malls

Through the past four decades, indoor and outdoor shopping malls have become dominant fixtures of the retail landscape. As the ‘mall phenomenon’ has matured and the number of facilities has risen, notes fountain expert Paul L’Heureux, so has the need to differentiate these properties to attract shoppers. In lots of cases, he says, the marks of distinction are watershapes of one sort or another – yet another creative outlet for imaginative designers.
Market Variations
The shopping mall as we know it first emerged in the United States in the 1960s and since then has become a dominating retail presence on both the urban and suburban scenes. They started out in larger cities but soon were found just about everywhere - indoors or outdoors, small and large, visually appealing and, well, less visually appealing.  Some are organized around upscale shopping and recreational activities, others around discount centers and manufacturers' outlets.  There are many that are filled with mom-and-pop boutiques, while a few are integrated with amusement parks.  Whatever seems likely to succeed, mall developers have certainly been willing to give it a whirl. At their core, however, every mall of any type has the primary mission of pulling people together so they can spend money on all kinds of merchandise; all the entertainment, dining and socializing are, in other words, secondary activities.  In this sense, today's retail forums are a modern version of marketplace traditions that reach back to ancient times and almost every human society - with lots of modern conveniences added for good measure. Today's malls, in fact, are
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