The Deleted Scenes - Open In the Open
Today we’re at the Fair Lakes Shopping Center, in suburban Fairfax, Virginia: Well, this is what it looks like, other than the fact that Uniqlo is not the first tenant in this strip-mall space. But there’s nothing particularly interesting about the previous tenants. What’s interesting is that it’s a strip-mall space. According to a local news story from late September, the chain “opened its first location in an open-air mall at Fair Lakes Shopping Center” on the day of publication. Despite its U.S. locations being located exclusively in large indoor malls, with the exception of this new location, Uniqlo apparently began differently in its home country of Japan:
I was at this shopping center last month, and I actually stopped and though, “Huh, a Uniqlo in a strip mall? If that’s actually the first one, I can write about it!” I don’t think there’s much of a bigger story here—e.g. the end of the indoor mall, or some such—but it is interesting to see a strip plaza grab a rare and sort of “prestige” store (Uniqlo is basically a discount clothing store, but it’s what you might call upscale discount). Bonus: in the same strip, there’s this repainted former Toys ‘R’ Us: And there’s also this very cool chain woodworking and lumber store: I don’t know if the property manager courted these less common stores, or if they approached the management, but there is a pretty interesting mix of typical and less typical stores here. If only the land use were better! Related Reading: Thank you for reading! Please consider upgrading to a paid subscription to help support this newsletter. You’ll get a weekly subscribers-only post, plus full access to the archive: over 400 posts and growing. And you’ll help ensure more material like this! You’re a free subscriber to The Deleted Scenes. For the full experience, become a paid subscriber. |
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