Somerset Mall

As I began to discuss in the previous blog, Somerset Mall is a high end mall offering stores with some of the most widely acknowledged desirable brands and pristine quality merchandise.  This large three story shopping center is divided into north and south sections of Somerset Mall and is known for the skywalk. 

In terms of stores, there seems to be a significant majority of clothing and accessories stores, like most malls.  These include Abercrombie, Aeropostale, American Eagle, Bebe, Buckle, Chico’s, Coach, Express, Forever 21, Gucci, Guess, Hollister, Lacoste, Nine West, Urban Outfitter’s, and so much more.  These examples put a small dent in the plethora of stores at Somerset.  To me, maybe not entirely true, but it at least seems that these stores are more on top of the newest fashions, ahead of some other locations.  All of them are well-kept and professionally organized.  I guess they are probably equivalent to most other malls, except that the atmosphere created makes it seem like you are in a top notch clothing store.  I enjoy shopping there but am more of a cost conscience person and would therefore, not choose Somerset as a regular shopping destination.  There were stores aside from clothing like Apple or phone stores but I did not go in to any. 

As a child, I remember looking forward to going to Somerset Mall because of the Lego store and Build-a-Bear workshop within Somerset.  The mall seemed huge with countless toys.  It was someplace I went with my parents that I always came home with something that I had seemingly never seen in another store.  So Somerset was a sort of magical place to me as a kid. 

Even now, when I think of Somerset, I think majestic.  It is beautiful in so many ways.  The three store mall has glass elevators that make traveling through the mall both exciting and rather scenic.  It’s not just the view of the elevators that looks grandiose but also the view from the elevators, looking out at all the stores and decorative fixtures.  Near the elevators, there is an elegant gazebo that makes the mall seem even grander.  Additionally, there is an abundance of plants throughout the mall.  The flowers and palm trees provide an aura of paradise.  There are fountains and other art forms scattered thoughtfully throughout the mall too.  Overall, the architecture in the mall clearly is successful in its goal to provide customers with a sophisticated atmosphere. 

Somerset Mall has a unique “mall walker program”.  On certain days groups meet to walk around the mall.  They do this to promote healthy lifestyle habits.  They also provide the distances around different circles of the mall if people would like to walk around on their own for exercise and would like to know the distance that they are walking.  I like this idea.  I know that at other malls there are informal groups that walk around the mall for exercise, but I never heard of a mall actually hosting such a program.  They also hold several events, anything from high class art auctions to events for the kids, to get people involved at the mall. 

The pricey theme consistent throughout the mall does have perks.  They are always trying to keep their customers as pleasantly pleased as possible.  This means that there is valet parking, complementary wheelchairs or strollers, and constant assistance being offered everywhere you go within in the mall.  My experience there was quite enjoyable. 

Somerset Mall Versus Summit Place Mall

When I was young, I used to confuse Somerset Mall and Summit Place Mall, not because they were any bit similar even then, but simply because their names sounded alike.  Nonetheless, as I got older, it became clear that these malls were definitely not confusable.  Somerset Mall grew more and more elegant over the years while Summit Place Mall was a vivid picture of decay. 

At one point, Summit Place Mall was pretty popular.  Yet, when Great Lakes Crossing opened, it quickly became a shell of the mall it once was.  In fact, it was considered a “dead mall” because almost all of its stores had closed.  For a while, JC Penny and Macy’s were essentially the last stores standing but in recent years, even those stores closed.  Driving past the mall is sad; it looks like a ghost town.  My aunt was telling me that she has a dentist in the mall but is forced to drive around in tedious manner because the parking lots of the mall are taped off, making it inconvenient to get anywhere in the complex of Summit Place Mall. 

In a way, Summit Place Mall provides contrast and appreciation for other malls.  Once a well-known and booming shopping center, it was unable to endure the change in economy and competition and began an inevitable decline.  This shows that even once popular malls can fail and that the many other well-known malls in the Metro Detroit area must be doing something right, something more challenging to accomplish than a mall like Summit Place Mall was able to handle.  While this mall declined until its breaking point, other malls flourished, clearly illustrating differences among the Metro Detroit malls. 

Somerset Mall may be have too opposite of a situation to justly compare it to Summit Place Mall, but my childhood confusion made it impossible for me to resist such a comparison.  Somerset Mall stands out in the minds of many as a high class mall, higher class and more elegant than most malls in the Metro Detroit Area.  More bluntly stated, I consider it to be a rich mall.   However, one of my roommates refuses to shop anywhere else because she is so in love with this fancy mall.  She gloats about the fact that it is a three story mall and even has extreme perks such as valet parking.  For many people, like my roommate, this is their favorite shopping destination that they simply cannot get enough of.  Personally, I am slightly out of place in this fancy mall, not that I do not love to shop but I tend to be more of a bargain shopper than one to shop for brand names that cost an arm and a leg.  However, I would not be doing the mall justice, simply conveying my slight bias against it, if I did not more thoroughly describe the luxuries that Somerset Mall offers.  It is truly a beautiful place.  So, I will further describe the contents of the mall in my next blog.   

Salvation Army

Salvation Army is a well-known store that offers a wide variety of merchandise.  I chose to visit the Salvation Army in Oxford.  This was a moderate sized (not big but not small) store compared to other Salvation Army stores in the Metro Detroit area.  As with all Salvation Army stores, it offers lower priced merchandise as a charity business, in an effort to make sure that all people can afford the essentials in life. 

One of the things that make Salvation Army unique is that on any given day there may be a different array of merchandise than the day before or the day after.  In other words, you hardly ever find the same thing twice at one Salvation Army, nor do you find the same thing at different locations of Salvation Army.  Therefore, it can really be a hit or miss shopping experience.  You can go in looking for something specific and you might find it but depending on the luck of the draw and the luck of the day that you chose to go there, you may or may not find the specific item you are looking for. 

The majority of Salvation Army merchandise is clothes.  They have racks signifying all different type of clothes (dresses, coats, pants, shirts, skirts, under garments).  There are men’s, women’s, boys’ and girls’ sections, just as with any typical store.  Yet, all the clothes here are previously owned.  You can find some of the clothes that still have the original tags on them, so they were never actually used, but most of the clothes sold were lightly worn by previous owners who donated them to be resold at Salvation Army. 

The advantage of buying clothes at Salvation Army is that all of the clothes are really inexpensive.  However, the disadvantage of buying clothes here is that you must have patience to find the golden needle in the haystack, so to speak.  Personally, I would not shop here on a regular basis for clothes because I do not really like the idea of wearing something that strangers previously wore, when I shop at outlet stores with almost equally inexpensively priced clothes.  Similarly, I do not have the patience to rummage through an entire store to find something cute that is luckily also in my size.  Nonetheless, my seventeen year old sister refuses to shop anywhere else because she loves the Salvation Army in Oxford so much.  So this store is not for everyone but it is some people’s saving grace.

Salvation Army also has a lot of furniture.  I was impressed and shocked by the pristine quality of the couches, mattresses, tables, chairs, desks, and other furniture.  Particularly, I really wanted one of the couches there but unfortunately it was already sold.  It was kind of disappointing seeing it and falling in love with it, only to find out that this one of a kind couch was already sold. 

Salvation Army has a little bit of everything.  There were skis, snowboards, ice skates, sports balls, stuffed animals, VCR movies, DVDs, TVs, hair straighteners, blow dryers, cleaning supplies, jewelry, shoes, grills, dish wear, art, and decorations of all sorts.  Basically, any household necessity you could think of, Salvation Army sells.

Five Below

Five Below is a fairly new store in Auburn Hills, across the street from Great Lakes Crossing.  As the name implies, all of the merchandise here is five dollars or less.  Similar to a dollar store it aims at selling things incredibly cheap.  However, unlike many dollar store items, the products sold at Five Below are good quality items.  Furthermore they sell brand name items, not just knock off brands, and still manage to keep the prices extremely low.

Five Below seems to target teenagers and young adults.  While anyone might find this store appealing, it would be especially so for late teens and young adults.  The store is divided into sections: sports, media, crafts, party, candy, media, and style.  The primary reason I feel this store is for late teen and young adult (other than conveniently being inexpensive) is because it has sections like “dorm room”.  This is all pretty neat stuff, whether calendars or dart boards.  You can tell it targets girls more specifically with the colorful flowers and other girly designs on plungers, laundry baskets, dish rags, and other items needed for daily chores, with a funky twist on them because of the designs. 

Five Below is the perfect place to shop for gifts.  Particularly, during Christmas time I bought presents for people close to me and Secret Santa type gifts.  This was made possible because during Christmas time there were all sorts of gift bundles.  Whether they were coffee mug theme bundles, (like Star Wars or monopoly hot chocolate) or stereotypical girl gifts like pampering kits that included body wash, lotion, perfume, and a loofa, they were all five dollars or less.  Moreover, they weren’t necessarily the all typical gift bundles. They had bundle gifts for pets too!  I bought my cat a kitty stocking that was stuffed full of several toy mice, balls, cat nip, and bouncing string toys for only three dollars.  In addition to gift bundles, there were huge sets of wrapping paper, gift boxes, bows, and bags, where buying one set could wrap all of your Christmas presents so you could kill two birds with one stone Christmas shopping and getting the Christmas themed wrapping here too. 

As with many other stores, Five Below changes regularly according to season and holidays.  Right now they are selling all sorts of St. Patrick’s Day merchandise.  There are Irish t-shirts saying typical things like “Kiss Me I’m Irish” that are only five bucks.  There are also goofy leprechaun hats and ties.  For girls, there are light up shamrock earrings and shamrock head bands. 

Five below has a variety of fitness equipment.  They have weights, yoga mats, fitness balls, stretch rope, and water bottles.  They also have sports gear like basketballs, baseballs, footballs, baseball mitts, and more.  They even have “As Seen On TV” stuff like a shake weight and an ab roller.  Whats important to remember though is that all of this stuff is five dollars or less, so this would be an awesome place to get started inexpensively if you were looking to get in shape. 

Trying to convey the wide variety of merchandise that Five Below has would be nearly impossible.  So I will summarize by saying they have board games, stuffed animals, toys, shot glasses, snack food and beverages,  videogames, DVDs, clothes, perfume, and much more.  On a whole, Five Below has a lot to offer and would be a great place to shop for inexpensive gifts along with items for you too.