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There used to be a time when, as a child I used to enjoy visiting old stately homes of England and setting myself the challenge of traversing the various obstacles that the permanently kempt maze had to offer.
Due to the ageless appeal of these large-scale puzzles and the fact that I was a relatively small child, I normally managed to reach the centre and return unscathed mostly because I followed the crowds and stuck close to those that offered assistance.
It's been awhile since my last visit to a stately home; however having visited one of the newer malls in the Middle East recently and gotten thoroughly lost whilst walking round; unfortunately it's not been as long since I was last in a maze.
Unlike the mazes that dominate the floral gardens of castles and houses of ancient royalty, shopping malls generally look to maximise foot traffic that passes through the building and stimulate pedestrian flow in specific areas in order to generate passing trade and interest in the stores. They should seek to eliminate as many areas of potential bottlenecks as possible and through the development of modes such as traffic masterplans and leasing strategies that strategically place brands and stores in specific yet accessible areas.
As a consequence the mall should be able to maximise footflow without compromising the ability of the various stores draw customers from all over the mall.
Surprisingly malls and mazes have a great many similarities when you look at what they are attempting to do and offer. Both seek to invite you inside, and once you are there they are designed to keep you there as long as possible, the only exception being that it's pretty hard to spend money once you're in a maze. Similarly, they are both normally quite large, are generally of a square or rectangular design and have a central point of interest that nearly everyone is aware of but doesn't necessarily reach. Lastly, and this is the clincher, unless you know them very well, once you are inside you very rarely know where you are, or the easiest way out, but as you're enjoying yourself so much you don't really mind being there. The point of distinction here however, is that whilst a maze is designed to lose you and disorientate your sense of direction, a shopping mall should have a logical and obvious passage through it. This route more often than not should pass along a central tributary off which there are a few easy-to-access walkways.
Basic principles
There are some basic principles that generally need to be adhered to in order to fully maximise the retail space that is available in a mall and generally this means that it should offer the customers a logical route around or through the mall.
There are always exceptions to the rule of course, with the obvious ones in the region being the many souqs (old and new) that offer a true shopping experience to the customers. The sense of intimacy and familiarity with the products and stall holders is not something that can be offered by a modern day mall, but then the sense of occasion and motive is different.
Consumers generally like to be offered simple solutions, with one of the most obvious being, that when visiting malls they require an obvious and easy to navigate path through to their preferred destination, be it the cinema, a burger shop or a book store. As a result we have found the difference between shopping in a mall and visiting a maze.
- The writer is Head of GRMC Retail Services, Dubai.
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