The Gruen Effect

 

 

I have many times gone to a mall intending to buy one thing but ending up buying something else with or without the original item I wanted to buy.

 

Only recently however did I learn that there is a name for this happening and it is called the Gruen Effect.

 

Named for the architect Viktor Gruen who was credited to have designed malls in such a way that the experience of shopping becomes more important than the purpose of shopping itself as a person enters a mall, the Gruen effect or transfer can be a curse to a consumer on a tight budget but a blessing to mall owners and mall based retailers.

 

Many people take mall designs for granted and think that it is only logical for malls to serve as almost like one stop shops but as for me however, this just made me more determined to be more focused on what I want to buy in a mall and to resist the lure of buying things I never knew I needed in the first place.