Random Play: Alt.Republic: The rolling mall
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Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to
That was 4 recordari
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Sam F, in reply to
Did they have cake? Cause then I almost certainly went there, but seriously, cannot remember it.
Oh yes, there was cake and other classic teashop sweet things up there. I think from memory we took the elevator from Farmers up past the family photographers’ studio and there it was.
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Sacha, in reply to
If more people caught the bus to the mall, I'm sure the bus companies could be persuaded to run more routes. But they don't, so they haven't.
That's touchingly naive about how transport planning works, or the constraints of the current nationally-legislated bus funding and contracting arrangements.
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recordari, in reply to
Thanks. When did they do the latest renovations? We remember there not being a lower level for farmers, and a different grocery shop where the food hall is (Pak 'n' Save? With a big cow at the back), and certainly no Starbucks. It was quite different in 1997-98.
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Sam F, in reply to
a different grocery shop where the food hall is (Pak 'n' Save? With a big cow at the back)
It was a Big Fresh. Can't remember whether the St Lukes store had the Big Fresh trademark creepy animatronic fruits and vegetables, though.
I'm not 100% sure on timing but definitely the major renovations (adding the north section and Village Cinemas, now Event) would have been complete by about 2004. Others may know more precisely.
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BenWilson, in reply to
Heh, I expect you're right, and find it not unlikely that transport planning in this city is more geared towards moving facilities to bus routes than moving routes to facilities.
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Just want to add, I don't love the place, and accept many of the general criticisms of mall shopping. The reason I don't buy much there is because the selection is not good, and not different to other malls. I'm just trying, as always, to see both sides of the argument, to see that the mall does actually provide a public good, and its popularity is because it serves the limited range of things that it does quite well.
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Sacha, in reply to
Can't remember whether the St Lukes store had the Big Fresh trademark creepy animatronic fruits and vegetables, though.
I don't think they were still wiggling hypnotically by the time I first went there - but the store did have a Country singer crooning from the top of a straw-strewn stack more than once. Not sure who that was meant to encourage.
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Sacha, in reply to
Moving routes is heresy :)
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recordari, in reply to
Country singer crooning from the top of a straw-strewn stack more than once.
Ha, yeah that was sort of creepy. Like most straw men on soap boxes.
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St Lukes square/shopping centre/mall has been added to multiple times… (as have Lynn Mall and Henderson Square) over the three decades since I arrived in this country…
The first upgrade I remember was when they added the Big Fresh. The most recent was the cinemas over the food court, but there were probably two others in-between times?
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Angus Robertson, in reply to
I went along to a meeting at the St Lukes library about 10 years ago when they were "consulting" on the upgrade to include cinema/food hall and exclude Big Fresh. Had the dubious pleasure of listening to some members of the local council opposition party (can't remember which) saying how bad it would be with all the extra traffic/noise for the neighbourhood of St Lukes and how they were committed to preventing this from happening. I took the opportunity to ask them what their stance was on the SH20 motorway (that had just been granted go ahead to be connected to the south end of Sandringham Rd) being extended through Mt Albert to Waterview and they said that they were committed to preventing the extension from happening.
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**Same jive in Christchurch…
Except to defeat the malls in the burbs (new ones coming along as well) they are talking about a mall in the central city… clever huh? Doh!
We used to have a lot of arcades, but they have all fallen away and are virtually empty, or gone…The Chch tram is not priced for local use, so we don’t use it, and won’t when it has been extended out through High street and the Polytech – almost to Lancaster Park (or whatever corporate nomenclature it languishes under now) apparently for the Rugby World Cup – even though the council is promoting the “Rugby Road” walk-to-the-game-from-the-city idea – but gee if a couple of hundred people can catch a tram almost there for the few games we have here, well it will have been worth demolishing the gym at the polytech and creating a hazardous pedestrian area in Poplar lane, and even more gridlock for the Manchester/High st area – Bob Parker is happy to help!
We do have an Orbiter bus service that hits many of the major suburban malls, though.
Personally, I avoid all malls as much as possible, one seldom seems happy people there, they are stress factories… more Ruck than Maul…
Ironic that Mall is derived from "…a tree-bordered walk in St. James’s Park, London, so named because it was the site of a pall-mall alley."
and not from Mallet – which might be more appropriate – hammering retail as they do……perhaps the next evolution is the Mallette?
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'Mallette'
From Answers.com
Which is the smallest mall in the world?
In: Shopping [Edit categories]
[Improve]The smallest mall in the world would be in Tokyo, China.
Right next to Kino-Kun-Nan Bookshop.
But it's veeery difficult to find. On account of it's size.
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"They put a bus lane through my heart"
Strangely more apposite after the fact.
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what's wrong with a buslane metropolis
oh sorry, bustling...They are now thinking about taking the bus lanes out of Sydenham, in Chch, as they are killing what few businesses that the earthquake didn't ruin - gee, just like everyone said, when they first put them in....
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Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to
They certainly are stress factories for the staff. Our budgets were enough to eek out a fine living for decades and that was just a monthly projection. Of course the rent reflected that. Which is why they must expand! The almighty dosh. And, my coffee and cigarette consumption was clockwork every break. that was standard diet.
One point (and the only one I have seen in my few brief visits) of difference in St Lukes would be massage.It has brought the world of chinese massage out in the open, where one isn't afraid to explore.Certainly something I would use if I worked there.
The other thing I pondered recently, was this. After the congestion problems perceived,if said mall expands, I don't see it anywhere near as critical as witnessed on Dominion Rd t'other day. As soon as a poor motorcyclist got squashed, the road was shut for hours and the carnage sat for anyone to see. That was the closest choice I had to get to a telecom shop.With knowledge of the area surrounding, I could scoot in and around the mess and beat the traffic congestion, but for strangers passing through, it was quite chaotic for hours. I figured at least traffic does still move in a controlled environment like around the mall.
Also, there are quite a lot of buses that get one next to the mall. I was very surprised to see that buses from the eastern suburbs do come by there.
Jus' sayin' :) -
On the "just saying" front, I was there today, during the busiest weekend of the year. Arrived at 11:30, right at the peak of the busiest day, last Saturday before Christmas. There was an easily avoidable queue of cars on St Lukes Rd, so I got into the carpark without even having to stop. It took me 30 seconds to find a carpark. It's not that bad, people.
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Ben, the mall is only half the size it will be and with no mitigation of the extra induced traffic. I'm glad you got in there easily today but it doesn't really say much about the proposed expansion.
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it's nice to be kneaded...
One point (and the only one I have seen in my few brief visits) of difference in St Lukes would be massage. It has brought the world of chinese massage out in the open, where one isn't afraid to explore.
the massage areas have arrived in chch malls as well, well at least at the Palms anyway... maybe in time the foodcourts will have healthier options, and a large space for mass tai chi and yoga will be available as malls take over the function of town squares and community centres...
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