There's a brand new shopping centre seven storeys high
There's bound to be a sale or two-something we can buy
There's four floors of parking and we're sure to find a space
We'll spend all the money that the government doesn't take.

Warren Zevon excerpt from Down at the Mall

MALLCONTENT Lauren Lysaght
November 1-21, 2003 at
Whitespace, 1 Morgan St, Newmarket www.whitespace.co.nz
There's a brand new shopping centre seven storeys high
There's bound to be a sale or two-something we can buy
There's four floors of parking and we're sure to find a space
We'll spend all the money that the government doesn't take.

Warren Zevon excerpt from Down at the Mall

MALLCONTENT Lauren Lysaght
November 1-21, 2003 at
Whitespace, 1 Morgan St, Newmarket www.whitespace.co.nz
Only one more shopping day until tomorrow. Bumper sticker seen on a car in Newmarket Auckland.

Some years ago I stood at the entrance to Ala Moana Mall, Honolulu, it boasts of having 50 acres of shopping. I would consider this the ultimate in shopping glory.

Over the years, in different parts of the world, I have "trawled" some serious Malls, but this one was the "jewel in the crown". It was also a turning point for me, I felt as if this shopping experience could not be surpassed. Since then I have abandoned this modern day "hunters and gatherers" pursuit preferring to be an observer rather than a participant. If you talk to dedicated Shoppers they will exchange notes on the best places to shop or the best Malls and most of all where to get the "good" bargains. My most recent observations of this activity is that we often reference retail places overseas. This occupation is also a local phenomena. New Zealand, Aotearoa, has its own variety of Malls and shopping plazas. These complexes are "all the same but different". There is no room for the individual shopper. Perhaps there is a misguided security in knowing wherever a consumer goes he or she will experience the same brands, the same chain stores, the same labels.

Today, as a recovering Shopper, I am overwhelmed by Consumerism! Everywhere I go it is around me. Most of all, I have just recently moved to Auckland, here, consumerism, materialism, seems to be a more serious occupation! Lauren Lysaght

While consumerism offers the tangible goal of owning a product, it lacks the fulfilment of other cultural mythologies. Consumerism offers only short term ego-gratification for those who can afford the luxury and frustration for those who cannot.

It exists as an incomplete and inadequately engineered system of values for a waning cultural heritage. R. Cronk Essay Consumerism and Capitalism.

Ph 5240644 (contact Deborah White)