Mauie Flores

I can say that I am not because I want to but I have to. Every weekend, I am obligated to accompany my husband in bringing our son to his MTAP training in Poveda and to his Taekwondo classes in the evening. Near Poveda is Robinson's Galleria so we either stay in coffee shop or in a fastfood restaurant inside the mall while waiting for my son's dismissal. We usually stay there until lunchtime before going to someplace else. In the evening, we go to Sta. Lucia East for my boy's 7 p.m. taekwondo training at Footworx. Since it's already the Christmas season, I spent my time in the mall looking for finds to fill in my Christmas shopping list.

I really am not a mallrat in reality. I dislike going around the mall and just windowshop. I prefer going to the mall with a purpose other than just hanging out. I am not a fan of mall wide sales because of the traffic congestion it creates and the throngs of people in the mall.

I would like to think that most Filipinos are mallrats. Proof of this is the emergence of shopping malls not only in parts of the Metro but in provincial cities as well. We even have the four shopping malls in the list of the World's Largest Shopping Malls! There's a percentage of Filipinos who frequent the mall to shop and there's a percentage who just need a place to hang-out. Of course, there's the percentage of Filipinos who need to be there because of work. Whatever the purpose may be, as far as statistics is concerned, malling has now become a favorite Filipino pasttime.

How about you? Are you a mallrat? If so, in what group do you belong to?