h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A508934

This is another in my series of artices about the Washington, DC metro area, and focuses on Landmark mall, one of the many, many malls in the area, and also one that has been experiencing a slow, painful death over the last few years.

More DC articles to come soon. No really. I mean it.

You've got a pretty good effort here, thurdl01. I would be careful with some of the stores you mention, though. As an American, I know which stores are which, but this article is being housed in a predominantly European community. Our franchise names don't mean much to them. They probably think Old Navy is a military surplus outlet.

Since you have dedicated yourself to producing a series of articles on a specific topic, may I suggest that you choose another route? The University scheme is another way to get your articles into the Edited Guide, and it carries with it a bit more prestige and a bit less bureaucracy. Check this out for more information: http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/C573

I have to agree about teh chain names .. you kindof get lots .. Im okay with Old Navy, but Woody's is lost on me. A few footnotes would help.

Also, a brief note .. Malls are not solely the province of the States. For example, we have them here in Canada .. but also .. off the top of my head in Australia as well .. many other places no doubt as well.

I like the bit about the 'anchor stores' though. Well put.

~Beeblefish (Scout)

I often forget that I am a Yank posting on a mostly British site.

Anyway, I've made some changes to the article, including a bit of explination to the identity of "Woody's", a pet name for Woodrow and Lawthrop's that I thought would be more immediately apparent. My bad.

I was hoping to not necessarily make this an article about the DC area, or the state of shopping in the States, but a look at a dying behemouth, as it really is a sad site. I was there just this evening for dinner (nice thing about a dying mall is that the tables aren't crowded, even at the height of the Saturday dinner rush), and even the Sears store, a department store that also carries appliances, tools, and whatnot in a time when most department stores are glorified clothiers, has begun to look as though it is giving up the ghost. This worries both my father and myself, because this is the only Sears on the I-95 Corridor of the DC metro area, and is also where I get all my auto work done (the other nice thing about a dying mall, no lines at the Lube place).

Anyway, give it a read through, and let me know if it is still more than a little boggling to British readers without the intimate knowledge of American commercialism. I'm willing to give it a few more shots, as the mall's story deserves to be heard.

And so the mall's story shall be heard...

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Congratulations!

Wow, thanks. I was worried at every point in this article that I was writing something too American for a mostly British site, especially since this isn't really a travel guide or anything. There's just something kind of sad about something that big languishing, and I hoped there would be a universality there. Thanks for giving it a shot!