The sneaky, smart reasons malls have no windows

Decades ago, Americans flocked to Main Street to shop. A string of small family-owned stores stood next to each other along a tree-lined block or two, displaying their goods through large welcoming windows.

Decades ago, Americans flocked to Main Street to shop. A string of small family-owned stores stood next to each other along a tree-lined block or two, displaying their goods through large welcoming windows. Then in 1956 something happened that forever changed that shopping experience. A new retailing format packed up the hustle and bustle of Main Street commerce and recreated it inside of a very large boxy building that was – deliberately – devoid of windows. The birth of the American mall ushered in an era of “windowless” shopping that’s largely still here. The strategy was clever and little details in the planning –- from the no-frills shoebox architecture to potted plants – were carefully thought out. These were cost-saving measures for mall operators that were also designed to influence mallgoers to spend freely. The unnaturally bright artificial lighting strived to create a perpetual daytime environment. This way, mall visitors would stay longer than they had expected to and spent more than they would have wanted to. Another reason for malls shunning windows did have something to do with the merchandising, Burt Flickinger, retail expert and managing director of retail consultancy Strategic Resource Group told CNN. Fewer windows and more walls, he said, meant more space for retailers to add shelves and rods to stock their products and maximize sales per square foot in their stores that would otherwise be lost to a dull view of a mall parking lot. But the sneakiest reason why malls limit windows could be to make shoppers lose track of time.