Retail therapy

I cannot, with hand on heart, really say I am over fond of the modern trend of shopping malls, but then I am of the generation brought up on town centres with busy and lively high streets forming the focal point of a community.

That said, I can never resist making time to discovering what each and every indoor or outdoor shopping centre has to offer in whichever town or city I find myself, and acknowledging the fact that they’ll often be dominated by fashion stores.

Today I was visiting Southampton’s West Quay, an indoor shopping mall with around 150 shops and which holds a special affection for me in as much as I was privileged to attend the opening, just over 14 years ago, in September 2000.

It was developed on the site of an old factory which made electricity power cables, two high rise office blocks, and linking to the existing main shopping street by demolition and re-development of the local newspaper office and print works, and where I was personally based for the greater part of my career.

It is sometimes argued that one shopping mall is very much like another, where the principal store names are much the same, and often take the blame for the once dominant high streets assuming a secondary role.

The evidence in many towns sporting modern under cover shopping malls makes that difficult to dispute. Nevertheless, I, and countless thousands of shoppers find them fascinating.

But then, I have a special reason for loving this one, having spent so much of my newspaper life in this locality. It’s almost like going home, even though the old editorial, advertising and print works where I was brought up for so much of my working life, have long since gone and moved to another part of the city.