Cathedrals of Consumption

By: Hayley Turner

When you walk into a store, mall, ballpark or any other area where you are able to consume goods and services, do you examine the space that you entered into? My answer to this question would have been no prior to reading George Ritzer’s “Enchanting a Disenchanted world”. After reading the book and learning about cathedrals of consumption; I now examine each consumption space in terms of Ritzer’s cathedrals of consumption.  Cathedrals of consumption are quasi-religions or enchanted spaces that are used to entice the consumer to consume.

On a recent trip to the mall I was able to look at the mall space as a cathedral of consumption. I looked at product placement, location of exits and entrances, décor and observed the consumers themselves. While I observed I remembered that Ritzer claimed that everything in a Cathedral of consumption was calculated to lure and persuade. I believe this to be true. In the mall I noticed a maze like quality that would keep consumers consuming due to the necessity of having to turn corners and pass many storefronts before arriving at a destination or exit.  The mall also persuaded consumers by having advertisements in every store front trying to sell the lasted look or what they believe would be up and coming.

The stores themselves were also using specific techniques to persuade and lure a customer to consumer. Some key examples of stores that enticed a customer to enter/consume was Abercrombie and Fitch and Old Navy. At Abercrombie and Fitch, the store had a façade that look like a beach house, and was blasting music to sound as though a party was going on just beyond the entrance. While limited clothing could be seen before entering the store it was noticeable that consumers didn’t enter because they like the products being sold but were intrigued by the atmosphere. By contrast Old Navy had huge floor to ceiling windows that allowed the customer to see a huge selection of clothing prior to entering the store, when the consumer first entered Old Navy they were greeted by the latest fashions and sales. While the consumer believed they were able to see a wide selection of clothing prior to entering once inside they notices that as they drifted further into the store that the store had several different compartments of clothing that could only be examined once inside. Thus each compartment would draw the customer further into the store and was luring them to consumer more products and a larger variety of products.

The mall was a great example of a cathedral of consumption due to the large quantity of consumption spaces. However any area where consumption takes place can be examined using Ritzer’s belief of Cathedrals of consumption.