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Retirees Dick and Anne Saplata work out by walking around the largely empty halls of the Metcalf South Mall in Leawood, Kan. It’s likely to close soon, and ther
by andyking 18y ago
Retirees Dick and Anne Saplata work out by walking around the largely empty halls of the Metcalf South Mall in Leawood, Kan. It’s likely to close soon, and there’s talk that a developer will raze the place. If the mall goes under, Dick Saplata asks, “where are we going to walk?”
Er, outside? Down a street? God forbid, in the country?
- msluyter 18y agoI think (mostly) seniors like to walk in malls because they're air conditioned/heated, relatively safe, and have restrooms. Few other locations have these amenities for free.
- electromagnetic 18y agoI'd agree with that. Malls are rather nice places to be in, especially during the day where it's quieter and you're free to walk through.
- andyking 18y agoIt's not something I've ever come across in Britain. People will tend to go and have a stroll around a local country park, or just round the streets near home. Personally, I couldn't think of anywhere worse than a shopping centre to spend a few hours walking!
- ShabbyDoo 18y agoWhen it's below freezing out and you're 75 years old, a mall is preferable to most anyplace outside.
- jamesbritt 18y agoOr you live in Phoenix and a stroll on a summer day is potentially lethal. Walking around a climate-controlled mall is great exercise.
- ShabbyDoo 18y agoAs an Ohioian, I hadn't even thought about this.
- davidw 18y agoSo what do people do in places like Norway?
- mechanical_fish 18y agoBritain has quite a few parks and streets designed for walking. Those are very valuable commodities in the USA. And, as others have pointed out, much of the USA is really cold in the winter. Here's an article about Britain's "record cold" from earlier this winter. (As low as -11C in parts of Scotland!) http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/weather/article5459012.ece http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/weather/article5459012... Here's a map of Minnesota's mean winter temperatures. Note that the mean temperature in the southern-middle part of the state, where Minneapolis and the Mall of America are, is around 14 degrees F, or about -10 C. http://climate.umn.edu/img/normals/mean_temp_norm_adj/mean_temp_norm_adj_12-02.htm http://climate.umn.edu/img/normals/mean_temp_norm_adj/mean_t...
- Xichekolas 18y agoClimate control is most of it. I'm from this area (although I haven't been to Metcalf South in ages). Our winters are mostly below freezing and our summers are mostly above 95, so for older people, walking outside is rather less appealing than walking in what amounts to a climate controlled indoor track. Sadly, this isn't even the worst case. The (not so) Great Mall of the (not so) Great Plains in Olathe (about 20 mins away), actually opens early in the morning so people can use it to walk. The stores don't open until 9 or 10, but the mall itself will open at 7 for walkers. This mall is a giant oval that is probably 3/4 of a mile in circumference, with carpeted floors. Yeah, it's stupid, and it's not that cold/hot outside, but honestly anything is better than the average suburban exercise routine, which is to do nothing.