Al-Sholah Mall (finally!)

I'm sitting at my dining room table/work station at 4:30 am (Riyadh time) unable to sleep while catching the mid innings of Game 7. This is an unexpected treat though I wish that the insomnia had visited me last night so that I could have witnessed the exciting Cardinals victory over the Texans. Since I don't have a "dog in this hunt", I default to support for the NL - unless of course the hated Atlanta Braves are in the game (an old story grounded in Pirates history...)

In order to close the loop on my initial blog, I provide an excerpt from my notes on site at the mall last week...

Sitting rather comfortably in the central foyer of the Al Sholah Mall - a bizarre configuration of tired but still attention-getting pastels: lavender benches, muted pastel blue and pink surrounds, Easter egg yellow hand rails arching up the spiralling walkway to the second level, all in need of repainting, a decade late!  Speckled black and white marble floors with salmon pink diamonds leading to the centerpiece - a non-functioning fountain and moat encircled by a marbled ring of beige and red-ochre triangles. All this eye-catching but frayed, tired, careless of maintenance... but business must be healthy here given the number of retailers, no vacant shops.

I bought my coffee - an excellent bold Costa Rican and long chocolate covered glazed donuts (so far my favorite Riyadhi food!) - at the aptly named Coffee Stop. Across the small courtyard a Baskins-Robbins and Pizza Inn complete the fast food court. I'm alone in the court until two young Saudi males sit down briefly perhaps hoping to catch the eye of veiled Saudi ladies were there any in sight... The only other bench-sitter is an elderly male dressed in a white caftan with a skull cap (not the typical Saudi uniform) and cane stretching his legs on a bench apparently waiting patiently for someone - who a half-hour later appears, his elderly wife burdened with shopping bags. I wonder if he is concerned about the number of Saudi riyals that left his account but he shows no emotion...

After leisurely enjoying my breakfast I wandered through the mall, small by US standards, likely the equivalent of one wing of Ross Park or Pittsburgh Mills. All the stores are clustered by product: men's clothing, women's clothing, perfume, gold and silver jewelry and mobile phone shops are predominant, interrupted by one sad little "book store" (actually stationery and school supplies) and an eclectic home furnishings store. It begs the question of how one decides which of the ten men's stores to choose given that they seem to have the same inventory. Perhaps it's stubborn customer loyalty... In any case I saw little actual commerce in action.

It should be noted that this space is in marked contrast to the gleaming, modern and conspicuously affluent Kingdom Mall which I visted in my earlier trip in January and plan to revisit with a full wallet after payday!

I feel a bir sheepish spending so much attention on Mall culture but it appears to be central to both Saudi and expat life. Since there is literally no other "night life" in Riyadh, by default the mall is the place...