The Village of Rochester Hills

The Village of Rochester Hills stands out in my mind as being a very unique and elegant shopping center.  As an outdoor mall, it uses a “lifestyle streetscape concept” to create a downtown feel.  Personally, I would enjoy this type of mall during warmer seasons because walking outside from shop to shop chilled my bones during a cold winter day.  However, I must admit that I was thoroughly impressed by the details they put into making the outdoor mall look sophisticated.  The serene setting is completed by the ornate fountains, a gazebo, and gems in the sidewalk.  It truly is a picturesque atmosphere.  In fact, other malls have modeled themselves off of the successful and well-known design of The Village of Rochester Hills.

Compared to my first destination, The Village of Rochester Hills is much smaller and has a much more narrow range of shopping options.  Here, there are forty-four shops.  The majority of these are well-known clothing stores including Abercrombie, Aeropostale, American Eagle, Hollister, Moosejaw, Parisian, and Gap.  Personally, I preferred the outlet mall because I am more interested in style than expensive name brand clothes.  However, for someone looking for the latest styles in brand name clothes, this would definitely be a great place to shop.  The people this malls targets are customers who are more well-off, which is appropriate for its location, but may not be ideal for more price-conscious customers. 

My personal favorite clothing stores in the Village of Rochester Hills is Parisian and Buckle.  Parisian is a monstrous store with two floors overflowing with clothes, shoes, accessories, make-up, and much more.  Much like the other stores, the items available are more expensive than outlet mall prices.  However, the quality of these is great.  Similarly, Buckle sells quality clothes, shoes, and accessories.  Buckle has a unique style that some people may not like, but I was certainly intrigued by them. 

Another unique characteristic of the Village of Rochester Hills is that they hold special events to increase business.  This month they are offering free yoga classes every Saturday, which they also did during December.  I think that giving back to the customers with things like this, is a great to keep your customers happy and encourage more people to check out the mall.  Other events they have done include, ladies nights, annual tree lighting, bands playing outside in the summer, and free culinary classes. 

The Village of Rochester Hills is also a kid friendly environment, though not as much as Great Lakes Crossing Outlets.   It offers a unique toystore called Rainbow Sky that kids can play in.  In addition it has Claire’s and some bears to play on.  As seen below, there is play equipment that kids love to play on too.

After a long day of shopping, there are many delicious places to choose from to eat.  Personally I love the delicious food at Max and Erma’s but there is also Bravo, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Flat Top Stir Fry Grill, Hepburn’s Crepe and Coffee, Kabob Grill, Kruse & Muer, Maggie Moo’s, Mitchell’s Fish Market, and Starbucks;  the perfect way to end the day.