In Britain there is much wailing and anguish over the “Death of the High Street”

Long-established national names like Woolworths and British Home Stores, locally-owned department stores, traditional groceries, local pubs, etc., and countless other decent shops have closed down and either boarded-up or replaced with sleaze and tackiness – charity shops, take-away food shops, betting shops, “pound shops”, phone shops, cafes, nail bars, etc.

There is much hopeful talk about “re-generating” high streets by lowering business rates and taxes, better public transport, easier parking, pedestrianisation, etc.    All of which have been tried with varying degrees of success, but its time to admit that most traditional “High Streets” have simply outlived their usefulness.

WHY ARE SO MANY SHOPS CLOSING..?

Online shopping, inconvenient parking, weather, street-sleepers, and general scruffiness.   Cold, windy and rainy WEATHER is a big factor, as enclosed malls are so much more comfortable and safer to roam around in.   Most of us have cars these days, making street shopping inconvenient compared to Malls, Hypermarkets and Retail Parks which have plenty of parking, often free.

Cape Town’s V&A waterfront shopping mall

OASIS CITIES will have all the advantages of the “out of town” enclosed shopping mall – plus many more attractions and places for the kids to play in safety whilst you sit and have a coffee or a snack and enjoy a musical fountain, for example.   Without any necessity for enormous parking garages,  which otherwise occupy so much space, the possibilities are endless.   And it will be just a short stroll from your apartment, meaning that you will be able to wheel your shopping trolley right to your door..!

I’ve pasted this video of Caesars Palace Mall (Las Vegas) mainly to show the “sky” and the simulated day/night transition, an awesome feature.   Watching this video its hard to believe it is all entirely indoors.   Similarly amazing things could be created inside an Oasis City.    Go to about 4 mins in if you just want to see the central feature – Neptune’s Fountain Piazza.