With anchor stores like Bullock's, Dillard's, Neiman Marcus, Robinson's May, we spent most of our time in the actual mall looking at Express, The Gap, Abercrombie & Fitch (there's a kid's Abercrombie also, which I had never seen!), Limited, and the extensive food court, where we took a break from our shopping.

The only problem we encountered was at the service desk. One of my friends had a broken ankle and was on crutches. Well, to make the mall a little easier on all of us, we rented a wheel chair. Well, it was a Sunday, the mall was closing at 6, so we hurried over to the service desk and the "door" was locked and no one was around. There was another couple in the same predicament: Their ID, deposit, and crutches were behind the counter! So, the guy jumped the counter (note to self: 3 foot locked "doors" are not the best way at deterring a break-in), and got all of our stuff!

It was a good trip, and a good mall, but not much more impressive than a mall in any big city.

Still, time and again, I find myself back at this mall when visiting my mother. Perhaps she longs to trick me into purchasing new clothes to replace the ones she doesn't really care for? If stuck at the fashion Square Mall, here are some pointers to make your time pass a little faster.

There is a pretty extensive record store called Circles Records and Tapes, with more variety and hard to come by titles than you would expect in Scottsdale. I was happily surprised by te number of bargain items available at the Gap, but refrained from spending any money and adding to my luggage, much to the chagrin of my mother. The food court is a step up from other malls that rely on bad Chinese and hot dogs to satisfy customers. And the gurgling fountains situated throughout the mall make for a nice place to sit back and read a few chapters of a book while you wait on your fashion hungry friends and family to finish up their labored shopping.