Strip Mall Main Street Revival

    I have been to the Brookwood Shopping Center lots of times.  However, last week something stood out that I had not really paid any attention to before.  I saw that the Save A Lot food store had a second level, which looked more like a booth, actually.   My guess was that the manager’s office was up there.  But looking closer, it was just used as ornament.  It was on all the stores except one.  The center had been modeled or remodeled to give a quasi-main street appearance.   I don’t know whose idea it was to give it that look, nor do I know if the owners and designers thought this design would generate business.  The Brookwood Shopping Center lies on the busy Street Road corridor in Bensalem, PA, which is lined with similar shopping centers and strip malls. Perhaps giving the center some kind of antique charm would make it look more attractive and shopper-friendly than the competition.  It doesn’t really look like much more than a stage prop, but maybe that’s what they thought would set it apart.

  At the far right end of the line of stores in the second photo is the Kmart which anchors the shopping center, partially obstructed by a sign.  Unlike the other stores, it was not remodeled.  It looked about the same as it did since when it opened, retaining the familiar Kmart façade.  The small town main street district and Kmart are from two different eras. Before the automobile and suburbia re-shaped the American lifestyle, the Main Street was the place everyone went to shop.  It was the business district of whatever town it went through. The stores were usually owned by families who lived upstairs.  For the people who lived in the town, everything could be reached on foot.  For those in the farms and villages, it was a short ride away on horseback.  Once the automobile and the suburban way of life became the norm, the farms surrounding the cities were replaced by housing developments, and with them, shopping centers and strip malls.  By the 1970’s, it seems, a Kmart was never far from any of these places.  It stood far removed from the busy road it was on, surrounded by a sea of parked cars.  Kmart itself may become a relic of the past, since their business is now being siphoned away by Target and Wal-Mart.  Like Kmart, both of those stores are never far from any population center.

  But I’m writing too much into this.  I’m sure the intention was just to add a nice touch to the shopping center.   In the end, the theme will hardly matter to the people who shop there.  They don’t really care about the theme (if they notice it), as long as they can get what they need.