Women and Capitalism in the Croatian Hinterland by Hofman Nila Ginger;

Author:Hofman, Nila Ginger;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic
Published: 2012-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Anti-Malls

Dara told me to check out her kitchen store in a small downtown mall a couple of blocks west of her home. Dara went to medical school but never passed her final examinations. She is married, has two children, and owns two businesses with her husband. She is financially very secure. The “anti-mall” is what she called the narrow corridor where her store is located between two buildings on a busy, downtown shopping street. The passage is peaceful compared to the hustle and bustle of the nearby shopping street. There are four shops in this consumerscape with room perhaps for two more. The shopkeepers sit around little tables in front of the shops smoking and sipping coffee. They only get up if customers ask for something or if they enter their store. Dara told me that the customers often have a cigarette or a cup of coffee with the storekeepers. The social interactions between the customers and shopkeepers make the shopping experience unlike the more popular arms-length transactions of the shopping malls. Dara explained:

My store is an example of an anti-mall establishment. It is located in small cul-de-sac shared with a goldsmith, antique store, a hairdresser, and a beauty store. I think it’s a very interesting place to observe. The stores all face one another and the shopkeepers as well as the customers interact with one another. The shopkeepers drink coffee together in front of their stores which makes the atmosphere congenial and not sterile as in a shopping mall. Some of the customers hang out with the shopkeepers. It’s like the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, customers and shopkeepers drinking coffee together.

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