Role of the Purposes Behind the DLF EMPORIO Mall in New Delhi

In contemporary times, the purpose of shopping malls which is to shop is just a tip of the iceberg. Instead, it serves multi-social and entertainment purposes too. For this assignment, I chose 'DLF EMPORIO,' a mall which is located in the heart of India, i.e., New Delhi. It is also known as the 'luxury fashion house' of Delhi as it consists of nearly all the globally recognized premium brands.

I picked this particular mall because it offers an exact interpretation not only of high culture but also of popular culture. In everyday use, high culture refers to the upper-class culture or the status culture. DLF Emporio is a high-end shopping mall consisting of luxury brands with highly valued products that only a few wealthy individuals in the town can afford. The mall meets the definition of a modern-day shopping mall as it is a one-stop-shop destination for the cream population of the city. Besides the convenience of shopping, it fulfills the social needs of the visitors.

Furthermore, this mall is an epitome of modern capitalist society because it does not offer products for a livelihood that people need, but rather all products without actual practical use just for the sake of profiting themselves. A store called TOM FORD located in the mall, for example, in this case offers a sleeveless hoodie worth USD 350. A hoodie is meant to keep you warm, but there is no practical use for a sleeveless hoodie.

It is just a meaningless trend which individuals tend to follow only because of the brand name and to camouflage with the society. The stores in this mall showcase their items in such a manner that they attract consumers and somehow convince them to buy their products. This practice creates shopping heaven for consumers. All the products displayed as a whole offer a capitalist atmosphere to the shopping mall.

Not only this, it meets all the concepts of capitalism by strengthening the product's sign value rather than its real value. The existence of luxury stores in this mall changes the ideology of the 'needs' of consumers. A decision between going to the Giorgio Armani store or the Louis Vuitton store tells nothing about the variations in the products they provide, but about the person's behavior. There is no use-value for a Louis Vuitton bag because it is not purchased with the sole purpose of serving as an actual bag. A Louis Vuitton bag has a value only when compared to the Armani bag or any other product. That is how capitalism impacts people in the mall.

The mall offers amenities such as personal butler service for carrying bags, valet parking services, and mall travel buggies. Moreover, besides providing customers with a fantastic shopping experience, they also provide entertainment services like a lavish cinema, premium coffee shops and restaurants, and deluxe lounges not forgetting the. Such space which was a barren piece of land in the isolated section of the city has now become a place of social significance. All of the mall's facilities set a benchmark and have created a status symbol for the inhabitants. In other words, the people who go shopping in DLF Emporio are assumed to belong to the society's upper class. Indeed, half of the population of Delhi cannot bear to shop in Emporio but still pay visits to the mall in order to satisfy their social and rational needs.

On top of that, people visit the place for all other secondary requirements. For instance, people are generally seen using the mall's parking facilities to visit other locations near the mall. People also come to the mall to have a cup of coffee, click pictures, and have gatherings for the family and business. Not only this, these observations show that people are not here only for the latter but also to maintain their social status and dignity, among other people in the community.

Since I was a kid, I have been visiting this mall, and now that I can understand how politics and the economy function, I have been able to see the side of the mall I have never seen before. Not only DLF Emporio but almost every mall represents the effect of ruling classes. Ruling class means the class that holds the money holds power to shape the beliefs of the society.

The idea of ruling classes has been successful in making us want what we do not need. Let us take an illustration of APPLE. Apple promotes its products in such a manner that they make people think that we need to have their products in our life and purchase their products to fit in with the community. TOMMY HILFIGER is another example of the ruling class. Hailey Baldwin is Tommy Hilfiger's brand ambassador and models to promote the brand's products. Nearly all the other Tommy Hilfiger-like brands have a celebrity to promote themselves and stimulate their profit. These celebrities have a massive net worth and power to reshape the people's thinking according to their ways.

I loved to visit this place because it has a pleasing ambiance. I often went there with my friends to look at the latest trend and hang out after a long and stressful day at school. This mall was also a destination for my family and me to go out for a movie and lunch afterward. Moreover, in the luxury restaurants located in the mall, many of my friends have held their birthday parties. Last but not least, many times I went to the mall for the sole aim of window shop to refresh my mood whenever I felt low. Although this mall has given me so many memories to be cherished forever, in many respects, it has also made me feel unwelcome. There were many occasions where the people in the mall judged me. As previously mentioned, this is a luxurious mall that attracts rich people. The more I go to the mall, the more isolated and the more different I tend to feel.

The surroundings around me make me feel low in the mall compared to others. This relates to the 'atomization' concept, which implies breaking something into parts or separating it. This shows that the mall's people do not care about society but themselves alone. Although the community has made significant attempts to bring together individuals of different classes by not restricting entry to the upper class alone; people have not sustained it.