New ideas for a mall....

At a time when we are still caught up in the “mall culture” where shopping is the only outing, the developed countries show us why they carry the tag of “developed.” They have moved much beyond roti, kapda and makaan and that allows them to think onto much higher plateaus.

So while we are looking at shopping malls, Edinburg in Scotland set the trend with its Mall – Edinburg Remakery. This shop sells refurbished computers and furniture, and hosts workshops where people can come along and learn how to repair their own things. There’s a big vision behind it: “we want to generate a repair revolution. This means changing the way people use and dispose of resources, encouraging manufacturers to build things to last and to be fixable, and making sure the facilities are in place to allow people to repair and reuse.”

We might still be able to find people who repaid things for us but there, it is always a problem finding handymen. And that’s how this idea was born.

Taking a leaf from Remakery, there is actually in mall which has come up in Sweden – ReTuna Aterbruksgalleria. This mall is dedicated entirely to repaired and upcycled goods. It combines a traditional municipal recycling centre with a shopping centre, so that people can drop off goods that they no longer need, and then browse for something new – perhaps stopping off at the cafe in between. It’s the first mall of its kind in the world.

Now isn’t that a great idea! Maybe we can have a mall dedicated only to health – Ayurveda and yoga? Or maybe a mall which sells only organic and recycled goods?