Wow. So I just spent 6 hours at the new Vaughn Mills shopping mega metropolis! Wow, it's pretty big!

I felt like a foreigner walking into the place. I was by myself, just taking a look after dropping my band mate off to a church gig she was singing at. Before I know it, hours and hours pass by and I’m still there.

Layout
Just as a quick update, this new shopping centre is north of Toronto and represents one of the biggest malls in Canada. I'm not going to waste time on stats as you all know can type "Vaughn Mills" in Google to get them. The mall is one massive square, with 6 separate neighbourhoods (e.g. fashion, technology, home, etc.). The interior was quite contemporary, each neighbourhood having its own colour scheme and design. They used lots of strong vibrant colours and clean striking lines, resulting in a fun and energetic feel to the mall.

Stores
I was impressed with the variety and size of the stores. There were no department stores or banks, which was a bit of a surprise but honestly you didn't need them. You can tell they were going for specialty stores and big box stores instead. You had the staple clothing stores, but also some fun new stores, which gave me the impression this was not a mall owned by Cadillac Fairview. Who knows. But anyway, it was fun to be new stores with the freedom to shop and look around for as long as I want! :)

Although it was a Sunday, the human traffic was only bad in the walkways throughout the mall. Once you went inside a store it wasn't too busy and the line up to purchase wasn't all that bad either.

There was one store called something like Big Ass Bass, which is a huge outdoor specialty store. They had a colourful exterior with fishing demos in the front to bait customers into the stores, as well a horrible shooting gallery/shooting games at the back that lured the kids in. (Btw, did you know that sales for fur coats/accessories have risen at some places by 300% in sales vs. year ago? Apalling. Where's Ace Ventura when you need him?) Anyway, this store was intense! Being a specialty store and massive overhead to maintain, the prices were quite high, but it would be great for my dad to rip off ideas and make/purchase at Canadian Tire for the cottage! :)

Purchases
As it goes every year, I always find so many things that *I* want while I’m shopping for others. Heh, given that I don't buy a lot of things for myself (I am a confessed penny pincher), I felt that I could purchase a few smashing things for me and add more to the list of things I will look out for when they're on sale :). I netted out with only 3 items in 6 hours, averaging 2 hours per items. Sad? Actually, for me, that's about average. I take a LONG time going through the consumer buying behaviour process (need identification -> info search -> alternatives -> decision criteria -> selection -> purchase) but usually in the end I’m pretty happy with what I end up with. Of the 3 items, one was a gift and 2 were clothes for me. :)

Overall the experience there was quite positive, given it was shopping in a mall. It was great going by myself for most of the experience (I did meet up with someone for the last leg), so I wouldn’t feel pressured by anyone. I found some GREAT clothing ideas for SBF, which means that I will need to do "what not to wear" during the boxing day sales for him!! He's been asking me for sometime, and i can't wait to be the next Clin-wonton London*> :P

Take care,

RE

"eat drink and be merry"

*SBF - Not to worry, I will not force you to purchase a tweed pant!