational areas, number of parking spaces, direct cost, cost of finishing shops, total cost, number of jobs provided and the opening date. The information is fairly complete and accurate (as verified by site visits). When this data was in conflict with other sources, it has been noted. Additionally, the governorate reports on markets2 including the number of formal and informal workers as well as the products sold were also useful, although to a lesser extent because much of the data did not correlate with other sources or was too general to be usable. Unfortunately these reports were only available as print outs of the current situation (January 2011) and reports from previous years were not available. While the lack of comparable data from several years would seem like devastating deficiency, in this case it is not as grave as it would seem. Because of the relative newness of the shopping malls, 1 The word "data" will be used as a singular noun consistent with common American usage and the New York Times Manual of Style. 2 The government report on markets (suq) refers to open-air markets. The Arabic word suq can be used to indicate a collection of retailers including a traditional market as well as a shopping center. This dissertation uses suq only to describe a permanent roofed market where vendors sell from stalls, niches, or small shops. 9 there was little change in their physical structure since initial construction so even if data had been available for several years; it would have been the same each year. The locations of the open-air markets were also very stable. Markets do not appear to have commenced or closed with any frequency. It would have been valuable to have yearly data about the numbers of workers to show increase or decrease in the size of the markets, but unfortunately, only data from 2011 was available. Retail Industry Reports Industry reports come from two main sources: the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and newspaper/periodical articles written for the business community. Among other things, the ICSC produces a global directory of shopping centers which contains quantifiable data about all shopping centers, especially their size, opening date and subsequent remodeling/additions dates, format type, owner/leasing agent, and notable tenants. This information is usually accurate but because the data is acquired through self-reporting, it is not verified. For example, one of the mall managers questioned the veracity of the posted size of Green Plaza Mall which seemed artificially inflated by including outdoor plazas in its size tabulation. The numbers, particularly square footage, are not exactly the same as those listed by the governorate. This implies that the ICSC and the government reports use different sources for their data, but most of the data is within the margin of error. Where possible, the numbers used in this research are the result of two different sources which confirm each other. Where irresolvable conflicts occur, they have been noted. The newspaper/journal articles present an evolving commentary on shopping malls and express the ideas at a certain moment in time. One of 10 the problems with the newspaper articles is that they tend to discuss future projects and announcements which often vary from what actually occurs. The news articles are correlated with government reports, industry reports, interviews and field visits. Interviews Because of the dearth of written sources, interviews with current and previous residents of Alexandria were invaluable. Participants for this study can be roughly grouped into three categories: industry professionals, general citizens, and merchants (including store owners, shop clerks and vendors). A total of eighty-five people were interviewed. All participants were informed that the interviews would be recorded (with notes rather than an audio file) as part of my dissertation and a brief explanation of the research was given. Before beginning the interviews, all participants gave consent for their interview to be used as part of the dissertation. Identifiable information was separated from the interview information to ensure anonymity of the participants. Industry professionals were not promised anonymity and care was taken to obtain from them correct spelling of their names and title(s) so that they might be properly credited. In instances where industry professionals discussed their own experiences (in addition to professional opinions), these parts of the interviews were treated separately as if they were from anonymous participants and identifying information was stripped from the interview. Almost all interviews were conducted in person, but a few participants were contacted via internet (email, Skype, Facebook, chat) for follow up questions and two participants responded entirely through the internet. 11 Industry Professionals The industry professionals consist of educated people from the upper-classes who worked as architects, planners, engineers, and in retail management. These individuals were specifically targeted for inclusion because of their positions and were sought out purposely. The majority of this group was male. Occasionally, they referred me to an assistant for interviews, which was often female and fluent in English or French. In general they were very articulate and aware of local and global trends. Of the three groups of interviewees, their information correlated most accurately with other local, national and international sources. They seemed to have a good sense of history and understanding of complex events that affect the present situation. The retail professionals were very aware of their competition and what other malls were doing. As anticipated, all managers' dialogs favorably portrayed their own shopping center or mall and there were significant variations in the relative ranking of malls' status by mall managers. Interviews were generally conducted in a combination of English and Arabic with some being entirely in English and others almost entirely in Arabic, and occasionally in French. The language of conversation was dependent on the preference of the participant. Citizen Interviews The second group of participants, citizens, was selected by using the snowball method. Beginning with people I knew, I invited them to participate and suggest other people who might be willing to participate. Because of this method, most of this group consisted of middle-class and upper-middle class educated people with a vast majority being female. Being outside of the retail profession, this group provided important 12 insights about human aspects of retail space. Additionally, they were reasonably aware of history, although specific information such as dates was sometimes inaccurate. For this group, time was more accurately marked by events such as The October War, marriage, graduation from university, and the birth of children. Interviews for this group were conducted in a combination of Arabic, and English and occasionally French. The citizen interviews are particularly important for understanding why certain trends occurred and how they were perceived. This was one of the least accurate sources for dates since most of those listed are inaccurate. The trend was for events to be dated as much older than other sources indicate. One attempt to overcome this was through asking what age an interviewee was at the time of a particular event or memory. This has a higher success rate but is still fairly inaccurate. Where interviewees gave inaccurate dates or their information was conflicting, it is noted in the text. One of the most problematic aspects of citizen interviews was in trying to talk about change and transformation. In general, informants could discuss the current situation and a situation in the past. This became a binary discussion between now and one specific past. It was very difficult to get informants to talk about the specific steps in changes or evolutions. Another problem in interviewing citizens occurred when asking specific questions about gender. Alexandrians were eager to demonstrate how equal both sexes were and how both were equally represented. There was an emphasis and pride about the fifty-fifty division of any subject. One example came from a shop selling "Islamic" clothing for women including abayas and face veils. The shop keepers insisted that 50% of the customers were male and 50% female - exactly half-and-half. Although it is probable that men do shop at this store, I never observed a single male customer in several visits, so it is improbable that 13 men represented half of the customers to that shop. People were so adamant about the completely even distribution of gender that I quickly learned to ask different questions. Instead, I asked about each informant's personal experience, noting their gender, but not mentioning it. Vendor and Sales Personnel Interviews The third group, vendors and sales personnel, was the most diverse in background and outlook. Participants were approached in their places of business which included shops, permanent markets, periodic markets, the street/sidewalk and small shops associated with the former. Because the bulk of the sellers were male, extra effort was taken to include voices of female vendors. Thus, the proportion of women participants was far greater than their representation in the group as a whole. After attempting to interview vendors of all ages, I discovered that male vendors over fifty years, had a better understanding of their business and were more analytical. Older vendors who owned shops, all of which were male, were the most analytical and had the greatest understanding of the history of the business and area. In the Women's Suq, several of the older owners shared stories about the history of the suq since its inception. The medium age vendors (thirty-five to fifty years old), both men and women, seemed to have less of a sense of the business in general than their over fifty counterparts, and only understood the goods that they sold. For both of these groups, time seemed to be binary rather than a continuum: now versus then. When asked about the past or history, most participants compared the present to some (varying by participant) specific time in the past. Even with prodding and additional questions, it was nearly impossible for this group to discuss 14 multiple pasts or changes in the past. The youngest group, those in their early twenties or upper teens, seemed unable to discuss the past or understand changes through time. Even when asked to compare their situation with that of their parents, most participants had nothing to contribute or said that it was the same. They appeared to live only in the present, even if they had been working for several years. Surprisingly, many of the vendors were educated, especially younger vendors, many of whom held college degrees. Interviews were conducted primarily in Arabic with occasional English. Many of these interviews were conducted with a native Arabic speaker to help with the colloquial language and to be more socially appropriate when interviewing male vendors in the street at night. Recording Methods In recording interviews, exact quotes are rarely used because conversations were not audio-recorded. Instead, as we talked, I took notes and then usually transcribed later that day to fill in the missing phrases from the notes. Quote marks are only used when an exact quote is noted. The text is very close to the original but has often been translated into English by me or had minor grammatical revisions when given in English. Most of the ages of informants are estimations based on life miles stones such as graduating from university, age of children, or number of years of working. The age of the informant was generally not asked but when participants offered information about their age or year of their birth, their exact age was used. 15 Site Visits Site visits were conducted for almost all of the shopping centers and malls listed in the governorate report. Those which were not visited were not overlooked but proved to be unfindable. At least one of the malls (Imperial Plaza) has closed but the others had never been heard of, even by lifelong citizens of Alexandria. Sites were visited to conduct interviews, to carryout people counts, to compare data with reality, and to go shopping. The three international-style malls were each visited for pleasure/shopping in addition to research visits. Sites were visited at various times during the day and week but were most concentrated in the afternoons and early evenings. This means that the data reflects more people who were shopping rather than those hanging out on weekends. Although malls generally open at mid-morning, very few people were shopping until mid-afternoon. Even at noon (before and/or after prayer), in the smaller malls many of the shops were still closed. Visits were generally conducted alone but occasionally with one or more friends. These tended to be in the evenings or on weekends. People Counts Performing people counts was the most gender specific method employed in this research. The purpose was to examine the gender composition of the visitors, shop clerks and merchandise. A total of 5,247 people were counted through a variety of methods. To determine the relative percentages of gendered merchandise a store by store survey was conducted in malls and on shopping streets, whereby the gender of goods was noted. The categories for each shop included men's, women's, children's or non­gendered merchandise (such as household decor, electronics, gifts, and books). Gendered 16 merchandise includes clothing, shoes, purses/bags/wallets, glasses, perfume/cologne, and cosmetics. After trying several different methods in the malls, I found that it was best to use a map (either one provided by the mall or one sketched by myself) and to mark the gender next to each shop. This ensured that shops were not missed or duplicated. Shops were surveyed for the gender of their goods whether they were open or not since all were visible through store-front windows. This method was determined to be more accurate than using mall guides because the mall's gender categories were different from my own and most of the smaller malls did not have maps. These surveys were only possible to complete with the permission and support of the management and thus, not all malls could be surveyed this way. Once a mall's survey was completed, it was not repeated. For some malls, it took several days to complete the survey. The same method was used to survey Saad Zaghloul Street but it was accomplished over several different days. No survey of the gender of merchandise sold by street vendors was undertaken because the vendor's presence was not consistent, due to different numbers of vendors selling by hour and by day. To determine the gender make-up of the shop workers, another shop by shop survey was conducted. When this survey and the merchandise survey were done on the same day, they were recorded separately because of the complexity of the data. Each shop was examined to determine the number and gender of workers on the sales floor. There are several limits to the precision of this survey. Because each mall was only surveyed once, it does not reflect the total gender situation but only indicates the composition at the moment of survey. Second, workers who were in dressing rooms or away from the sales floor were not counted. Shops which were closed at the time of the 17 survey were not included. For the shopping street, many unsuccessful methods were tried, but it was not until January 2011 that I discovered a successful method of recording the data. Unfortunately, this coincided with a bombing of a Coptic church and the New Year so many of the shops were closed, thus limiting the amount of data collected. The easiest group to count was the street vendors because of their visibility in the street. A total of forty-four separate counts were made of vendors, primarily on Saad Zaghoul Street. The counts were conducted between late afternoon to 11pm on both weekdays and weekends. Vendors within established markets were counted only on one occasion each. The goal of this survey was to see how much gender mixing there was in the workforce, what percentage of workers was female, and how much the gender of the merchandise corresponded with the gender of the workers. The third survey endeavored to show the composition of shoppers and how the genders interacted. To accomplish this, two methods were used: live people counts and time lapse photography. For live people counts, I chose an unobtrusive location with a good vantage point, preferably on an upper floor of an atrium where people from different levels could be viewed simultaneously or a second floor cafe. Counts were taken in five minute increments over the course of thirty minutes from a single vantage point. This was then repeated at different times of the day and different days of the week. For time lapse photography, I selected a similar location with a good vantage point and set my camera on a table or ledge to be less conspicuous and to keep a consistent view. Photos were taken approximately every thirty seconds for thirty minutes. The gender and number of people in each group was recorded. For the shopping street, the number of people and their movement made it impossible to do live people counts, although I made 18 many attempts. Instead, large numbers of photographs were taken along the street. These photos date from June and July 2007, January, March, April and December 2010, and January 2011. They were taken throughout the day, from midday to midnight. Because these live people counts and photographs collect data differently, the raw numbers cannot be relied upon for comparisons but both serve to illustrate the proportional relationship between the genders. In both of these methods, it is probable that several individuals or groups were counted more than once so the raw numbers are also not reflective of actual foot falls. Although the larger malls kept data about footfalls, none of them included information about gender and I could not obtain access to security video recordings. Although not all people counted were in the process of shopping, they were all within the shopping space. The following people were not included in the counts: security guards, police, repair and construction workers, shopkeepers, people in cars or on moped, beggars, deliverymen and vendors. Children were also not included. Almost no children were visible during the day and only a few at night. If the gender of a person was not clearly distinguishable, that person was not included in the count, but the tradition of headscarves and long hair for women as opposed to short hair for men made gender identification relatively easy. People counts were not undertaken in the department stores because there were so few people present that it would have been difficult to get an adequate sample. Nor were counts taken to determine the composition of groups on the street such as was done in shopping malls which showed how many people shopped alone, in couples, in single-gender groups or in mixed-gender groups. While many such groups were apparent in the photographs, most were obscured and it was impossible to reliably determine the composition of the groups. 19 In counting the gendered merchandise on the shopping street, two methods were used. Based on photographs from April 2010 of the entire length of Saad Zaghloul Street from Midan Orabi to Mahatat Ramleh on both sides of the street, the initial determination of gendered shops was undertaken. Then in December 2010 and January 2011, the gender was verified by an in-person store by store review. Secondary Sources There is a rich body of sociological and architectural research on shopping malls and retail space, particularly in the United States, but very little critical research on modern retailing in Egypt or the Middle East. Because almost nothing has been written about commerce in Alexandria's central business district since the 1960s the literature review in subsequent chapters will discuss the relevant literature about 1900-1960s Alexandria to establish the character and practices in the space preceding the research period. The most valuable research on this topic was accomplished by Nancy Reynolds' dissertation entitled Commodity Cultures: Interweavings o f Market Cultures, Consumption Practice and Social Power in Egypt, 1907-1961 (Reynolds 2003). Although her dissertation focuses on the practice of commerce, it includes the best documentation of department stores and shopping streets in twentieth century Egypt and addresses Alexandria specifically. The other invaluable resource on consumerism in Egypt is the work of Mona Abaza, who authored Changing Consumer Cultures in Modern Egypt: Cairo's Urban Reshaping and other research on consumerism. As for the architecture and history of Alexandria, Mohamed Awad, founder of the Alexandria Preservation Trust and director of the Alexandria and Mediterranean Research Center, is the foremost expert. 20 Awad has authored or coauthored numerous books on the city and its architecture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and has an extensive collection of primary source documents and photographs about Alexandria's history. Robert Mabro, an economist from Alexandria has written several important articles critically examining the nostalgic literature and provides some important correctives to the memory of the city. Uri Kupferschmidt's research on department stores also provides some important data on the stores in Alexandria. Travel guide books include surprisingly little valuable information about shopping districts in Alexandria, but the nostalgic literature often includes interesting snippets of information about daily practice and shopping. Unfortunately, this body of writings reflects the experience of a small segment of the population: the upper-class and "foreigners" most of whom left by the 1960s. From their experiences, one can glean some additional information about commercial space in Alexandria. Alexandria History and Architecture Sources Alexandria's history during the Greco-Roman period has been of significant interest to scholars and much historical and archaeological research is ongoing. The second most researched period, that of "Cosmopolitan Alexandria" which occurred roughly during 1830-1960 when the city was oriented towards Europe, included a large population of "foreigners" and was rich in architecture and culture. Considered the apogee of Alexandrine history since the Greco-Roman period, numerous guides and architectural histories chronicle this period. The most famous guide, Alexandria: A History and a Guide, was written by E. M. Forster in 1922, and served hoards of visitors looking for ancient Alexandria. Although focused on the ancient sites, it also addresses 21 some of the then current city to help tourists navigate Alexandria. The seminal history of modern Alexandria by Robert Ilbert covers the urban history from 1830-1960. Similarly, the research directed by Mercedes Volait on the architecture of Alexandria covers roughly the same time period. Both are invaluable to understanding the cosmopolitan city. The ongoing research by Mohamed Awad, is doing impressive work documenting the urban structures but most of Awad's documentation concentrates on structures from the cosmopolitan period. Thankfully, the Alex-Med Center has been documenting memories and oral histories of the city so that the memories of its citizens are not completely lost. Unfortunately, very little scholarship has been done on the city after 1970, but the literature about cosmopolitan Alexandria, provides a rich foundation for the "globalized" Alexandria of my study, which, like other Egyptian urban areas became more integrated into global culture, for good and bad. Chapter Summary The first section of this dissertation briefly outlines the history of consumerism and the development of retail building types beginning in Europe and the United States. Chapter 2 explains how consumerism developed and how it is different from the acquisition of goods. Second, it explores the two major modern innovations in retail space: department store which began in Europe and the US in the first half of the nineteenth century, and the shopping mall which was an American invention of the mid­twentieth century. The outlines of these two retail building types show the effects of architectural design to increase sales and how women were targeted. Additionally, criticism of the results of architectural retail ingenuity will be discussed. Chapter 3 22 develops this theme by examining consumerism and consumer space in the Middle East in general and then specifically in Egypt. In particular, this section examines the social roles of retail space in the Middle East which includes gender specific issues as well as comparing the shopping mall to the bazaar. The middle two chapters look specifically at Alexandria's retail space. Chapter 4 establishes the history of the modern city, beginning in the nineteenth century. It concentrates on three themes: the heart of the cosmopolitan city, the former elite shopping district beginning in the early nineteenth century; the history of each department store beginning in 1856 (in Egypt); and the history of the shopping malls (in Alexandria), beginning in 1997. Following the history, Chapter 5 analyzes concepts of space in Alexandria: the dialectic between upwardly mobile space and popular space, which are best represented by the contrast between the shopping mall and the street vendor. Secondly, it examines idealized or traditional notions of gendered space in the city especially as it concerns gender. Chapters 6 and 7 analyze how the polarization of spatial status affected gender in the retail environment. Upwardly mobile spaces allowed women to assert their independence through inhabiting "public" spaces which could reinforce or elevate their status by incorporating "traditional" ideas about gendered space. Conversely, the popular spaces presented a number of challenges for women, but remained desirable. Chapter 7 not only examines the less affluent who could not afford to shop in elite stores, but also the upwardly mobile women who choose to brave the physical insecurity of street shopping. Finally, the conclusion examines how the different forms of retail space are 23 defined in opposition to each other, especially in terms of gender, and how both ends of the spectrum are used by multiple audiences for different purposes. 24 CHAPTER 2 A BRIEF HISTORY OF MODERN SHOPPING SPACE Introduction Shopping in a consumer society implies more than obtaining goods. It fills social and emotional needs; retail design is developed to stimulate and fulfill these needs. The real innovations in retail space began in the nineteenth century as consumerism began to flourish in Europe and then the United States. The new forms of retail space were one of the key stimuli for the growth of consumerism. By marrying social space with shopping space, customers were enticed to spend more time in the stores which resulted in increased purchases. Retailers also became more sophisticated in how they presented and advertised their goods and purposefully designed displays to stimulate desire for more goods. Consumerism Consumerism is a distinct change in the way material goods are viewed. The earliest signs of consumerism can be found in seventeenth century Europe, but consumerism's development was hampered by poverty, a preference for traditional displays of wealth (rather than novelty and individual expression), and counter consumerism campaigns (including sumptuary laws, and religious crusades against extravagance or innovation) (Stearns 2006, 10). In spite of these impediments, in the eighteenth century, conscious efforts on the part of shopkeepers spurred people to seek out goods in excess of their needs. "The consumer revolution was based on the realization by shopkeepers and consumer goods producers that wants and needs were infinitely stretchable, not confined to what was required to live up to conventional standards or to subsist" (Stearns 2006, 18). Shopkeepers and producers learned to use gimmicks to lure people into stores, increase their appetite for additional goods, and use advertisements in newspapers and magazines. By the middle of the nineteenth century, consumerism moved into its second phase which was more profound and widespread. Consumerism proliferated due to effective promotion by department stores, the expansion of available consumer goods, changing styles, and "consumer leisure" which required the purchase of goods to enjoy (Stearns 2006, 47-56). Initially, American consumerism was an imitation of European consumerism, but by 1850 the U.S. had nearly caught up to its European counterparts. Then it supplanted Europe as the leader in consumerism (Stearns 2006, 40). Consumer societies are not simply those which consume goods, but ones where citizens take joy and pride in the act of consumption. In order for consumerism to flourish, it requires the consumer to have a desire for and capability to obtain goods for the sake of both novelty and prestige that comes from acquisition. Additionally, it also requires sellers and advertisers to promote their goods and fuel desire for more goods. Peter Stearns defines consumer societies thus: Consumerism describes a society in which many people formulate their goals in life partly through acquiring goods that they clearly do not need for subsistence or 26 27 for traditional display. They become enmeshed in the process of acquisition - shopping - and take some of their identity from a procession of new items that they buy and exhibit. In this society, a host of institutions both encourage and serve consumerism, from eager shopkeepers trying to lure customers into buying more than they need, to product designers employed to put new twists on established models, to advertisers seeking to create new needs (Stearns 2006, vii). This new way of perceiving material culture has become a hallmark of modern society. Stearns notes that "particularly outside of the West, it [consumerism] offers a sense of belonging to a larger whole, of gaining access to the up-to-date modern" (Stearns 2006, 154). Although the seedlings of consumerism began hundreds of years ago, consumerism is now seen as a part of modern society in the West and throughout much of the world. As consumerism has been embraced by an increasing portion of the world, criticism, which began in the eighteenth century, has continued both in the United States and abroad. First, there were objections on moral grounds. The focus on acquisition of earthly goods is contrary to Christianity, Confucianism and Buddhism (Garon and Maclachlan 2006, 12)3. Second, there was a fear that consumerism's focus on individuality and display led to the "erosion of collective interests and exacerbation of social inequities" (Garon and Maclachlan 2006, 12). One fear was that by valuing individual expression, resources would be diverted from collective interests and welfare programs. Third, there were concerns about the effects of rampant consumerism on the environment and the wastefulness of such a lifestyle. Fourth, unbridled consumerism was seen, particularly in Asia, as an "American disease" which could infect and destroy economies through its extremeness (Garon and Maclachlan 2006, 12-14). While consumerism has been embraced around the world, there have been concerns that a 3 There were fewer moral objections to consumerism in Islam as evidenced by respect for the merchant class. In Islam, morality meant that the wealthy were obligated to be charitable (Garon and Maclachlan 2006). consumerist society is unsustainable and would inevitably lead to severe problems for obtaining resources, waste, environmental ruin, and social degradation. Consumerism and Gender As consumerism's influence grew, so did its gendered nature. The first gendered divisions developed in response to Romanticism which began in the late eighteenth century. Romantic literature extolled emotion, individualism and beauty. Women's role in creating beauty was emphasized as well as their role in creating a home which demonstrated familial affection. It became important for women to create homes through the acquisition of objects which "convey[ed] tenderness" (Stearns 2006, 32). This resulted in women's increased control over household goods and clothing but also disproportionate criticism both in the press and in the home (Stearns 2006, 35). "Many critics of consumerism focused on this gender angle, blaming merchants and advertisers for picking on the weaker sex and blasting women for being so vulnerable" (Stearns 2006, 62). It is important to note that although men spent less time shopping, they were also consumers and often spent more money on consumer goods than women (Stearns 2006, 62). Even so, by the 1890s, department stores were considered the domain of women because women were the predominant shoppers and there were significant numbers of female shop clerks. The presence of saleswomen often caused great concern for public morality. W.T. Stead of Chicago spearheaded the accusations that saleswomen were engaging in prostitution in late nineteenth century, but Elizabeth Beardsley's social-scientific study in 1907 found that these instances were quite rare. The few cases of girls "gone bad" indicate moral transgressions, but it is still unclear whether actual prostitution occurred (Lancaster 1995, 180-81, 187). Department stores had become so much a 28 female domain that in order to entice male shoppers they built men's shops or provided men's entrances (Lancaster 1995, 182). Another gendered aspect of consumerism relates to shop-lifting. The Victorian Era saw a great increase in shoplifting. The culprits were not poor women, but typically from the middle and upper-classes for whom shop-lifting was a diversion. "Apologists for this middle-class female misbehavior stressed the ‘innate weakness' of women which could be activated into criminality by the atmosphere of the store" (Lancaster 1995, 184­85). The growth of consumerism allowed women to become more involved in public life through shopping and working in retail environments, but they also took the brunt of the criticism. Women were blamed for being easily corrupted by material goods and for using their public presence for prostitution but there is little empirical evidence to support this. The Development of the Department Store As the first modern type of retail space, the department store actively encouraged and expanded consumerism which led to the uniting of retail and social space. Department store managers actively sought ways to draw customers into their stores and pass time within even though it meant devoting floor space to nonretail functions. Everything about the store, from the window displays to the interior organization was focused on stimulating desire for more goods. Although there is debate about the definition of the first department store, it appears that the contenders arose in France, Britain and the United States in the first half of the nineteenth century. By the middle of the nineteenth century several large department stores were well established in each of the three countries. However, the retail 29 30 changes which led to the development of the department store started much earlier. Through the eighteenth century, guilds dominated buying and selling of goods. Their regulation kept the market segregated by type of goods so that shops could not carry a variety of merchandise. Prices were established through the cumbersome practice of negotiation and haggling between customer and merchant, and customers often paid on credit. This started to change as drapery shops began to offer associated goods such as silks, cloth, lingerie, hosiery and ready-to-wear clothing, which developed into magasins de nouveautes or dry goods stores in the 1830s and 1840s. These stores offered free-entry (no expectation of purchase), selling goods at fixed prices, cash payment, and a concentration on high turnover of merchandise (Miller 1981, 25-27). In France, architectural changes in nineteenth century directly led to the development of the department store architectural typology which was then exported to Britain and the United States. Unlike in Britain, the streets of early nineteenth century Paris made promenading difficult. The streets were neither wide enough nor clean enough for strolling, and were considered dangerous to walk along (this was about a half century before Georges-Eugene Haussmann began to implement Napoleon III's plan to pave the streets of Paris and cut wide boulevards into the urban fabric) (Carmona 2002, 149-155). Thus, the retail arcade was developed (Figure 2.1). By creating an interior street covered with skylights, Parisians could enjoy promenading past a variety of small shops in a clean controlled environment (Henderson-Smith 2003, 56). Spatially, this changed three aspects of the shopping experience; it separated retailing from the street so that the interior of the shop was no longer adjacent to the exterior world; second, it created a transition space between shop and exterior; and it employed a spatial void covered by a skylight. With these arcades also came restaurants, cafes, theatres and spaces for promenading which united social and retail space. The popularity of the French gallery was quickly recognized and exported (Henderson-Smith 2003, 56-58). By the second half of the nineteenth century, French, British and American department stores adopted the idea of a central void and they were typically arranged around an atrium which was lit by a skylight. Unlike the French gallery, the atrium created a central focus rather than a long promenade for strolling. This focus established the opportunity to develop "theming" which acted as an organizing principle as well as a way to "educate" the customer about how to use different goods and encourage consumerism for more goods (Henderson-Smith 2003, 59-61). Merchandise was clustered together with similar goods around the atrium and throughout the store. Thus, goods for a dining room or bedroom were displayed together even if they came from different departments such as linens, furniture, cosmetics and appliances. Additionally, department stores sought to entice female shoppers through the construction of "scenes of luxury" which included reading rooms, buffet rooms, free art galleries, and plush powder rooms. These nonretail spaces were designed to draw people into the store and get them into the habit of spending time in the stores. The department store dominated the retail sector because it had a wide range of goods, included public space, had ample floor staff and became a destination in and of itself (Figures 2.2 & 2.3) (Henderson-Smith 2003, 78­79). On the advent of the twentieth century, the department store was a well-established building and business type. The years 1909-1939 are considered the golden years of department stores. They became community centers; saw their market share 31 increase and their client base broadened; and drew huge crowds for their spectacular events such as theatrical productions, zoos in the toy departments, divers and gymnasts (Lancaster 1995, 5). As the economic troubles of the 1930s set in, department stores upped the ante in attempts to retain their market share, and hosted "crowd-pulling events" such as "Christmas grottos" and toy fairs along with over-the-top customer services such as "free wart-removal service, cricket bat oiling and umbrella rolling at the Oxford Street store" of Selfridges's London (Lancaster 1995, 96). The cultivation of social spaces drew more people into the stores and allowed the department store to become a more desirable destination. The range of goods, quality, prestige, customer services, and social spaces allowed department stores to dominate the retail market until department stores were supplanted by shopping malls. 1940s - 1960s In the postwar period, the changing customer altered the emphasis for department stores. The 1950s shopping experience focused on efficiency and self-selection of goods (Lawrence 1994, 20). Department stores introduced more self-service options, used television advertising and reached out to the lower classes. In their attempts to attract lower classes, they began to rely more on branded goods and uniform fixtures which resulted in conformity among department stores (Lancaster 1995, 197-99). Plans were open, regular, and flexible. By contrast, the retail spaces of the 1960s were geared toward a more sophisticated shopper who rewarded novelty for novelty's sake. Curves and angles appeared to break up the rigidity of the "ultimately flexible" 1950's plan, and color was introduced everywhere. The goal was to produce "excitement and variety" in order to intrigue the customer. In terms of planning, the Center Core Plan was developed 32 where "effective, defined selling spaces at the center of the large building rectangle" acted as a core around which aisles could radiate. This plan dramatically altered store planning. Instead of an undifferentiated space throughout the whole store, designers of the 1960s articulated the space into individual shop-like spaces with the ceiling as a design element (Lawrence 1994, 27-37). 1970s As shopping malls grew in number and importance, the 1970s downtown department store began downsizing because of the rising dominance of its suburban branches. In order to remain cost effective, downtown department stores shrunk in physical size and shed non profit-making service departments. They were not the only type of urban retail space to see a decline. Central business districts all across the United States felt the pull of suburban shopping as it siphoned off customers. As people and commerce left downtowns, cities looked for ways to revitalize their centers. In terms of design, the 1970s emphasized the theatrical aspects of store design. The designers used dramatic lighting, ceiling articulation and a variety of scaled spaces to create drama. The central core planning gave way to "zone-and-cluster" planning which created areas within the store for similar merchandise and allowed the manufacture of "moods" which related to the merchandise. Although there was an emphasis on variety and modernity, "a kind of international, ubiquitous, corporate store style emerged" across America (Lawrence 1994, 38-49). The attempt to create a modern commercial space resulted in a universal style which caused department stores across the United States to look similar. 33 34 1980s In the 1980s store planning became increasingly theatrical and designers attempted to create a "signature-style" for their stores to set them apart from the competition. The displays presented "preselected, coordinated themes and expressions of life-styles" which allowed them to reduce their inventory in favor of more targeted color coordinated displays (Lawrence 1994, 56). One of the points of design focus became the escalator which "as the geometric center of the store, became more and more lavish. Open spaces surrounding imaginative, sculptural arrangements of the escalator trusses, connecting bridges, skylights.. .became the celebratory centerpieces for the design statement" (Lawrence 1994, 56). The first escalators were installed in 1898 in Grands Magasins du Louvre in Paris, Bloomingdales in New York and Harrods in London (Lancaster 1995, 50) but soon, these spaces were deemed essential, even if they subtracted from profitable selling areas. Thus, the theatrical planning of the department store even pervaded the structure and vertical circulation (Lawrence 1994, 51-59). In an attempt to revive their past luxury and respectability, some department stores in the 1980s attempted to return to the splendor of the past of their flagship stores. For example, in 1987 Harrods renovated its Knightsbridge store to its turn of the century style. Soon Bon Marche, Marshall Field's and others followed by revitalizing their historic facades and interiors (Lancaster 1995, 200). Suburban Growth: from Shopping Center to Shopping Mall Because the shopping mall was born a century after the department store, malls were able to incorporate the knowledge base from modern retailing into their design and become the dominant retail form. Shopping malls quickly learned to use the same techniques employed by department stores to lure customers. First, malls used nonretail functions such as restaurants, cafes, exhibitions, cinemas and leisure activities to draw customers and entice them to spend more time in the mall. Second, the goal of their spatial planning centered on increasing profits. Third, malls were planned to be convenient, comfortable and project an air of sophistication or stylishness. As malls began to rise in popularity (1950s - 1980s), department stores began to wane, partly because malls provided the same advantages as department stores but on a much grander scale, but also because traditional department stores received competition from other types of stores such as discount department stores and large discount chains. However, this waning of prestige for department stores did not lead to their demise. Instead, department stores literally became incorporated into American shopping malls so that there was a symbiotic relationship between the two (as will be discussed below) and both malls and department stores employed similar retailing methods. Just as department store design became standardized and ubiquitous, shopping malls also obtained a corporate style which showed little variation or local influence. Since the 1980s the mall has remained the dominant retail form but has evolved new types within its typology, as will be discussed in this chapter. Proto-malls The original invention of shopping malls in the 1950s was an American phenomenon fueled by urban trends, such as the move to the suburbs, the automobile culture, and specific actors, most notably Victor Gruen who is credited with formulating the shopping mall typology. The Strip Center, the predecessor to the mall, grew up along suburban corridors to serve the movement out of the city center. This was followed by 35 design innovations which reoriented the strip center away from the street and created a central "mall" (Figure 2.4). The most significant development occurred when the shopping center and "mall" were enclosed and the shopping mall was born. As malls grew larger and increased nonretail amenities, they became a product of global design rather than an American typology. In the 1950s the two most important innovations in shopping center design which contributed to the development of the first shopping mall were the creation of the "mall" space and department store anchors. As mentioned above, the "mall" space was first created by reorienting strip malls towards each other and creating an outdoor plaza between them. Victor Gruen and Larry Smith, two of the foremost shopping center architects explained that this new type center was not "strung along existing roads" like the earlier strip centers which hugged major streets. Instead the proto-malls "constitute[d] a new planning pattern of their own. This new environment is dedicated to the pedestrian" (Gruen and Smith 1960, 140). One prime example, Northgate Shopping Mall, Seattle, WA, 1950, designed by John Graham Jr., turned the traditional strip shopping center inside out by locating two strips facing each other. The space between the strips acted like a pedestrian street and came to be known as the mall or plaza. This proto-mall contained a Bon Marche store at one end of the complex and the other eighty shops included a bank, an A & P Grocery store, Ernst Hardware and Newberry's and Nordstrom's Shoes (Wilma 2009). Similarly, Old Orchard Shopping Center, Skokie, IL, 1956, designed by Loebl, Schlossman and Bennett, was designed around an outdoor "mall" space (Figure 2.5). It was typical of other centers which were also designed around a central open space and anchored by two department stores, in this case, 36 Marshall Field's and The Mayfair Department Store (renamed Montgomery Ward, 1964) (Westfield Old Orchard 2008). The department stores acted as magnets for these shopping centers to draw large numbers of customers who might also visit the smaller shops during the same shopping trip. The collection of large department stores, small shops and outdoor plazas created an innovative retail environment where people could shop in a variety of stores away from traffic. During this period, the 1950s, the design of a shopping center was intended to maximize "commercial effectiveness" for the shopping center as a whole. "Magnet" or anchor stores would draw customers to them and thereby generate traffic past the secondary or smaller shops. In this way the architecture created a symbiotic relationship between the anchors and the boutique shops (Maitland 1985, 8-9). This was the design intent for Northland Center, designed by Victor Gruen and opened in 1954 (Figure 2.6). Hudson's department store, the anchor or magnet was located in the center of the mall (Hardwick 2004, 125). Other shops were located in a centripetal form around the anchor so that customers going to Hudson's would pass by the smaller shops (Maitland 1985, 9). The idea of using "magnet" stores was improved upon with the use of a "dumb-bell" plan where a department store was located at each end of the shopping center and smaller shops lined an internal "street." Additionally, centers could be designed like a T or L to accommodate 3 anchors or like a cross for 4 anchors (Figure 2.7) (Maitland 1985, 10). By locating the anchors at the terminus of the "streets" the rival stores were balanced so that neither had advantage over the other (Turbidy 2006, 10). These architectural forms were transferred to the next phase of shopping center development: the enclosed shopping mall. 37 38 Southdale Shopping Center and the Enclosed Shopping Mall The real breakthrough in mall design occurred in 1956 with the opening of Victor Gruen's Southdale Mall in the Minneapolis suburb of Edina. Southdale opened its doors as the first enclosed shopping center in America, progenitor of the ubiquitous mall that in twenty short years would come to dominate retailing. With seventy-two stores on two floors, 810,000 square feet of retailing, 5,200 parking spaces, a soaring garden court, and two full-sized department stores, the $20-million Southdale was a wonder on many levels. Not only was it the ultimate and largest expression of retail's move to the suburbs, but as an enclosed shopping center, Southdale created an entirely new retail environment, a new commercial palace for suburbanites (Hardwick 2004, 144). Just as the Parisian gallerias allowed shoppers to stroll in an environmentally tranquil space, Gruen built upon the then current retailing trends of magnet stores, central open spaces, and pedestrian "streets" to escape the harsh Minnesota weather by means of a wholly enclosed shopping center (Figure 2.8). Within a space which was comfortable year round, Gruen created a festive atmosphere with a central court which contained eating areas, held public events and hosted a children's zoo (Maitland 1990). These events were intended to draw crowds and keep people in the shopping environment. The location of the department stores at either end of the mall, kept these masses of customers walking past the other smaller stores. He even considered the convenience of access to the mall in an age which was fascinated by the automobile and hence, surrounded the malls with vast parking lots. Southdale Mall introduced several innovations which would define the mall typology for decades to come: enclosed climate controlled two story shopping center, multiple department stores as anchors, a "carnival atmosphere" in a central social space and copious amounts of convenient parking. Exportation and Innovation The shopping mall format proved to be enormously successful around the world. In Paris, the American style shopping center had become very popular by the late 1960s and new centers were being built along the newly constructed autoroutes. The French malls typically employed a two-story dumbbell plan with parking on each side. One of the major differences was that instead of American fast food restaurants, the French substituted cafes and restaurants with brick paved floors to imitate a street market. In the United Kingdom, there were planning regulations designed to limit "out-of-town development" which hampered a full adoption of the American model, but smaller versions of the French models were introduced in the 1960s (Maitland 1985, 19). Although the shopping mall was developed in the American Midwest, the typology proved successful throughout the United States and in Europe. In the 1950s and 1960s, shopping malls adhered to strict design rules meant to ensure "maximum visibility" of shops by mall patrons. Corridors were long and straight and their width was limited to ensure that patrons could be enticed by both sides of the walkway. However, this began to change in the 1970s when designers broke the rules and discovered that they could introduce "multiple centers and irregular elements to make the space more visually complex and engaging" (Maitland 1990, 15-16). Store units became narrower to accommodate larger malls without significantly increasing the walking distance for patrons, who would be drawn through the mall through a series of courts or centers. At the same time as plans were becoming more complex, supporting infrastructure was being simplified in order to concentrate resources "up front" where they would be noticed by patrons. In particular the central spaces or courts received the 39 bulk of the attention and resources as architects pursued "the magical central space" (Maitland 1985, 29). Not only were the central spaces important for architects, but for mall managers, they represented the highest pedestrian traffic and the most valuable space in terms of rent for small shops (Maitland 1990, 47). At this time too, the courts became locations of vertical circulation expression. Designs reflected a need to draw people up to other floors through articulated vertical spaces. Architects employed dramatic staircases, cascading escalators, stacked escalators, spiral stairs and glass elevators. Banks of escalators and glass elevators became almost ubiquitous to the mall building type (Maitland 1990, 49). After the construction of Southdale Shopping Center, the shopping mall proved to be very popular and multiple versions of this mall with the Dumbbell, T and L plans were constructed. From a typology standpoint, the late 70s and early 80s produced two important and enduring innovations: the vertical mall and the megamall. Ironically, the shopping mall, which had been associated with the development of the suburb, reintroduced innovative consumer space in the urban core through the invention of the vertical mall. Water Tower Place, Chicago, 1976 brought "modern" shopping back into the city (Turbidy 2000). Originally there were seven floors of shops, two department stores, restaurants, cinemas, underground parking offices, apartments and a hotel within a seventy-four story high rise on Michigan Avenue (Figure 2.9). The whole layout was set around a seven story atrium with glass elevators (Bennett 2005). Water Tower Place "remains the preeminent mixed-use project in the United States" and signifies that "the shopping center industry [has] returned to its urban roots" (Turbidy 2000). The vertical 40 mall denied both the horizontal and suburban nature of malls and allowed the typology to dovetail into urban centers. The second major innovation was the megamall, which dwarfed regular malls in size and amenities. For example, West Edmonton Mall, in suburban Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 1981 introduced the new typology with and initial construction of 1.1 million square feet and 220 stores. With three subsequent phases, in 2010, it contained 5.3 million square feet, over 100 restaurants and cafes, 2 hotels, over 800 shops, a 13 screen cinema including IMAX, the world's largest indoor amusement park, an indoor water park with the world's largest wavepool, a zoo, putt-putt golf, and other entertainment venues. Besides being a shopping destination, this mall became a tourist destination. In 2010, there were 28.2 million visits annually to the mall. This was seven times the population of the entire province of Alberta (West Edmonton Mall 2010). The typology was exported to the world and has had success especially in Asia, which now boasts 18 of the world's largest shopping malls, each of which enclose more than 3 million square feet (ICSC 2011). The success of these malls lies not in their size, but in their role as destinations. Just as department stores included salons and exhibitions, megamalls took the idea to the next level and entertained visitors with indoor amusement parks, ice skating rinks and aquariums. In order to keep visitors spending more time in the malls, they also included hotels and a wide variety of restaurants. The interior design of these malls emphasized the dramatic, theatrical spaces designed to blur the line between retail space and entertainment space. As malls increased emphasis on shopping as a destination, they also blurred the lines between shopping and recreational space. 41 42 Other innovations in mall typology such as power centers (dominated by big box stores), festival market places (which were typically built in old or abandoned nineteenth century industrial urban buildings to simulate a "European" market), and tourist malls (which were designed to house retail functions at a specific tourist destination and which often were designed around the theme of the site) impacted the retail environment as well, but since they are not related to retail practices in Alexandria, they will be excluded from this discussion (Maitland 1990, 25-36). 1980s Peak and 1990s Decline The 1980s were the decade of the shopping mall where malls were considered ubiquitous and held an important place in American culture, as evidenced by the number of films which prominently featured malls as integral part of modern life4. 1989 marked the end of this period of great expansion. The Savings and Loan Crisis and over saturation of malls are credited with the deceleration of shopping mall growth in the early 1990s. New construction starts on shopping malls decreased 70% between 1989 and 1993 (Turbidy 2000). In 1993 a change in corporate structure gave new access to capital for shopping center owners. Simon, Taubman, and other privately held, family-run shopping center management and development companies became publically traded real estate investment trusts (REITs) (Turbidy 2000). Since the 1990s mall development has continued to advance but at a slower rate than in the 1980s (Soriano 1998). In the 1990s 4 For example: Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), Valley Girl (1983), Back to the Future (1985), Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures (1989), Night of the Comet (1984), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), The Blues Brothers (1980), Chopping Mall (1986), Police Story (1985), Dawn of the Dead (1978), Commando (1985), Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge (1989). The 1990s saw very few movies about or set in malls but the 2000s reintroduced the mall into popular film culture with movies such as The American Mall (2008), Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2005), Dawn of the Dead (2004), Mean Girls (2004), Mall Girls (2009), Bad Santa (2003). 43 there was a growth in the average size of shopping centers while individual stores, on average decreased in size (Baker 1998). Even with a financial crisis, shopping malls proved to be a durable retail typology. Entertainment In the early 1990s entertainment became (and remains) an important part of the shopping center design toolkit. Although the idea of entertainment has been a part of malls since before Southdale, mall entertainment became a spectacle and an integral part of the design and planning in the 90s. Michael Turbidy, research librarian of the International Council of Shopping Centers notes that as technological advances allowed shopping center developments to foster the same magical experiences that were once only seen in national amusement parks such as Disney World. Since the start of the entertainment wave, retailers have focused on keeping their presentations exciting and shopping centers owners have striven to obtain tenant mixes that draw traffic from the widest audience possible. Under one roof or in an outdoor retail format, consumers enjoy children's playscapes, virtual reality games, live shows, movies in multiplex cinemas, a variety of food in either the food court or themed restaurants, carousel rides, visually stunning merchandising techniques, robotic animal displays, and interactive demonstrations. Many shopping centers are also focused on added service-oriented tenants, which offer today's busy consumer an opportunity to complete weekly errands or to engage in a variety of other activities (Turbidy 2000). The emphasis on entertainment is particularly obvious in megamalls which include ice skating rinks, amusement parks, zoos, and aquariums. These entertainment spaces not only generate profits for themselves but also act as a way to draw more people to the malls. 1990s - 2010: Peak and Crash After a sluggish period from 1991 to 2003, there was a large spike in the total number of shopping malls in the U.S. that peaked in 2006. The financial crisis ended this boom in 2009. After that, growth levels were similar to the early 1990s, and in 2010 growth was lower than any time since 1975 (CoStar Realty Information, Inc 2011). In 2011, there were a total of 108,824 shopping centers in the United States of all types, of which 2,118 were regional, super-regional, lifestyle and outlet shopping malls (International Council of Shopping Centers Oct. 14, 2011). Meanwhile, enormous retail construction projects were initiated throughout Asia and the shopping mall became an international building type rather than an American export. The megamall typology matured in the 2000s in East Asia and the Persian Gulf. Of the twenty largest malls in the world in 2011, all but two (Mall of America and West Edmonton Mall), were built in Asia. Just as the financial crisis hurt US mall construction, it also affected Asian malls, especially in Dubai which had been the leader in megamall novelty. Since the financial crisis, there has been a slowdown but not complete cessation of mall construction throughout the world and the mall typology once again showed its resilience (International Council of Shopping Centers 2011). Shopping Mall Typology The shopping mall has shown remarkable adaptability as a retail agglomeration type because the essential components can be combined and recombined to form effective selling spaces. Maitland codified the subtypes into four categories: open and enclosed centers; vertical centers; arcades; and atrium centers. The open and enclosed centers refer to an open "mall" space around which the shopping mall is organized. Old 44 Orchard Shopping Center is an example of this where the shops are arranged around open-air plazas. Second, vertical malls are multistory buildings designed for sites with limited land area and where the vertical circulation (such as escalators and elevators) of customers is the most important design challenge. Water Tower Place is a prime example of this type as the escalators and glass elevator atrium are the dominant architectural features. Third, the arcade type also includes larger gallerias such as Houston Galleria. The prominent architectural feature is "a linear, naturally-lit central space." Forth, atrium centers are designed around "a dominant centralized space" or a series of focal nodes. For example, in Northbrook Court Mall, Chicago, the two department stores are connected via a long corridor which is articulated by four atriums which serve as focal points to pull customers through the mall (Maitland 1990, 12). The variety of subtypes makes clear differentiations between shopping centers and shopping malls difficult. Both are managed by a single entity (although they may be owned by one or more holding companies) and purpose built as architecturally cohesive developments in which individual stores or other tenants rent space. In general, a mall is a climate-controlled closed structure with entertainment, social and food components. Shopping centers, on the other hand, are an agglomeration of retail shops (with or without leisure tenants) usually under multiple roofs and having entrances to individual shops directly to the outside. Contrary to expectations based on the volume of literature about malls, they "have never comprised more than 5% of the total number of shopping centers. However, their size has assured that they occupy an outsized place in the popular imagination as the symbol of industry" (Turbidy, 10-11). 45 Comfort and Shopping Malls In addition to the theatrical planning and entertainment, shopping malls have several other advantages in comparison to traditional shopping districts; namely convenience, consistency and comfort. Obviously the large agglomeration of stores is convenient for shoppers who can find a myriad of shops in a single location and with a single parking spot. Additionally, the layout of the mall, with its narrow shops and multiple levels reduces the walking distance between the shops. Another major advantage of the shopping mall is the central control which allows for a consistent level of decoration, maintenance and cleaning, combined parking, strategic marketing, uniform hours of operation, and contractual agreements with tenants which allow the management to enforce compliance with the overall center's goals. Additionally, management has control over the tenant mix which creates a retail environment most attractive to customers and to exclude undesirable tenants such as thrift shops or sex shops (Teller 2008, 385-6). This control extends to "atmospheric stimuli in public places, including smell, music, decoration or agglomeration layout and temperature" which can be controlled to create a more attractive atmosphere than motley conditions in an urban center (Teller 2008, 386). Lastly, comfort of shoppers works in tandem with the convenience of the mall as well as the benefits of a central management but also includes amenities such as climate control and public toilets. All of these conveniences and comforts contribute to a substantially more comfortable shopping experience, especially when compared to urban alternatives which may include extremes in weather, excessive walking, making multiple trips, unavailability of parking, and inconsistent hours of operation. 46 47 Security Although mall security is charged with providing a safe environment, it is at least equally important for its ability to make people feel comfortable. Salcedo notes that the apparent lack of crime in malls, as opposed to on city streets, creates impression of security. "Security is often marketed as one of the most important characteristics of the mall" (Salcedo 2003, 1089). Because people consume more when they feel safe, "it becomes necessary to exclude or at least marginalize social groups considered to be nonconsumers or disruptive" such as the poor, teenagers, minorities and demonstrators (Salcedo 2003, 1089). In the U.S., the location of the malls outside of city centers and not connected to public transit is often enough to keep the poor away because the poor are often (unfairly) associated with theft, property damage and disorder.5 Jon Goss, too, notes that while there is a genuine need (and right) to protect property, the presence of mall security is most useful in assuring customers' feeling of security and the exclusion of unsavory elements. "The key to successful security apparently lies more in an overt security presence that reassures preferred customers that the unseemly and seamy side of 5 For example: the Fairfield Commons Mall in Beavercreek, Ohio, a suburb of Dayton, is part of a continuing debate about allowing city busses to stop at the mall. Since its opening in 1993, it has not been conveniently serviced by public transportation. As recently as March 2011, Beavercreek's City Council voted unanimously against allowing bus service to the mall. "Beavercreek citizens and City Council members feel the RTA stops could bring safety issues to the area" (RTA Bus Stop Application Rejected 2011). Comments on topix.com city forum under the subject "Beavercreek to solve the Fairfield mall bus issue!" were far less diplomatic and expressed one side of the debate. A commenter by the name Duke of Hazard stated: "Sorry, most normal civilized [black & white] folks want to keep that place safe and clean, and don't need more poor drunken drug-addicted shop lifters or carjackers who are mean; including drug thugs who cuss in public and act rude and crude like dudes. Businesses want profitable polite nice customers, not professional victims who boohoo, sue and whine about hate crimes." Similarly, eagle3 said, "We don't want loud, crude people at the mall." And commonwoman expressed concern that allowing bus access to the Fairfield Mall would result in similar crime and poor-management that occurred in the Salem Mall (on the West side of Dayton) which was considered a dead mall by the early 1990s and demolished in 2006: "the criminals must be kept away from all of America. doesn't matter what the skin color is. stop doing the crime. salem mall was a nice place until thugs and drugs put it out of business." On the other side of the debate, advocates have been pushing for public transportation access to the site and arguing that bus transport (poor people) does not mean an increase in crime. This debate has continued for more than two decades with similar arguments on both sides (beavercreek to solve the fairfield mall bus issue! 2012). 48 the real public world will be excluded from the mall. It is argued that the image of security is more important than its substance" (Goss 1993, 27). Second, security reinforces the appearance of safety by maintaining order in the mall. The mall's security is responsible for enforcing not only laws (such as laws against stealing) but also rules which contribute to a consistent and desirable atmosphere. For example, security enforces rules against playing loud radios, littering, staging protests and in some cases, against teenagers without parental escorts (Salcedo 2003, 1091). The irony is that while mall security is often charged with regulating a wide variety of actions, they have little real power and must rely on the police to make arrests or detain people. Using the example of Beavercreek's Fairfield Commons Mall again, the security personnel are prohibited from apprehending shoplifters, which must be done by store employees or the police. Also mall security provides limited physical assistance and must rely on the police. "Mall Security will stand by until the police arrive, but will only take action if personal safety is in danger to himself or herself or to any other person" (The Mall 2008, 27). Thus, security becomes an essential component of shopping malls, not because it deters crime, but because it is vital to creating an environment which induces customers to feel safe and consume more. Critiques of Consumerism and Shopping Malls Shopping malls have been blamed for exacerbating urban sprawl, creating undemocratic spaces and proliferating consumerism, but these are completely contrary to Victor Gruen's intentions. He envisioned malls as places which could "unite Americans and create new communities." By combining retail functions he dreamed of reforming America to reduce urban sprawl, increase retail profit and give "Americans a richer 49 public life." For him, "good planning and good business are in no way mutually exclusive" (Hardwick 2004, 4). For Southdale Shopping Center, he envisioned it as a part of a 500 acre district which would include apartments, office buildings and a medical center. This new "community" would contrast with gaudy commercial strips and urban sprawl by providing a professionally planned "pleasant place in which to shop, a good spot in which to work, and a fine neighborhood in which to live" (Hardwick 2004, 154).6 Unfortunately, developers focused on the shopping malls and failed to implement the community-building aspects of Gruen's designs (Hardwick 2004, 144). Because Gruen's plans were never fully implemented, it is unclear whether his vision for new suburban centers would have resulted in dynamic urban space (in the suburbs) that he imagined. Yet it does seem clear, that Gruen's vision primarily focused on creating vibrant places for people to come together and enjoy the benefits of consumer culture. He concentrated on urban space and consumerism but was blind to many of the social effects of his creations. Whether justified or not, Gruen's name became synonymous with retail design and the term the Gruen Transfer or Gruen Effect came to theorize "that shoppers will be so bedazzled by a store's surroundings that they will be drawn - unconsciously, continually - to shop. The experts pointed to this theory as explaining mall shopping's powerful and pernicious hold on America's collective psyche" (Hardwick 2004, 4). What began as an efficient response to the changing city dynamic grew into an architectural typology which fused the science of merchandising, convenience, amusement and spectacle. The next section will focus on the space in a mall and how the architectural components and social construction relate to one another. 6 Original quote from "Work Begins on 10 Million Dollar Southdale Shopping Center," Minneapolis Star, October 29, 1954, 52; Donald C. Dayton, memo to employees, June 17, 1952, D-HA. 50 In addition to being blamed for contributing to urban sprawl, the two greatest criticisms of shopping malls are that they create a space which is both artificial and undemocratic. The crux of these arguments is that malls profess to create public space but in fact the space of a mall is highly controlled and welcoming only in so far as it contributes to profits. Goss critically analyses the professional literature about shopping mall design and the construction of "public" spaces within them. The thrust of his argument is that shopping malls are artificial places which appear to be designed for the consumer's benefit but are in fact calculated to "assuage this collective guilt over conspicuous consumption by designing into the retail built environment the means for a fantasized dissociated from the act of shopping" (Goss 1993, 19). He is critical of the mall promoter's assertions that shopping malls contain public space and bring people together as a community. The shopping center appears to be everything that it is not. It contrives to be a public, civic place even though it is private and run for profit; it offers a place to commune and recreate, while it seeks retail dollars; and it borrows signs of other places and times to obscure its rootedness in contemporary capitalism. The shopping center sells paradoxical experience to its customers, who can safely experience danger, confront the Other as a familiar, be tourists without going on vacation, go to the beach in the depths of winter, and be outside when in. It is quite literally a fantastic place, and I suspect the disappointment that some experience at the mall may result from the impossibility of these paradoxes.. ..The shopping center is conceived by the elitist science of planning, which operates under the calculus of retail profit and applies behavioral theories of human action for purposes of social disguise as a popular space which has been created by the spontaneous, individual tactics of everyday life (Goss 1993, 40). The theme of the magical (and artificial) world of the shopping mall is engaged by many authors. In Variations on a Theme Park, Margaret Crawford writes on "The World in a Shopping Mall" where she compares the creation of spectacle in shopping malls to Disneyland (Crawford 1992). Similarly, in "The Malling of America," William Severini 51 Kowinski, in describing the artificial nature of malls, says that "[People] will come together in this timeless, placeless space that's always colorful, clean, spacious, comforting, always new, always the same. Good malls make good neighbors, and they are neighbors here, in Never-Never land" (Severini 1992). Similarly, malls promote themselves as public space, which implies a certain amount of freedom. Yet within this "public" space, there are significant limits to freedom of speech, particularly soliciting (which could compete with the profit-making of the shops) and religious or political speech (which could make some patrons uncomfortable). Malls are also criticized for being undemocratic in refusing to allow protests and banning people who have caused or who appear to potentially cause problems for security (Salcedo 2003, 1090-91). These critiques focus on the separation between the mall and the rest of the city, the vulgar nature of consumption, and the artificially clean and stimulating spaces. Even though it is easy to criticize malls for their vulgar consumption, retail consumption is essential to modern economies. For example, in the wake of the 9/11 disasters, Americans were encouraged to continue spending in order to reinforce the economy and retail has become the backbone of the American economy. In 2000, consumer spending accounted for nearly 70% of U.S. GDP (Toossi 2002, 13). Additionally, a robust retail economy works in tandem with a large middle class. As large numbers of the society can afford to participate in consumerism, they stimulate demand for a large quantity of merchandise which creates jobs for manufacturers, transporters, retailers and other service sector jobs which support these sectors. Meaning even though consumption is associated with waste and superficiality, it creates real economic effects. Conclusion The history of modern retail space begins in Western Europe and the United States but has since spread throughout the world. Department stores were the first type of modern retail space and they made their mark on society by using innovative techniques to encourage people to spend additional time within their stores, by stimulating demand for products through creative displays, and by employing and targeting women. Then shopping malls became the sites of retail innovations. They built upon these same ideas but in a more dramatic fashion and with more attention to customer comfort and convenience. Malls not only included department stores as anchors but also included a myriad of small specialty shops to give customers variety and choice. The additional size of malls in comparison to department stores also allowed larger and more complex retail venues such as food courts, restaurants, amusement parks, aquariums and so forth. Yet even with all these innovations, the nonretail aspects of a mall still fulfilled the same function as in the department store: to attract more people and to entice them to spend more money as they spend more time. As consumerism grew and these new forms of retail space emerged, criticism developed in tandem. Shopping malls especially were targeted for criticism because they were seen as either a sterilized or Disneyfied space which pretended to be public but which was in fact exclusive toward anyone deemed "undesirable." Women were also principally targeted for criticism. It was feared that women's minds were too weak to overcome the marketing of savvy retailers and that they would create moral havoc by being too public. However, with the rise of feminism, these criticisms fell out of fashion and women became an integral part of retail space, marketing and shop keeping. 52 53 Figure 2.1 - An example of an early French galleria. Passage des Panoramas, 1799, Paris (Denis David, 2010). 54 T i f f a n y m o s a i c d o m e , m a r s h a l l f i e l d & co.*s R E TAIL S T O R E . C H I C A G O No. 13 4 3 . V. 0 . Hammon Pub. Co. , Chicago Figure 2.2 - Marshall Field & Co. Department Store Atrium, Chicago, Illinois, undated (Chicago Postcard Museum). 55 M a r s h a l l F i e l d fit C o m p a q , r e t a i l s t o r e , s t a t ic s t r e e t a i s l e , o m e d l o c k l o n g Figure 2.3 - Marshall Field & Co. Department Store Atrium, Chicago, Illinois, undated (Curt Teich Collection). Shops"Mall" Shops Shops Street Strip Shopping Reoriented Strip Center Center to form "Mall" Figure 2.4 - Early Shopping Center Types in the U.S. 56 Figure 2.5 - Original Plan, Old Orchard Shopping Center, Skokie, Illinois (adapted from Maitland). Figure 2.6 - Shopping Mall Typologies: Center Anchor; Dumbbell; L-Plan; T-Plan (adapted from Maitland). 57 Figure 2.7 - Northland Shopping Center, Southfield, Michigan, 1960 (adapted from Gruen and Smith). V Figure 2.8 - Original Plan, Southdale Shopping Center (adapted from Maitland). 58 Figure 2.9 - Elevator Atrium, Water Tower Place, Chicago, Illinois (2011). CHAPTER 3 CONSUMERISM AND SHOPPING MALLS IN THE MIDDLE EAST Introduction Shopping malls and consumer culture in the Middle East are relatively recent phenomena which began to develop in the 1980s. Mall development started in Saudi Arabia and by the 1990s spread to the Persian Gulf and Cairo. In the twenty-first century, the United Arab Emirates became famous for over-the-top mall constructions and reveled in its superlative constructions. As these new malls were consistent with or often better than international retail standards, they have become emblems of cosmopolitan-ness and modernity. They had to also grapple with issues which are particular to the Middle East. Most of these issues centered on gender and are handled differently in different countries. In Egypt, the mall became particularly important for its role in status confirmation and elevation. For women, in particular, elite or exclusive spaces were essential to having a "public" social life without losing respectability. For poorer people, especially youth, spending time in the mall allowed them to participate in an upper-class lifestyle even if it was only through window shopping and just for a few hours per week. Although shopping centers and other modern forms of retail have a similar appearance and planning throughout the world, this does not indicate that their usage and social meaning are universal. The reason shopping malls look similar throughout the world is because there are only a few architectural firms which design malls throughout the world (Salcedo 2003, 1095). There are variations in decor and site-specific planning, but malls typically follow the established typologies. In places with harsh environmental conditions, the mall acts as a refuge. Malls can also act as spaces of freedom and political protest. Additionally, shopping malls can act as public gardens. Each of these uses can occur in Western malls, but they take on additional value in the Middle East. Furthermore, in the Middle East, they become especially important as representatives of modernity and consumer culture. Modernism, Consumerism and Globalization As suggested in the previous chapter, consumerism is related to the idea of modernity, and shopping malls have become the embodiment of both, particularly in non­Western regions. Modernity began developing at the same time as consumerism in Western Europe in the seventeenth century, and like consumerism, has spread throughout the world (Giddens 1990, 1). Philosophically, modernism represents a self-conscious break with the past, valuing newness and individual expression. In pragmatic terms, modernism also includes the concepts of efficiency, safety, and industrialization which are especially coveted in regions lacking capable transportation systems, effective medical treatment, and labor-saving devices. On a personal level, modernism and consumerism go hand in hand with the acquisition of up-to-date clothing styles, movies, television, and musical tastes. Thus, modernism requires consumerism in order to continuously procure new signifiers of the modern self. Another effect of the expansion of consumerism through globalization is the blurring of lines of class distinction. In the 60 61 past, only the elite had access to Western or European goods which indicated clear class markers.7 As shops and malls proliferated into developing countries, a greater segment of the population can acquire at least some prestige goods which mark them as "modern." In regions which are not fully "modern" or are still developing, individuals can assert themselves as modern through the acquisition of modern goods and gain "access to the up-to-date and modern" (Stearns 2006, 154). Thus, the expansion of consumerism affects personal identity and status as much as it affects the acquisition of goods. Because the idea of modernity developed in Western Europe and the United States and because modern goods and procedures were generated therein, being modern has been associated with Westernization. In the past few decades modernity's dependence on the West has lessened with the increasing globalization of the world and the "electronic revolution." Manfred Steger notes that "Although the term ‘globalization' can be traced back to the early 1960s, it was not until a quarter of a century later that it took the public consciousness by storm. ‘Globalization' surfaced as the buzzword of the ‘Roaring Nineties' because it best captured the increasingly interdependent nature of social life on our planet" (Steger 2009, 1). Merriam-Webster defines globalization as "the act of process of globalizing: the state of being globalized; especially: the development of an increasingly integrated global economy marked especially by free trade, free flow of capital, and the tapping cheaper foreign labor markets" (Merriam-Webster Dictionary 2011). Because of this, modernism is no longer a gift of the West bestowed on the rest of the world. Instead, globalization has brought together disparate parts of the world through 7 In Egypt this coincided with the Infitah which began opening its doors to outside commercial goods in the 1970s. See below for a discussion of this topic. trade of consumer goods and thus through consumerism. Similar goods can be found throughout the world and do not necessarily emanate from The West. The other factor reducing The West's monopoly on modernism is technology. The "digital revolution" which began in the 1980s revolutionized data and communication, and has not been limited to the "rich countries." No longer are the numbers of telephones and televisions significant, but the expansion of technology is counted by mobile phones and internet connections. In 2000, there were almost 1 billion mobile phone users worldwide but by 2010, there were more than 5 billion users (International Telecommunication Union 2011). This is approximately 75% of the world population. In 2011 there was 100% penetration of mobile phones in 97 countries and 70% penetration in developing countries. Worldwide, internet access was 30% in 2010 (International Telecommunication Union 2011). The ease of international communication has given wider audience to consumer goods and global trends. Because of these two trends, modernism has become more generic, universal, and less Western. Malls Spaces of Refuge As mentioned in the previous chapter, one of the major advantages of shopping malls was the use of climate control. Particularly in developing countries, malls became spaces of refuge from a variety of unpleasant conditions including weather, traffic, pollution and crime. In Africa and Asia, extreme weather can make outdoor life unbearable. Mona Abaza, a social scientist at the American University in Cairo, became interested in shopping malls as a research topic when she was researching in Kuala Lumpur about Islamic discourse and education. She notes that she "spen[t] long hours walking in Asian shopping malls. To escape the terrible heat and horrible traffic jams, it 62 was natural to make appointments to meet in such places" (Abaza 2001, 99). Upon returning to Cairo she found the same reliance on malls as a space of escape. Additionally she notes that many Egyptians who emigrated to Gulf countries to find work, brought back the habit of spending long periods of time in the air-conditioned bliss of malls (Abaza 2006). Breathable irritants are not limited to pollution and fumes from industry or traffic but also include more localized pollution such as stink and smoke. In China, like in other parts of the world with significant numbers of smokers, malls provide a refuge from cigarette smoke due to their no smoking policy (Margolis 2005). Protection from crime is another benefit of malls. Paulo Malzoni Filho, the president of the Brazilian Association of Shopping Centers notes that in a country with a high level of street crime, security is one of the most desirable features of malls in Brazil. Parents, in particular, are reassured by knowing that their teenagers are safe by spending time in malls (Margolis 2005). Thus, in different parts of the world, the shopping mall acts as a refuge from unpleasant urban environmental conditions. Spaces of Freedom / Protest Shopping malls can also be spaces of protest or freedom. Within their modern construct, activities which are not or have not been available can be played out. One example can be found in Eastern Europe. After decades of scarcity, the opening of the markets was greeted with considerable excitement because of the access to myriads of modern goods. "Malls represented freedom from the uniformity of socialism, but they are beginning to evoke mixed feelings" (Salcedo 2003, 1093). There was an appreciation of this new freedom, but also a frustration because income was still limited and most malls focused on upscale design and merchandise while ignoring the middle-class shopper 63 (Salcedo 2003, 1092-93). On the other hand, Shahram Khosravi argues that the freedom found in Tehran's malls has little to do with the modern goods found therein, but with the possibility of flouting the strict gender segregation rules found in Iran. Thus, malls can be sites of freedom both in access to previously unobtainable goods or to flout government controls. In his book on youth and defiance in Tehran, Khosravi, explains that contested space in the malls "concerns the battle over the right to identity. On one side, there is the state's effort to construct a hegemonic identity for young people. On the other, there is the pervasive struggle by the young people to resist a subject position imposed on them from above" (Khosravi 2007, 1). Khosravi examines several different sites of resistance but his study of Golestan Mall is most relevant to this research. In his discussion of the mall, two major themes arise: the mall as a site of modernity and the sexualization of space in the mall. Both of these are expressions of freedom and protest for Tehrani youth. Having been a youth who "cruised" malls for entertainment, Khosravi is critical of what he calls "the hegemonic ideological theories that present consumer culture only in terms of the exploitative ‘global dictatorship of capitalism'" (Khosravi 2007, 92). He finds fault with academics that focus on the malls as counterfeit public space or a place of fantasy. Instead he found the subjects of his study viewed these spaces as very real places of protest and possibility. "For them the shopping mall is not about illusion, it is rather about imagination, subjectivity, and defiance" (Khosravi 2007, 92). Although these youth inhabit a consumer space, they are using consumption as a way to separate themselves from the past, from their parents and from the strict government regulations (Khosravi 2007, 92). 64 65 The presence of the youth and the opportunities for young men and young women to interact is problematic for the basijis who seek to enforce gender segregation. The space of the shopping mall is contested because of its sexualization. Because Tehran was a "city dominated by gender-segregated public spaces" the malls were one of the only places young men and women could interact with each other. For these young people, shopping is not a backstage activity undertaken in order to prepare for a performance on the stage. Rather it is itself a front-state act. They dress up and go topassazhs [malls] to be seen. The other side of loitering in the passazhs is watching and being flaneur.. .The gaze of the young flaneurs is often erotic. They look for the opposite sex to complete their incomplete selves in a society which is trying to banish young romance. Golestan is indeed a scene for performing what the Islamic state defines as ‘cultural crimes.' In Golestan, the body movements, gazes, and short verbal comments of boys about girls and vice versa create a sexually loaded atmosphere. Young men come to Golestan for dokhtar bazi (flirting with girls) and young girls forpesar bazi (flirting with boys). Through the corridors, in the courtyard, in the queue to a public phone, or just standing in front of a shop window, girls and boys flirt with each other. Girls are often subject to matallak, erotic verbal taunt. The ‘moral police' attempt to separate the sexes, but are rarely successful. Tehrani boys are experts at whispering their phone numbers in a few seconds as they pass by girls, who in turn are skilled in memorizing the numbers. Such interaction takes place under the disguise of doing something else. Boys and girls do not look at each other and ‘do not talk' to each other (Khosravi 2007, 112). One informant explained that in the mall "'there are many escape routes [darou]. Here you can pretend that you are looking at the shop windows. If I pass by the same girl more than twice in a park or on the street, everybody would know what is going on. Here we just go back and forth and pretend to be looking at shops'" (Khosravi 2007, 113). They also use the variety of shops, hallways, stairs and levels as ways to escape basijis patrols (Khosravi 2007, 91). As these informants have discovered, the physicality of the shopping space allows them to both interact with girls and to evade the authorities trying to stop them. In this way, the fantasy world of the mall becomes a real place where things which are not possible elsewhere can occur (Figure 3.1). In addition to innocent flirting, Iranian malls have become highly sexualized spaces. Female display manikins are not under the same regulations to cover their bodies as women are, and all kinds of revealing attire is prominently displayed. Thus, shopping becomes a sexual event. Khosravi notes that "the coincidence of shopping and male leisure-seeking makes Golestan a masculine playground" where sexuality is commercialized "as a form of spectacle for consumption" (Khosravi 2007, 113). Additionally, the area in front of Golestan Mall is famous for prostitution, which further heightens the sexual tensions. Men not only can look at sexualized displays and flirt with girls, but there are also possibilities for sexual encounters due to the presence of prostitutes. In this way, the physical presence of real women, the merchandise being displayed sexually, and the reputation for prostitution combine to make sex the focus of shopping at the mall. Thus, the act of shopping at a mall can be infused with protest, a sense of freedom and imagination. In post-Soviet Eastern Europe, one of the most visible indicators of "freedom" was the opening of markets and the abundance of consumer goods. In Iran, the shopping malls are both a site of freedom and protest. People, especially youth, have the freedom to spend time in spaces with the opposite sex and women have the freedom to spend time in public. This freedom turns to a form of protest as youths actively seek to subvert the basijis' attempts to control their behavior. In these examples, the imagination becomes an important part of the lure of the mall. In Eastern Europe, the imagination was launched by the possibility of so many new consumer goods, whereas in Iran, the 66 67 imagination was tantalized by the possibility of sexual encounters. For both of these cases, the extent of the imagination could not possibly be fulfilled, but that only heightened the sense of freedom and need for protest. Public Gardens Particularly in Middle Eastern cities which are often lacking in open space, shopping malls act as public gardens. They become places where people spend leisure time without having to pay an entrance fee. Fawaz Alhokair Company, a prominent mall developer in Saudi Arabia, stated that Retail is a popular pastime for families and individuals in a country that has no bars or clubs. And this has dictated how many malls have been conceived. "The mall is more than just a retail mall here," explained Fawaz Alhokair's head of real estate, Kamel Al Qalam. "It's family leisure time, and it's the most credible way for the family to spend time together. We didn't have this in the past" (Kivlehan 2008). Unlike the American model, which is based on large anchor stores, Saudi malls rely on entertainment such as food courts and ice skating rinks as their anchors, thus, the entertainment facilities promote the space as a kind of public garden (Kivlehan 2008). As mentioned above, in escaping the climate and congestion, South Asians have appropriated malls as public gardens. Mona Abaza explains that within these spaces a new life arose, Through the reshaping of landscapes, flaneur-ing in the open air, which is one of the attractions of any town, becomes nearly impossible, with the growing number of cars and highways. In Malaysia, trees are constantly chopped down and the jungle is rapidly disappearing. Cool, fresh air is available only in shopping malls. On weekends, extended middle-class families of all ethnicities - Malay, Chinese, and Indian - in their ethnic clothes (Islamic attire of all varieties, saris, sarongs and the robes of Buddhist monks) fill these spaces, mingling with people wearing mini-skirts, shorts and sandals. They enjoy shopping, window shopping or the movies.. .These spaces contain extremely noisy crowds of young people (Abaza, 2001, 100). Abaza also notes that traditional activities like Chinese New Year's celebrations, breaking the fast at Ramadan, and Malay and Indian traditions are also celebrated in "these super-modern settings. One could interpret these events as an aspect of ‘folkorization of culture' which goes hand in hand with the growing ‘etat-ization' of Malaysia" (Abaza 2001, 100-1). Upon returning to Cairo in 1998, Abaza noticed the same development trajectory. Unlike other cities which have public gardens, in Cairo the government has fenced in the public gardens so malls become de facto public parks. Thus, "public space" has been subsumed by commerce (Abaza 2006, 84). In this way, shopping malls have filled the need for public gardens for comfortable leisure space. Mall in Comparison to the Bazaar In the Middle Eastern context, shopping malls are often compared to suqs or bazaars because they are both agglomerations of individual shops within a unified space, but there are significant differences. The major differences are related to ideas of modernity and gender. First, malls separate themselves from bazaars through their architecture. Suqs or bazaars generally fall into one of three architectural categories: old construction, new construction imitating old construction, and unselfconscious utilitarian construction. Since many suqs date back hundreds of years, they reflect the current architectural style of the time when they were built. New suqs which have been built recently, especially for tourist areas, often imitate these traditional suqs. The utilitarian suqs are using economical materials simply to provide shelter and display of merchandise goods. Malls on the other hand, consciously announce their modernity through an architectural break with the past. They employ materials requiring industrialization rather 68 69 than human labor such as aluminum, large panes of glass and high-end tiles. Additionally, they showcase technology such as escalators and elevators. The bazaar represents "continuity" while the shopping mall represents "disjunction" (Khosravi 2007, 98). In the bazaar, "Islamic order" regulates its workings and the atmosphere imposes the morality; and there is an expectation of "virtuous behavior and dress" (Khosravi 2007, 113). In contrast, malls must be policed by police, moral militia, or security guards (Khosravi 2007, 113). Compared with the bazaar, the Iranianpassazh is relatively new, having come to life in the late 1960s and early 1970s and the mall which began to appear in the 1980s. This type of shopping center is named passazh from the French word passage which signi