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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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