# Why do all malls always smell the same? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 1, 2018, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-all-malls-always-smell-the-same/823846 "2018-11-01T17:04:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2018, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-all-malls-always-smell-the-same/823846/21 "2018-11-03T12:19:48Z")
The odor of slow failure and late-stage capitalism? ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2018, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-all-malls-always-smell-the-same/823846/22 "2018-11-04T16:18:25Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > My college girlfriend was an assistant manager at a Mrs. Field’s in a shopping mall. She told me that part of the store design was a blower which vented the air from the kitchen into the pedestrian area in front of the store, as the cookie scent was found to be a powerful lure. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if other shopping-mall mainstays which have strong olfactory components do much the same. Way back in 1988 **DesertWife** and I during the presidential election season wanted to proselytize for the Libertatian candidate. The local mall let us set up in the court area at the end of an arm by one of the anchors and right next to it was the first Cinnabon we’d seen. I don’t know if they were blowing oven exhaust into the mall or not, but every twenty minutes we’d get hit with the smell when they pulled out a new batch. I swear snarfed up enough we were five pounds heavier when we stopped after a month. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2018, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-all-malls-always-smell-the-same/823846/23 "2018-11-04T16:35:56Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > It’s because there’s only one Mall, with different entrances across the nation. Savvy travelers know how to enter The Mall in Poughkeepsie and exit The Mall in Seattle. But I’ve already said too much. Isn’t that The Maul? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2018, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-all-malls-always-smell-the-same/823846/24 "2018-11-04T18:37:04Z")
No, it’s M-Space. ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-all-malls-always-smell-the-same/823846/25 "2018-11-13T21:13:30Z")
So, it’s not exactly just me. But it’s not everybody. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2018, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-all-malls-always-smell-the-same/823846/26 "2018-11-13T23:02:58Z")
Good malls smell all alike; every crappy mall reeks in its own way. -Leo Tolstoy ---
**Author:** ![DB\_Coopa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@DB\_Coopa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DB_Coopa)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-all-malls-always-smell-the-same/823846/27 "2018-11-14T12:47:37Z")
Shopping malls and prison walls all look the same to me. - Generic America by Blue Mountain. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-all-malls-always-smell-the-same/823846.md?page=1)