That's No Moon...

I know I've been doing a lot of posts about stores and shopping lately, but hey, it's the season. This is the final one, (I'm pretty sure. Probably.) since Christmas is just about here, and I'm just about done with the buying.

So what better way to wrap up all the Christmas-shopping-posting of the past few weeks, then with a visit to the mighty 'Death Star' of area shopping centers. The Holyoke Mall.

I've never been a huge fan of malls. They're temples to absolute consumerism, and the lost souls who follow that religion. They're also where mall-rats hang out. But it's hard not to be impressed by this behemoth. By far the biggest mall in the valley, and getting bigger. A new Borders Books and Music is a very recent addition to it's 180+ stores. At the time of it's renovations and expansion in 1995, it was billed as the third largest mall in America.

The mall has been up for sale for a year, and zillionare Donald Trump recently looked into buying it. He was considering transforming it into one of the proposed casinos that Governor Patrick is trying to establish in Massachusetts. The vast square footage, extensive parking, and close highway access were the primary reasons for it's consideration by The Donald.

The mall is still in terrific shape, and as popular as ever. I can't imagine the work involved in transforming such a building into an entirely different structure, like a casino. But if they ever added a casino to the existing mall, it would probably become the pocket-emptying capital of the northeast.

There's a three-story chasm in the center of the structure, (Kind of like that bottomless chasm where Ben Kenobi shut down the tractor beam. Remember that scene?). I've always been very impressed with this section of the mall. From here you really get a sense of just how big this mall is.

It goes down to an extensive food court three floors below:

There are many plexiglass domes throughout the mall, letting in daylight. (this one kinda reminded me of where that ray gun on the Death Star goes)

I think maybe this poster put the whole Star Wars thing in my head for the day...

Geek Alert:

Did I mention that Star Wars was the Best...Movie...Ever?