On-Premise Signs and the North American Suburban Enclosed Shopping Mall

Abstract

The first fully enclosed modern suburban shopping mall, Southdale Center, opened in 1956 and immediately established a standard for how retailers and signs were to operate within their confines. Enclosed Malls were one of the first unique building types designed for suburban automotive environments and have been the retail economic drive in the United States for seventy years. They established a variety of sign innovations over the years, from developing strict sign guidelines, to creating formal zones with shared modular systems. This report summary will explore the sign advances that marked each of the five stages of mall evolution as well as how the current changes with a new retail revolution is impacting design and development. The report will also show how precedents established early in the history of mall development has been continually reinvented with economic change and design trends.