Monday, May 30, 2005

the Galleria mall- May 29!

It was an afternoon in upmarket,downtown Houston.Some real flavours of the US.Visited and loafed right through theGalleria mall.Reminded me so much of CrossRoads in Mumbai,The Forum in Bangalore and the Spencers Mall in Chennai, of course, those three being miniature versions of theGalleria.HUuuuuuuuuuuuuuge mall,very,very upmarket,all the leading brands,terrific jazz,amazing quality,brilliant decoration,fantastic ambience and of course,equally terrific prices!

Infact,I entered a women's store with my sister,can't pronounce it(Neimus Radis or something).And it had a wing full of lingerie,another wing full of gowns and party wear,another full wing of robes,coats and chic stuff,flannels,umbrellas that the really,really rich wave in the heat(remember people like Mrs.Thatcher,waving an umbrella with her hat on?Same type!)...oof,it was mind blowing!I had fertile imaginations of my dream girl(am still wondering who it is!)in those outfits and it had its impact on me!The very imagination of her was a WOW feeling!And to top it off,there were very,very UPMARKET bikinis!Made me say a bigger, WOW!


Had one of the experiences in my life,with a visit to Band & Olufsen,the electronics supergiant!Amazing products!And it was an experience in selling techniques for me at that store.There was this bespectacled professional,who met my brother-in-law and me at the door,pretty much figured out that it was our first trip to that expensive store,spoke to us so well,talked about the technologies behind those sound systems.And then gave us an experience, which we will treasure!He took us to a small room which had a couch each on two corners of the room,two sofas directly facing a home theatre system,and a fantastic stand with candle in that room.Speakers were there at each end of the hometheatre video screen.

Anand and I sat on the sofa facing the video screen and this salesman,played a clip from the movie,Kill Bill.Look at the way in which he made a sales pitch!To show us the stereo effects,as the scene enveloped on the screen,and the audio in the closed room reached a crescendo,the salesmen DIMMED the lights!Yes,for added effect!Oh!That was something else, I felt as if I were transported into some other place!Amazing piece of electronic genius and even better way of selling it!And as the scene in that clip ended,the bright lights came on again.Wow!I was almost wondering why on earth I was stuck with my bro-in-law:a hot chic in that romantic setting would've been a blast!But,it sure was an experience!Supposed to be one of the best audio systems in the world!

We exited that electronics store and a couple of carts went past us,full of cakes and cheese,with a hot blonde to follow!As Anand remarked to my stare at the hot blonde,"the icing on the cake,the blonde"..!!I just smiled!

We then went to Starbucks,and I got an aerial view of an ice rink!Yes,an ICE RINK!It was stupendous!People ripping at the rate of knots with ski shoes on,turning,skating,dancing with partners,playing the fool...quite amazing!We had our coffee and slowly trudged towards the ice rink on the grownd floor for a closer view.It was even better!Have taken a lot of snaps of that ice rink!Quite something else.The manner in which this country packages,markets and does anything is what has struck me most.I mean, an ice rink in the middle of a shopping mall!Such a simple concept and so real!And a great business idea,if I may add!

Got to learn some of these things from these Americans.They know to create avenues to enjoy life and make it accessible to the general public,even in upmarket malls.Terrific!

Came back home,checked email,chatted on the net with a few more India friends and crashed!Of course,I chatted with that new,lovely Chennai friend of mine too!

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