Lets Go Shopping Together...Or Not!

           My visit to the Queens Center Mall consisted of three stores which were The Disney Store, The Children’s Place and American Eagle. The first store I walked into was The Disney Store because it immediately caught my attention on the location of the store and the ones next to it, which were all kid departments. This might not have been unusual because everywhere you turned there were kids and parents in this particular area of the mall. It is in fact a huge mall but I never thought it will be divided into stores by the same category of female or male and ages!

 The Disney Store was really loud filled with color, attention, music, videos and even a kid’s play center in the middle of the store. I was surprised to see fathers or male customer’s in this play center with their children. There were four male customers and only three female customers in this area due to the lack of space in the center. The males seemed very bored looking around and observing there child. Yet, I wasn’t surprised as soon as I saw the female approach them when they were done shopping as they gave their big shopping bag to the male and immediately took their child. So it seemed that this kid’s play center was also a male’s waiting center while the female shops around. There were many females throughout the store along with their children counting about 6, as well as having 8 other families that included both a female and male parent. This was very interesting to observe because even the employers were females with only the security guard at the door being a male. The lack of male workers isn’t very surprising because it is in fact a kid’s store, where most females tempt to apply. On the other hand the clothes in the store weren’t surprising to realize which area was for girls and which one was for the boys. The price and options for girls were all categorized in pink and purple t-shirts along with female characters, such as Minnie. The price ranged from $4.00- $40.00. Meanwhile the male t-shirts were all of sports with Mickey, Goofy, and Donald Duck characters. The price ranged from $7.00- $35.00 for these t-shirts. Besides having different shirts there was also more of a variety for females with the dresses and skirts, where it all ranged from $19.50 and above in price. Meanwhile the males had only there top and bottom options along with many more toys. The female’s area consisted of more plush and princess items, along with accessories for the clothes. The lack of toys could easily be seen because the little girls in the area seemed to actually shop with their mom or female presence. On the other side we can see the boys playing with the toys and seemed more amazed over the toys than the clothes. 

Walking along we would also see the Children’s Place Store which happened to be right in front of the Disney store. This was not surprising at all since all the stores around this floor seemed to be kid departments. Before entering the store I realized that they had four males waiting outside the store. Only one had a stroller meanwhile the other three had shopping bags surrounding them. Once inside the store it was extremely busy dividing half of the store with a girls section and the other for the boys. The girls section seemed to be the most crowded with fourteen females (six with a male and the other 8 alone with their child). The boys section was less crowded with only four families consisting the presence of both a male and a female. The environment was very chaotic and messy, where the yells, crying and playing around throughout the store was very well seen. None of the customers seemed to be bothered by this and moved along to their shopping day. Observing along I went to the area where the most families were crowded over and realized that the female tee’s and shirts were only $10.50 and below. Yet, for the dresses were much more expensive and very less crowded because the price ranged from $30 and below. The female pants were called bottoms instead of jeans or pants and that was in the price range of $17.95 or below. This categorization came along with skirts that ranged from $20.95 and below and was more expensive than a pair of jeans. Meanwhile, moving to the other side of the store they had male tee’s that ranged at the same price of a females but their selection of jeans was very different because it ranged from $24.95 and under. I was mostly pleased that they at least had the tee’s price in common but was then extremely disappointed how the selection of bottoms was a huge difference between the two.   

Moving along to the last floor I encountered a different kind of environment of people. There was definitely less kids and more people moving along the stores. Yet, this seemed to be much younger people and the American Eagle Store was definitely the one that caught my attention. This store was much like walking into a club. The atmosphere was very clean and clear with loud music. The age group were mostly teens with their moms or even just groups of young adults. It was a little crowded on the girls side rather than the men’s side but both had a good amount combined together. Yet, the staff was quite separated from the females staying around the females section and the male staff staying on the male side of the store. I suppose this must be a requirement due to the comfort of the customers. The fitting room was really different because they required both female and male but, mostly saw women approach this area. As I started going towards the female section I saw a cute blouse but immediately walked away from it because the price started from $44.95 and below. The bottoms and jeans were mostly $49.95 along with skirts that were $39.95. The dresses were even more expensive as $59.95 and below. There was a very few selection on the dresses and surprisingly there were many selections on the jeans and detailed explanations on the kind of jeans. There was nothing I would be buying so therefore I moved along to the male side of the store to compare prices. As I made my way there I started feeling uncomfortable because there only seemed to be males in that area. I was even approached by a male staff member who asked me if I needed assistance or if I was shopping for a boyfriend or my father. This definitely made me feel uncomfortable, as if I have trespassed their territory! Moving along I said no thanks and started looking around. For the male section of the store there wasn’t much variation other than jeans and tees throughout this section. The jeans were $69.95 and under, while the tees and shirts were $39.95. Yet, the polo’s were even less expensive ranging from $39.95. Therefore, the price for male gender was surprisingly cheaper than the male section.

I was very surprised to conclude that this shopping trip was definitely not the same as the ones I have been on before. I was very surprised how a mall could be so gender separated even if the significance of a mall is to have all stores in one place. It seemed to amaze me how the structure of a mall seems to advertise one another and have these stores close together to catch your eye. This seems to work out for them because people definitely end up with more bags than they had initiated before walking into the mall. Yet, what was more surprising is actually seeing the separation of male and females all around the mall because eventually they will need to, due to the stores they will need to go to.