The phrase shopping mall consists of two words, shopping and mall. A shopping mall is basically a shopping complex or a market place. But then a bazaar is also a market place.

There is a difference between a shopping mall and a bazaar. A bazaar is a linear concept. It consists of generally a long road or a street, running along the city, usually in its center, with big and small shops on both its sides. The road or the street may be a busy traffic road with pedestrians and all kinds of vehicles running and even honking upon it.

 A shopping mall ideally is not part of the road side bazaar, though there may be exceptions. It is an enclosed and independent shopping complex or an arcade with a specified space for parking of cars and other vehicles.

Shopping malls are, in some cases, located away from the busy streets of the city. They are located either on its suburbs or a few minutes drive away from the city. The reason may possibly be the shortage of space inside the city, because a shopping mall is usually   a complex of huge and spacious buildings.

 But why the word ‘mall’ instead of ‘complex’ or a ‘centre’? Is it because ‘mall’ is a more ‘in’, a fashionable word, and a hep expression?

The answer is both yes and no. The word ‘shopping’ appears to have been attached to ‘mall’ to take advantage of the pleasant connotations that the word ‘mall’ is associated with.

 A mall is “a promenade, a public place set aside as a pedestrian walk. It is a major street used by the gentry for shopping and recreational activities”.  It is “a sheltered walkway, a promenade bordered by trees, shrubs and flowers.”

We have an example of a Mall Road in Civil Lines area in North Delhi. Unfortunately this Mall Road has lost its original pleasant character.

So, shopping mall is an enclosed set of carefully landscaped complex of buildings representing leading merchandisers with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit. Besides shopping it also provides recreation to the city’s residents.