This heatwave holiday, I had one goal when pushing through the doors of the shopping center: free freshness. An hour later, my checkout told a completely different story.
Thirty-one degrees in my living room, a Tuesday July 14, and no place to go. Museums closed for the public holiday, open-air events canceled by the prefecture due to orange vigilance, cinemas already scoured the week before. With my nephew Enzo, 12 years old, we walked in circles in an apartment that had become unbreathable. The shutters closed since the morning were no longer useful, the fan was blowing hot air. Around 2 p.m., when Enzo let go “it’s too hot“, I had this somewhat stupid reflex: head to the nearest shopping center. One of those large complexes with a hypermarket, shopping arcade and around thirty trendy boutiques. Just to walk in the fresh air. Free of charge.
Except I wasn’t the only one who thought about it. Past the sliding doors, immediate thermal shock, and immediate crowd. Hundreds of families came, like me, to breathe. The phenomenon is known: according to a Franceinfo survey on extreme heat, when temperatures rise during the sales period, attendance at shopping centers and major brands explodes. The streets empty under the sun, people flock to the air-conditioned galleries. We move slowly, we stop in front of the windows, we continue. No one is in a hurry to get out.
For us, the cool ride quickly got out of hand. It’s difficult to keep your hands in your pockets when you hang out in front of the racks to keep the air conditioning going. An ice cream for Enzo, two scoops that melted faster than he ate them, and we walked up the gallery, from the sports brand to the ready-to-wear department store, before stopping at Zara and Bershka. The sales, obviously. Enzo disappeared into a booth with a pile of t-shirts, I was turning between the shelves telling myself that I was looking, nothing more.
This is where it comes into play. Faced with a crossed out label, I stopped counting what I was spending and only looked at what I was saving. A bias that mass retail brands know by heart: the sale purchase becomes a good deal, not an expense, and the guilt disappears when it’s time to take out the card. Bottom line: a t-shirt for Enzo, and for me, in the middle of a dodger, a warm sweatshirt for back to school, 29.99 euros crossed out at 19. At the store checkout, the verdict: 50 euros. Zero planned when leaving home.
Here is the paradox: we enter these large shopping centers to escape the heat without paying anything, we come out relieved. If the brands air-condition at great expense, it is not to be of service to us. Freshness is a premium product like any other.
