Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/390025
artisanal, with the mall look- ing less like a spaceship that has dropped from the sky and more like the farmer's markets we now see making inroads in the food category," said Grant McCracken, a Connecticut-based anthro- pologist and retail consultant. Torvehallerne architect Hans Peter Hagens would agree. Hagens visited traditional markets in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Asia before designing Torve- hallerne and found similari- ties he then tried to incorpo- rate in his design. First, Hagens says, suc- cessful traditional markets are centralized. Indeed, in ancient Rome, these were always in the heart of the city, according to Diana E.E. Kleiner, a professor of art history and classics at Yale University who specializes in Roman architecture. Then as now, foot traffic mattered: The central food market was typically located right next to the government buildings and the temples. "The idea of the meeting place and the marketplace seems to have been wedded in the minds of the Romans," Kleiner said. Hagens says he has noticed in his travels that keeping the scale small is important to infusing the market with energy, so he designed the Torvehallerne stalls at between 12 and 50 square meters (about 130 to 540 square feet). The Romans' markets tended to focus almost entirely on food, according to Kleiner. Prepared food was particularly pop- ular, as people lived in multistory apartment buildings with no kitchens. And whether a glass of wine or a cup of cappuccino, drinking and markets have almost always gone together. Stocking things that people cannot do without is yet an- other key to success. Paco Underhill, founder of Envirosell, a New York City–based behavioral research consulting firm, says he has tried for years to encourage malls to follow the lead of Asian retailers in seeking tenants that meet everyday needs as a way to encourage more foot traffic — even a busi- ness as mundane as a locksmith's shop. Hagens says the mar- ket ought to have both low-price and high-price products to encourage traffic. Traditional markets tend to be adaptable. In France the tables and tents are usually pitched and struck every market day. Some malls are now trying to add more of this kind of flexibility into their infrastructure. General Shopping, a leading Brazilian shopping center development company, now builds power-and-water hookups into every parking lot, to facilitate the putting up of temporary, seasonal mar- kets. "We're not seeing parking lots as a cost, but as an opportunity," said Underhill, who serves on the General Shopping board. Such flexibility makes it easy for consumers to see and try new things. Hagens notes that in a traditional food market, shoppers can easily see something and thus go home with things they had not planned to buy. U.S. farmers' markets encourage personal connection be- tween vendor and customer, says Underhill. This connection has a practical side, Underhill says, in that the seller is able to "curate" the purchase — asking the customer, for instance, whether the avocado he wants is for tonight or tomorrow, so as to provide with just the right degree of ripeness. "That kind of interaction builds some trust and a certain amount of loyalty to a market," Underhill said. Such attention has other helpful effects as well, by helping take the customer's eye off the price. "I'm not only buying the object, I'm buying the person, I'm buying the experience," Underhill said. "In a culture where so many Americans live in suburbs and are so addicted to social media as a way of main- taining bonds, having someone acknowledge you and smile at you is a lot of what gives meaning to our day." Hagens thinks so too. "Of course you buy food, but it's also a meeting point," Hagens said. "You're talking to people, you're discussing things, you're getting samples, tasting the food before you buy it to make sure it's what you're dreaming about. That's what makes it fascinating." S C T 60 S C T / O c t O b e r 2 0 1 4 M e r c a d o d e S a n M i g u e l , M a d r i d , S p a i n A r t u r o r o s A s / Z u M A P r e s s / N e w s c o M