Page 190 - Consuming Media
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01Consuming Media 10/4/07 11:17 am Page 177
which they also belong. This creates a kind of double identity. Such a shop may be
considerably less interested in contributing to creating a distinctive image for this
particular centre, and more prone to emphasize that which connects it to the many
other similar stores found in almost every Swedish shopping centre. In Chapter 4, on
media images, Kodak and Fuji exemplified two different strategies in this respect.
This implies a superimposition of two kinds of vertical hierarchies that cross in Solna
Centre, so that shops, while placed at the base of the Solna Centre/Rodamco
pyramid, also have a position as a link in their specific chain of stores. This makes
room for potential gaps in communication and conflicts of interest that are normally
handled through peaceful negotiations but may sometimes lead to disputes that can
result in some important actors deserting the centre.
Like most international shopping centres, Solna Centre is built around a set of
anchor stores, i.e. big, well-known chains and department stores that tend to be
placed near the entrances. Solna Centre has H&M, the Åhléns department store,
Stadium, Intersport and a couple of other famous national clothes shops. These big
stores are mixed with smaller local retailers. The wide definition of a shopping centre
is as a set of stores, restaurants and other commercial services organized within a
shared framework. This ‘shared framework’ is provided by the centre management,
which sometimes has to go against single units at the operative level in order to secure
the most profitable totality for the centre as a whole (and its business association).
The management talks about the centre as a home-like, popular centre, motivated by
data on the average income in Solna. They think of people living in Solna as ‘ordi-
nary people’, with average characteristics among the Swedish population. They visit
the centre on an average three times a week, so that these visits are generally a popular
frequent experience.
In our interviews with the management, some recurrent words came to specify
their notion of the ‘popular’ in Solna Centre: congeniality, authenticity and accessi-
bility. (1) The notion of ‘congeniality’ originated from the fact that the centre was
built as a small town, which gave a feeling of comfort, according to the manager, who
also described the typical Solna Centre shopping experience as ‘relaxing’ and
‘pleasant’, which in turn was related to security and feeling safe. (2) ‘Authenticity’ was
also mentioned several times, especially in relation to other, competing shopping
malls. Solna Centre was supposedly not ‘knocked up’ on a field but was instead ‘a
natural part of people’s everyday life and surroundings’. Built over the old town
square and decorated with images from Solna’s history, it was allegedly more
‘authentic’ than certain other centres, and the natural daylight that flowed down
through the glass roof also contributed to this claim. (3) The notion of ‘accessibility’
can be broken down to three more specific components: (a) opening hours – the
centre must be open at least 360 days a year and as many hours a day as all shops
would agree to accept; (b) easy access – by car to the many parking places, for pedes-
trians from the adjacent tube station and from surrounding housing areas; and (c) the
mix of shops, characterized by the non-exclusivity that supposedly ‘fit’ the average
Solna consumer.
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