One of the best places in Dallas, TX to
enjoy high-class shopping is the NorthPark Center, a shopping mall
containing more than 235 merchants and boutiques within its smooth,
glass-and-concrete interior. In addition to the 235 smaller shops,
the shopping center also contains six major superstores, "anchoring"
the visitor's experience by providing a major destination for every
direction he or she takes. These six "anchors" are: the
Macy's department store, AMC Theaters, Dillard's, a department store
selling mens' clothes (this happens to be the chain's flagship
store), as well as the pricier Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, and Barneys
New York.
NorthPark Center is an extraordinary
shopping mall. From the beginning, aesthetics was to be as much a
part of the experience of shopping at NorthPark Center as the actual
shopping. NorthPark Center was never just about commerce, just about
the brute reality of money and goods changing hands. Rather, it was
always about leading an aristocratic life--which is not about how
much money you have, or spend, but about your attitude. Since the
1960's, when the mall was built, household names in modern art, such
as Andy Warhol and Frank Stella, have exhibited their art at the
NorthPark Center. So have more contemporary artists, such as Jim Dine
and Jonathan Borofsky. The owners, vigorous art enthusiasts, keep
buying new art to be publicly exhibited at the mall into the present
day.
The mall's architecture corresponds to
the mall's high aesthetic ideals. In the 1960's, the American
Institute of Architects gave NorthPark Center the prestigious "Design
of the Decade" award, and it's easy to see why. The entire mall
is just a collection of clean lines and airy geometry, the names of
stores written out in dramatic sans-serif font.
