EVER NOTICE HOW YOU always leave the mall with a few more items than planned? That's no accident. Shopping malls, like grocery stores, are set up to encourage spending.

"They try to create an atmosphere that's conducive to buying, and especially impulse buying," says Eugene Fram, a professor of marketing at the Rochester Institute of Technology's College of Business.

Here's how shopping malls make you spend:

1. The Laws of Attraction

Do you pay regular visits to the mall like you would an old friend? Malls are set up to be irresistible destinations -- even when you don't need a darn thing.

"They're trying to be place-makers, meaning that you're going to a mall not just to buy something, but because you actually want to be there," says Paco Underhill, author of 'Call of the Mall: The Geography of Shopping.'

To lure you in, malls host regular events: from mini-concerts or live radio shows, to book readings or celebrity signings. Many malls even set up indoor playgrounds to attract families with children, which is especially appealing in the cold winter months, says Arun Jain, professor of marketing at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

None of these added perks is bad, but once you're at the mall, chances are you'll spend. So next time you head to the mall to hear a jazz musician play or take your kids to a Nickelodeon show, consider leaving your credit cards at home.

2. Location, Location, Location

You may find the mall parking lot a confusing maze, but nothing about the layout of a mall is accidental. You'll typically find the "anchor" retailers -- large department stores like Macy's, JC Penney, Neiman Marcus and so on -- located at opposite ends of the mall, Fram explains. Next to those anchors are stores that attract a similar customer.

"The mall owner has an ideal as to the type of stores that they want located around the anchor stores," says Dan Howard, chair of the marketing department at the Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business. "For example, if you have a Saks Fifth Avenue or a Nordstrom's, you may have highly specialized clothing stores selling jewelry, handbags, belts or shoes, encircling it." After all, if you can afford to shop at Saks, you can probably afford to pick up a nice bauble at a conveniently located jeweler.

3. Walk It Off

A trip to the mall may involve more exercise than the spin class at your gym. After all, the more walking you do, the more likely you are to spontaneously dip into that extra store and spend.

Have you ever noticed that the escalators are often positioned in such a way that to go up or down several floors, you have to walk across the floor? "Shopping malls are put together to make you, in order to access certain stores, walk the [farthest] distances possible, so you're exposed to the largest number of stores," Howard says. The result: You may often find the men's and women's stores of a certain brand on different floors, and as mentioned above, the larger department stores will typically be at the opposite ends of the mall.

4. Charging for Convenience

Not only do malls make it easy to spend, but they're actually more expensive than stores not located at the mall. "Shopping mall prices are an average 12% higher than the prices of precisely the same name-brand goods in the specialty store," Howard says. Why? Because malls charge higher rents, which retailers then pass on to their customers.

"You pay extra money for convenience," says Rick Segel, a retail marketing consultant and director of retail training for the Retailers Association of Massachusetts.
"Are we getting the greatest deals in the world? No, but it's convenient, so therefore it's worth it."

Oh my.. I've never even noticed that about a mall until after reading this..
haha

no clocks!..i hate that u always have to check the time blah

I agree!