Do you know what is Reilly’s Law of Retail Gravitation?
or optimal positional isochrones?
You have in fact been the ‘victim’ of this science! And much more!
These are rules and regulations for making or constructing a Shopping mall!
Just when you thought that let us just go to the mall and enjoy the cool breeze and the ambience; you are actually falling right into the trap!
Shopping mall design is a science!
Have you gone to such malls and found out a kind person offering you a shopping cart!? That is the biggest trap! You will never buy less now!
But did you know that when it was first introduced, no one took the cart!
Of course the cart was to help shoppers deal with the increasing volume of goods on offer!
Now although a grocery store in Houston had for years been offering its customers the use of children’s wagons with a basket attached to help them manage their purchases, it wasn’t until 1936 when a store owner in Oklahoma City named Sylvan Goldman invented the modern shopping trolley which he called a basket carrier that bulk-buying became a possibility!
Bill Bryson in his book Made in American says how at first, customers showed great reluctance to use the new contraptions. So the clever Goldman came up with an ingenious plan!
He employed half a dozen people to push the carts around all day, pretending to shop! When others saw these ‘customers’ shopping with ease; they in their FOMO rushed to copy and they were hooked!
Now coming to some popular laws!
At their conferences, mall planners bandied about new concepts like Reilly’s Law of Retail Gravitation which is essentially, the mix of stores necessary to keep people moving!
Another such law was called the optimal positional isochrones! This is just another way of saying that the best location for a shopping center is near a highway interchange!
The owners actually want you to come but not stay in a place! They want you to move around! They want you to feel that though the mall is large; there is always some rush! In fact in most places benches are built without backs so that people wouldn’t linger on them!
Most food court tables given just enough space and comfort to induce a sense of discomfort after about ten minutes!
To think that one of the pioneers of malls called Victor Gruen had actually envisioned people sitting with cappuccinos, reading newspapers on gripper rods provided by a thoughtful management, or playing chess beside whispering fountains! Of course none of this would be profitable!
The profit is when you come, use a cart, spend and leave!
So next time you go to a mall; skip the cart! In fact the fast track less than ten items was also to make sure that those who spend less can be shown the door faster! Now now! Do not feel cheated or depressed! If you do, then you may want to go to a mall!
Of course you can save some money by treating your sadness with some music like say by P Unnikrishnan!
Try! It’s free! Or is it!?
Shubh ratri!
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