Quest for Wii: Doing the Mall the Digital Way

Maya's Quest for Wii continues in Quest for Wii II: Shopping in the Office

If you want a quick education in current technology and a look into the future of digital-driven consumerism, take a break from shopping online and take a tween to your nearby mall. And let the kid lead the way.

I recently spent a Sunday afternoon Christmas shopping at the Westfield mall in Trumbull, Conn., with JackMyers.com junior correspondent Maya Motavalli, who recently turned 13, and came away filled with questions about the future of shopping. I spend as much time buying things online as the next person, but it never occurred to me that a trip to the mall could qualify as a digital extension of that experience, which I have always thought of as something separate.

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Maya wants only one thing for Christmas: A Nintendo Wii. The must-have Wii is this year's Cabbage Patch Kid or Tickle Me Elmo, but you already know that if you are one of the thousands of parents who have had the recent experience of dashing to a local big-box before dawn, hoping to be one of the first 30 people in line and thus one of the lucky 24 to actually be offered the opportunity to purchase one. (Wiis seem to be delivered to stores in batches of 30, but I have heard more than one story from luckless parents who were No. 25 or higher in line and were turned away empty-handed because the deliveries "came in short." I believe that is store-speak for "a few were sold to friends and family members of store employees.")

As we pulled into the parking lot, Maya, who is not a mall-rat, told me that she had visited the Westfield Web site and knew all the stores inside that "might have Wiis." She had also studied the online mall map and knew where the stores were located. I suggested that there likely would not be a Wii anywhere in the building at 3 p.m. on a Sunday, but Maya informed me that Wiis could become available at any time in any location or at any Web site. She knew this because she regularly receives Wii alerts on her cell phone from the appropriately named WiiAlerts.com. She also frequently checks out RefreshThings.com for additional Wii information. Those two sites facilitate finding Wiis online, including companion Web sites for many of the stores at the mall, but not the stores themselves.

I suddenly had a vision of a future filled with people receiving instant ads, coupons and sales information on their cell phones, prompted to either immediately connect to the Internet and shop or to show up at their local mall (or other stores) at specific hours to buy, buy, buy. Imagine that -- advertisements arriving in your pocket, customized to your shopping preferences, schedule and location. Maya informed me that one could register online with Westfield and receive e-mails about special events and sales at stores at the mall of my choice. Where have I been?

Filled with youthful enthusiasm, Maya insisted on Wii-hunting in the mall anyway, in part because several of the stores therein are included in the WiiAlerts system, which she has come to know well, and mainly because she is coming of age in a world in which nothing ever stops and anything is available at anytime. She had, in fact, received a Wii alert at 4 a.m. that morning, indicating that Amazon.com had just listed a few dozen Wiis for sale. Maya didn't think it prudent to wake her parents at that hour and tell them to turn on their computer and shop. She had, however, "suggested" to her mother that she hit the Circuit City located at the Trumbull mall earlier that morning because she knew that it would have 30 Wiis available when its doors opened at 10 a.m. (Sadly, Maya's mom was No. 26 in that particular Wii line, which topped out at No. 24.)

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Had she learned this from a Wii alert or a Web site, I asked?

"No," Maya replied. "I saw it in the New York Times." She was referring to an old-fashioned Circuit City circular that had been included in the Saturday delivery of the Sunday paper. (Her father is a subscriber.) Apparently Maya, a girl who craves all of the latest digital devices, scours the Times for advertisements, and also for technology stories.

Who says young people aren't interested in newspapers?

Meanwhile, I was struck by the digital dimension of the mall experience apart from our Quest for Wii. For example, when Maya found an item that she was interested in buying, she would take a picture or a video of it with her phone and send it to her BFFs, Haley and Barbara. They would instantly text back and let her know their thoughts. Haley happened to be shopping in another mall at the same time. Cell phones in hand, the two girls silently compared prices before making decisions. Maya scored a pair of boots in Journeys after Haley pronounced them perfect.

While Maya was buying her boots, I was browsing in Hot Topic. I had been drawn inside by a pair of Invader Zim slippers in the window that would be a perfect Christmas gift for my godson. (The slippers actually feature the face of Gir in his dog suit. Gir is Zim's sidekick, as any Nickelodeon viewer will tell you.) Unfortunately, the store did not have the slippers in his size.

"Dude, we're getting another shipment on Tuesday," the helpful and heavily tattooed teenager working in the store said.

"No good," I replied. "I'll be working on Tuesday."

Undaunted, the teen replied, "I can text you and let you know if the size you need is in the shipment. Text me back and we can hold it for you."

"No thanks," I said, for no reason other than the fact that I didn't want to give my cell number to a stranger.

"You can try our store in the Milford mall," the teen continued, referring to another Westfield mall in the area. Then he added, almost under his breath, "Unless you don't want to shop at Milford."

Apparently there is a culture of territorial mall-pride among the young with which I am totally unfamiliar.

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Lastly, the kid suggested that I look for the slippers on HotTopic.com. "But you'd better look tonight," he said, sounding very well informed. "Once anything appears on the Web site it is gone."

He was right. Later that night I went to the Hot Topic site and found the slippers in my godson's size, but I didn't buy them. When I returned a couple of days later, his size was no longer available. Snooze, you lose.

I'm sure I could find the Gir slippers somewhere else on the Internet. But I think I would rather hit another mall and continue my search in person, in part to further absorb the exciting new digital dimensions of traditional Christmas shopping. And there is always the chance of spotting something that might make a better gift. Still, I find myself wondering: How long will it be before we can go online and request cell phone alerts for virtually any product, delivered from any chain or mall store?

For now, I could do the pre-digital thing and call a few stores looking for the slippers. But that would take all the fun out of it, and it would feel too retro. Besides, there is too much to learn by going to the mall.