[NAGDU] Malls

Fri Feb 8 16:31:33 UTC 2019

I think Julie makes great points here. If you're working with your dog and not a cane and you're relying more on spatial and maybe a bit fewer tactile cues, hearing store openings, smelling the smells, and listening to the various types of music can be useful. Sometimes you can hear hangers moving around on clothing racks. My favorite was in class when I was sent to look for ... I forget what store ... and I ended up in the Verizon store. It had no music, not a lot of traffic, and a nondescript chemical smell so until the staff member told me where I was I wouldn't have had a clue. I'm not a mall fan and usually when I go it is an agreed-upon  social activity and specific shopping excursion so I tend to be with people anyway.

Melissa R. Allman
Senior Specialist, Advocacy and Government Relations
The Seeing Eye, Inc.
P.O. Box 375, Morristown, NJ 07963-0375 (mail)
10 Washington Valley Road, Morristown, NJ 07960-3412 (deliveries)
973-539-4425 ext. 1724,     Fax:  973-525-1081 mallman at SeeingEye.org  

-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Julie Johnson via NAGDU
Sent: Friday, February 08, 2019 11:09 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Cc: Julie Johnson
Subject: Re: [NAGDU] Malls

These ideas are from when I traveled with a cane and lived in a city with a mall.  No malls where I live now, but lots of country roads!

Anyway, I found it helpful to walk closer to the edges of the huge open areas.  I didn't need to be so close to shoreline the wall, but close enough to hear the echo.  Walking this close made it easier to hear when there was an opening indicating a store.  Also a lot of the stores play music unique to that store, different than what is played in the non store areas of the mall.  Some of the stores also have a identifying smell, the Victoria's Secret is the obvious one here, but some of the gift shops type places sell potpourri and other smelly things that can help and the food places are easy to locate.

When getting directions I found it the most helpful to ask at the customer service counter.  Malls have anchor stores, the really big department stores, usually located at the far ends of each hallway.  I had an idea of where these larger stores were so getting directions relative to these landmarks made it easier to get reasonably accurate directions.  Otherwise I'd only get directions based on visual landmarks that weren't helpful.

If you don't enjoy malls, have little interest in learning the layout and just want to get your stuff and get out, then I'd second AIRA.  Even if you'd like to relive your teenage years, AIRA could be really helpful in learning the layout to make future trips easier.

Happy shopping!
Julie
On The Go with Guide-and-Service-Dogs.com http://www.guide-and-service-dogs.com
also find my products in the Blind Mice Mega Mall <https://www.blindmicemegamall.com/bmm/shop/Directory_Departments?storeid=1916046>
-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Hingson via NAGDU
Sent: Friday, February 08, 2019 9:55 AM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Cc: mike at michaelhingson.com
Subject: Re: [NAGDU] Malls

You might explore Aira, www.aira.io.

Best Regards,

Michael Hingson

-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU <nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Tracy Carcione via NAGDU
Sent: Friday, February 8, 2019 7:11 AM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Tracy Carcione <carcione at access.net>
Subject: [NAGDU] Malls

I live in New Jersey, where we have some seriously big malls.  I want to get something at my nearest mall, but I really hate going there without a sighted friend.  It's a big, loud, echoing space, and I can't make much sense of it.  I recognize sometimes when we're going back from where we just came, but mostly we just trot along passing mysterious things, following my friend.  I did go once by myself, but it was hard to get anyone to give me coherent directions.  I eventually found what I wanted, but it was not easy.

I also want to go to a couple places at an outdoor mall-one of those places where the stores are in a big circle around a parking lot.  That's less confusing than an inside mall, but can I use GPS to find what store I'm close to, or isn't it specific enough for that?

Anyway, I'm wondering if people have strategies for dealing with finding things in really big, loud malls.

Tracy

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