Out & About: Finding a home away from home -- at the mall

Tue, 09/02/2008 10:17 AM | City

Big cities in Asia like to show off their financial strengths and purchasing powers by building malls. Jakarta is no exception.

Malls are sprouting and flourishing in every corner of the capital city, and people from all echelons of society flock to them in droves.

At a glance, the malls do not differ from one another. Step inside any two malls and you will see the same brands selling the same products at the same obscene prices.

However, when it comes to hanging out at malls, people have their favorites.

The most obvious reason for this loyalty is location. People choose their malls based on ease of access. Malls with large parking lots or malls close to public transportation terminals will attract particular types of travelers.

Most people don't want to waste time circling the endless levels of car parks just to spend half an hour shopping.

Instead, they choose malls close enough to their houses or work places to be able to pop in for a bite of lunch or to do a bit of window shopping whenever a free moment in their hectic day presents itself.

However, more than that, people become attached to malls based on their atmospheres.

There's an old saying: Birds of a feather flock together.

When people are in need of recreation, they will go to a place where the same kind of people go; they want to go somewhere they can fit in.

In Jakarta, where people from different areas behave in different ways, these localized characteristics are often reflected in malls.

South Jakarta residents have significantly different styles from those who live in North Jakarta. As a result, the atmospheres at the areas' respective malls also differ.

That is why any single mall will have its own particular type of people. And those people will dress up, speak and socialize in their own particular way.

A mall in Pluit in North Jakarta, for example, will have a different crowd than a mall in Senayan, Central Jakarta.

Anyone acting out of accord in a mall will be considered a social outcast.

In this modern era when many people feel out of place at home, some have begun to seek out their own homes and families. Weirdly enough, many people in the big city have found those places in malls.

My friends and I, for instance, spent half of our lives at a big mall in South Jakarta as high school students. The mall is not far from my home and my old school.

However, even though we graduated from high school two years ago, we continue to frequent the same mall. We grew up with it and its people.

We still wear the same clothes sold at the mall, and we still eat the same food it provides.

Whenever we grew tired of school, work or family, we would run away to the mall. We ran away to our other home, our other family.

I remember when coffee shops began to take off at the mall. Hanging out at those coffee shops became a sacred activity that had to be carried out no matter where we were.

Malls shape us as individuals and as a society. They shape the way we -- at least my friends and I -- live.

In my case, the mall provided a venue where I could meet with people like me and where we could be happily packed together.

We tried other malls in Jakarta, but somehow we felt misplaced and lost. When we ventured to try other malls, we would rarely stay at any one for more than two hours, where as we are happy to visit our home mall every day of the week.

We still have fun at the other malls; there is nothing wrong with them, but at the end of the day, we always go back to our preferred mall and finally feel at home.

--Jeanette Tamara

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