We decided, when KLS’s economic stimulus cheque arrived, to go blow it all on hardly-needed merchandise (in the name of stimulating the economy, of course). Only then we learned she may not get one at all. Which was a shame, since the cheque was due to arrive this past week. Anyway, we didn’t let her chequelessness derail our plans, and today took the 2 hour drive south to Palisades Center Mall just outside of NYC.
Palisades claims to be America’s second biggest mall. The four floors of retail and restaurants include such indulgences as a full-sized Ferris Wheel in the food court, a bowling alley and an Imax cinema. But the mall is quite ugly, and suffers from the same homogeneity as all other malls in this fine country (at least all other malls ran by Pyramid).
It does however have a Kinokuniya (a Japanese bookstore) and a Lego store, both of which we wanted to visit. And a Japanese restaurant with a rotating sushi train, at which we enjoyed a wonderful lunch:
(Mum & Dad – we’ll take you there when you visit…)
I was very impressed with the Lego store, possibly because it’s the first time I’ve ever visited one. They had every current kit available, including many not seen in stores and some European exclusives. You could also buy loose bricks and all sorts of non-brick lego merchandise (like ice cube molds). I was surprised to see the new General Grievous kit for sale (my review: ‘interesting’ but not good enough to buy) as well as the UCE Millenium Falcon. Both were assembled and on display in a glass case as well. The Falcon is enormous!
As for the economic stimulus? Well we certainly did our bit to keep Kinokuniya in business 🙂
