How far do you travel to your B&M mall/retail center? - YouLookFab Forum

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How far do you travel to your B&M mall/retail center?

shana

Veteran

I used my GPS the other day as I was leaving the mall because I wanted to know what time I'd arrive home and was sort of horrified when I saw that I was 28.8 miles from home!!! So I drove 60 miles round trip to get to the mall! I know it's not close but I never really think about how far it really is. I wonder whether that is outside the norm? How far away is your preferred retail center, mall, or shopping area?

edited to say travel instead of drive since not all of us have to drive!!!

Shopping

32 replies

Latest reply was from Dawn

Marley

Veteran

Ooh this is a great question: I shop a lot locally - and I walk usually (which cuts down on the amount/weight of purchases that I make!) - it is about 4 miles round trip. When I go to the mall, I drive 12 miles one-way - total of 24 miles. However, my favorite mall is 60 miles round trip (but I only go there every 3 to 4 months)

shana

Veteran

Good point, Marley, I changed the wording to travel instead of drive because not all of us live in the boonies and have to drive everywhere

Mo

(website)

Veteran

I live in the boonies whether living in FL or Tahoe - so unless you count one Ross that's 8 miles away in Tahoe, then the TJ Maxx's come next at 15 miles here and 38 miles in Tahoe. Otherwise it's over 70 miles to a proper mall in either location (Tampa here and Reno or Sacramento at home in Tahoe). No wonder I hunt online like a hound!

ETA: I forgot to add that here in the south they have Beall's Outlet which can have good finds once in a while - it's only 2 miles away

annagybe

(website)

Veteran

If I'm going to downtown Seattle it's just over 4 miles. Often I'll just take the bus. If I'm going to Bellevue Square (big fancy suburban mall) or the Bravern (very upscale mall with a Neiman Marcus) it's about 12 miles.

Sarah

(website)

Veteran

My favorite shopping center is about 2 miles from my office, which is also en route to my house. Can we say DANGEROUS?? The only stores that center does NOT have that I wish it did were Nordstrom and Gap. Gap has a stand alone store 2 miles from my office though, and it isn't too far out of my way home.
Nordstrom is in a mall that's about 9 miles away from my office, in the opposite direction of home. So from my house, that mall is 19 miles away.
I only head down that way about once every 6-8 weeks on average.

Marigold

I'm lucky to live in a mall-crazed area and also very close to NYC, the closest malls are between 15-20 mins from me, driving, the good outlet malls - between 30-40 minutes. I don't go to the mall that often though - maybe once in 2 weeks? and usually hang out at the playground area LOL with my daughter, then zoom in an out a couple stores on the way out... Anticipate to go more often in winter when there's not much to do outside.
Hmm, it's also relative, I used to commute to work driving 45 minutes (highways) each way every day for a year.. When I commuted by train, it took me over an hour each way...
Driving close to an hour to get to the mall (provided it's a most-of the day trip) does not sound excessive to me... once a week or so..

marianna

Veteran

Currently I have a mall 3 miles away from me, and also 13 miles away. So I don't have to travel too far!

MsMary

Veteran

I'm super-lucky when it comes to shopping. I have a mall 3.5 miles away with Macy's, Nordstrom, Victoria's Secret, AT Loft, H&M, and others.

There's a Nordstrom Rack and Ross less than half a mile down the street.

Marshall's is about a mile away.

My favorite consignment store is halfway between home and work -- call it 2 miles.

Ann Taylor and Talbots, and another Macy's, 4 miles.

Another shopping area, including Gap, another Victoria's Secret, Banana Republic, 4.5 miles from home and about half a mile from work.

Another mall, including yet another Macy's, DSW, Tommy Bahama, and several boutiques, is just one short block from work.

ETA: Target is about a mile down the street, too!

It's an embarrassment of riches!

Mamapicklejuice

Veteran

16 miles - approx. 1/2 hour trip each way.

jen321

The closest mall to me is under 1 mile away! Yes I do go there too often!! My prefered mall is about 10 miles away. It is basically just a bigger mall with more stores in it!

biscuitsmom

Veteran

I have a Kohls less than 5 minutes away and there was a big mall next to it, but that closed earlier this year. So now I have to drive about 20 minutes to a 2 level inside mall (Rosedale) or a huge sprawling mall that is not enclosed....once in a while (maybe every 4 months) we'll go to Mall Of America about 35 minutes away which is 4 levels, has over 500 shops, a amusement park and a beautiful aquarium area (underwater world) So temptation is too near!

Isabel

Veteran

The closest shopping areas are 10 miles away - but they are not very good. The better ones are about 60-70 miles ( one way ). I do most of my shopping online.

Kristine

Veteran

There's a mall about 3 miles away, but the stores aren't great (Boston Store, JCPenney). My favorite mall is about 5 miles. For Banana Republic and Calvin Klein outlet stores I'll travel about 20 miles each way. I only go to those once or twice a year though.

Barbara

Veteran

Shana, I live one mile from a fabulous shopping center and frequently stop by on the way home from work or stroll over there on a day off for shopping and lunch with friends.

I live less than 10 miles away from THREE DIFFERENT MALLS! Scary, isn't it?

I don't shop very often at malls, though. JCP, TJMaxx, Marshalls, SteinMart and Target get most of my business.

Becky

Veteran

The closest mall that deserves the name is 180 miles away, one way. Takes about 3 hours to get there. I only make it there about 2-3 times a year. Doesn't have a Nordstrom, Macy's, BR, AT, or ATL. My *preferred* mall is 325 miles away, one way. Travel time is about 5-1/2 hours. I get to go there every couple of years. As you might imagine, much of my shopping is done online!

Sparky

Veteran

I'm a 20-25 minute drive to all my local malls and other stores. In fact, I'm about a 20-minute drive from EVERYTHING. Ah, the suburbs.

Tanya

Veteran

I am currently doing the SYC so no shopping. I also do not drive but take the public transport. The closet nice mall is 15 min bus ride away, while the closest shopping area with bunch of stores is one metro stop the other way. SO fairly close, but still not on my daily commute route, which is actually good for me

shana

Veteran

Wow, some of you are lucky to have shopping so nearby!! I have a Marshalls that is about 5 miles away and a no so great mall that is about 15 miles away but the nicer mall that has the GAP, BR, AT, J Crew etc is a good 25 miles away. I used to go there once a week before shopping friend moved away but nowadays it's probably 2-3 times a month. The good outlets are only slightly farther away at about 30 miles away (and the beach only a couple of miles further and we went at least once a week this summer!). I think I'd be in trouble if all of these places were closer!!

Argh, Becky, yes, I can see why you are an online shopper. Holy Cow! I should probably do more online shopping too when I think about how much I spend just to get to the mall!! With fuel at nearly $3 a gallon and my gas mileage at around 22 mpg (Audi A4), I'm spending nearly $10 just to get to the mall!! Yikes!!

Beth

Veteran

I live out in the country, so the only decent mall is 30-ish minutes away. That said, since the mall is in the suburbs, even when I lived in the city, I drove that far to get there.

shell

I love the differences in units of measurement! I've often heard before that you can tell someone is from my home city if you measure distance in minutes and hours! Sounds like that applies to many other regions as well!

So, in staying true to my hometown, I live about 20 min from my favorite malls, give or take a few min for traffic.

April

Veteran

I'm about 8 miles from the fabulous King of Prussia mall, but it still takes 40 minutes to get there. If I'm not up for that ride, I'm three miles from a higher-end shopping center (Ann Taylor, Macy's, Talbots, Urban Outfitters, White House/Black Market, etc.)

An

5 mins for me to my closest shopping centre. But I try to go to Melb about twice per year for a decent start of season shop and that is approx 3.5hrs each way!

Queen Mum

Veteran

haha- I first read this as "how do you travel... " ummm. by car....
My local mall is 2 blocks away. If I want to go to Nordstrom its' 12.4 miles by the route I like to take and is supposed to take 17 minutes according to Google maps.

Kari

Veteran

It's 8 miles one way for me. I can (and sometimes do) bus, but the bus takes about 45 minutes & isn't direct, and the bus stop is a ways for me to walk. There's another that's 10 miles away, but I have to drive to that one.

Downtown Seattle is very easily accessible to me by express bus!

Theresa

(website)

Veteran

This is fascinating reading!!

My local shops - which are not even remotely all that great - are a 12klm/7mi one way drive (approx 15 mins), the big shops that have more variety (but still nothing exciting) are 48klms/30mi one way (approx 45mins drive) - I go to that town about once a fortnight - I don't shop on every visit though.

But, if I want to go to a department store... well its 670klms/416mi (one way!) - which is a 9hr+ drive or a 1hr flight!

Elly

Veteran

Depends on what you want to classify as a mall/shopping. To reach the brands that many of you ladies shop (GAP, AT, J Crew, Nordstrom) I have to drive 11-12 hours. There are some but not a great selection (Macy's, some crummy outlets) about 4 hours away and then shops that are for "emergency" shopping only 30-45 min away.

Lena

Hehee, Shell, I also tend to measure distances in terms of minutes and hours.

A lot of my local stores are spread out in different malls around the area and I drive to every single one. There's one smaller shopping center with Talbots, Old Navy, TJ Maxx, WHBM, shoe stores. There's a large mall with Macys, JC Penney, BR, GAP, Loft (but not Ann Taylor), VS, American Eagle, Forever 21, etc, 15 minutes from my house. There are several Targets within 20 minutes driving distance. We used to have an Express at the big mall many years ago, until they decided to leave (I didn't miss them at the time, but I do now). There's also a depressing crummy shopping mall in our sister town across the river.

More upscale and varied shopping areas are 2+hrs away and they have Nordies, Ann Taylor, Express, JCrew, Anthro, BCBG and various designer boutiques. All of these are in multiple outlets, in various shopping centers, urban and suburban. Nordies Rack is even farther and more inconvenient in Portland downtown.

A lot of what can tempt me is 2hrs away, and that's both good and bad.

AJ

Veteran

I also like to measure by minutes. Most of the places I go to (Old Navy, DSW, Nordstrom Rack, Marshall's, Ross, Stein Mart, Target) are 10 minutes away and the mall with a Nordstrom's is 15 minutes from my house. The outlet malls are 45 minutes away and I go there 2-3 times a year.

MsMary

Veteran

The only thing I don't have nearby is an outlet mall. The closest one is about an hour away. Which is probably just as well!

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