Literally walking distance from my home in the UTC district of the San Diego/La Jolla border, Westfield UTC has many of the typically anchor stores like Nordstroms, and Macys, in addition to the typical selection of stores one might expect. The open-air, outdoor mall has a nice gathering area around a center fountain that is ideal for people watching. Not typical of a mall, Westfield UTC has a special amenity that I think is a great idea… an ice rink (pictured below). Not your typical ice rink, the Ice Town rink at Westfield is open to the mall’s food court and all who dine there. While I like the idea of visibility from the rink, I think of it as sort of a double edged sword. Diners may enjoy the entertainment of watching skaters down below on the rink, however it may be hard to hold a conversations with such a distraction in close proximity. Likewise, as an avid recreational skater myself, I’m not so keen on the idea of extra spectators around it I were to encounter a spill on the ice myself.
Also within close proximity to my home is another outdoor shopping center called Fashion Valley located in Mission Valley. Fashion Valley is the more upscale and well-off older brother of the UTC shopping center. Fashion Valley is home to all the upscale stores that I remember from Arizona’s premiere shopping center, Scottsdale Fashion Square. From Tiffany’s to Gucci to Burberry, pretty much anything anyone could ever want can be found here. I really liked the open air ambiance of both malls, but on the day I visited Fashion Valley, the weather was wet and cold, which wasn’t optimal for my shopping experience. We ran from shop to shop trying to get what we needed and make it to the next store with out freezing. I’ll definitely re-visit Fashion Valley when we get back our Southern California sunshine.
RATING
Westfield UTC
4 out of 5
Fashion Valley
5 out of 5
No comments:
Post a Comment