gotta love shopping!

So I'm not quite sure who came up with the idea for the Aussie shopping center but I'm pretty sure they were almost a genius. I would say shopping centers (or centres) here are completely unlike anything I've ever seen in the states. They are very similar to the typical American mall in the sense that they are enclosed and have the normal range of shops that typical American malls have (electronics, book stores, jewelry, hair, food court) but there are a few differences. Most of the ones I've seen have at least some undercover parking, either in the form of parking garages or sailshades (which are essentially giant canvas tarps). Anchor stores tend to be places like Kmart, Target, Big W (the Aussie Walmart), and grocery stores. (The mall in Ithaca was kinda similar since it had non-typical dept stores for anchor stores but not quite the same.) There also tend to be more anchor stores than what you would find at a mall of similar size in the states. This is great because it is one-stop shopping but you have options on where you buy things! At the shopping center near where I live there is a Kmart, Target, and 2 grocery stores. The entrances to the grocery stores are about 50 steps from each other. If one doesn't have what you're looking for try the other or you know something you want is on sale that week but everything else is cheaper at the other store not a problem. You don't have to worry about wasting gas driving around to get the best deals. Another difference is more of the shopping centers tend to be multiple levels and have inclined moving sidewalks to get from level to level instead of escalators. You can take your buggy on these and magnets keep it from sliding all around. The buggies are also different, instead of having 2 rotating wheels and 2 fixed wheels, all 4 wheels rotate!! That can make them a bit difficult to control sometimes :P Other differences mostly revolve around the prices of things :P