All I am going to say is “Were they out of their minds when they designed this place?”

OK, maybe I will say more…

For those not in the know, Las Vegas has become somewhat of a shopping Mecca. In fact Las Vegas’s economy is partly based on the shopping that the vacationing crowd does. To that end, shopping malls have become more and more in vogue, including the new Town Square Mall at the south end of The Strip. The thing is when you think of a mall you think of a covered area with stores inside. The problem, Town Square is an OUTDOOR mall.

Today it will hit 111° at 3:00 p.m. with cooling down to the mid 80°’s at night. OK, so you shop at night. But in a couple of weeks it will be 120° with cooling to 105° at night… so much for shopping. Whose brilliant idea was it to build a huge mall and not cover it? Are they insane?

Now I am not much of a high-end clothing store shopper, so there is limited appeal to me to walk around this place. But even if I were to walk the mall, there are some questionable decisions made here. Let me touch on a few…

First of all there are “Streets” between stores. This mixes narrow walk ways with car-lined roads and people driving too fast and people stepping out between cars. What jackass approved this idea? The point of a mall is that it is a safe place to walk and shop…. Now you have to dodge cars. I saw a minivan screech to a halt as a group a kids ran across the road without looking to get to an ice cream shop. The parents of the kids looked terrified and the driver was pissed off. I am really wondering how long this place will stay open because the lawsuits from parents of flattened kids will bring this place to a close. Carnac predicts: 3 years and the place will undergo a major renovation or close down.

Next, the place is “Pet Friendly”. There are “Dog Pots” that you set your pet into and let them do their business. Of course they provide doggie poop bags, BUT THERE ARE NO TRASH CANS AROUND TO DUMP THE BAGS! The upshot… the place smells from dog urine and feces. It was hot the day I went… and the smell was ripe. Again, whose great idea was this?

The heat as mentioned was repressive. The malls’ idea of cooling in the heat is misters. These little tubes wrap around palm trees spreading a small circle of moistened air are supposedly good enough to cool everyone there… the problem is that there were four people around each mister and everyone else be damned to the heat. Oh, and of course there were not many of those misters either, mostly just around the patio restaurants. BTW, there were no people sitting on the patios, it was too hot.

So why was I there you ask? Well I was there for the movies of course, a completely legitimate indoor activity during a hot day. But there was a problem with even that…

Most malls have an entrance that is very near the theater entrance (if the mall has theaters). Not the case here. Not only are there no close parking (all outdoors in the heat and not even covered), the theater is a good walk and up two flights of stairs… I am not a very mobile person, I have trouble with stairs, I almost just left. Then I noticed escalators… half way down the mall… even more outdoor walking in 105° heat. (This is not doing my blood pressure any good, that is for sure.) Finally I spot a sign… elevator. Good… looks like someone else complained they were not really mobile and thus prompted a big sign for the elevator. Thank god for the sign though, otherwise you would never have been able to find it. So to the elevator I go, press the button, enter the 120° heat box and up the level I go, broasting all the way; finally into the theater and luscious air conditioning.

During the summer this place is not a good place to be. The lack of covering a cooling makes this a oppressive venue. During the winter, I would not want to be here either. Can you imagine Christmas shopping from store to store in and out of the cold and the rain? (Yes we do get cold and rain here.) Then is spring and fall with the winds… no thank you. It was just an unwise decision all the way around.

There are other things like the “Kids Space” right next to streets and in the heat the equipment could actually burn young skin; the narrow walkways forcing you to get to know your fellow shoppers all too often; the store signs unreadable and unfindable in some case; and finally the prices are just way out of line for local shoppers.

Yes, this mall is meant to tourists, but I would not recommend it to anyone in anything other than the finest weather.

Oh, and leave Fido at home.