Shopping Can Be Fun: A New Concept in Merchandising (1957)

★★★★★ · Really Fun!! · Visual16 · 2004-10-20

I made a video CD of this some months ago and left my player on endless loop so it played over and over. Shopping can be fun is absolutely numbing. I love the audio which sounds like a mix of a "calling all cars" police bulletin set to Gumby music. That combination is so one of a kind and nutty. And the stuff they show! "Dad's a Doll" or the "Temporary home of Mr.and Mrs. Easter Bunny". The Bufano Statuary, The biggest toys in the whole wide world! I guess this celebrates the peak of when America worked best..no graffiti, no death metal, no booming rap music, no counterculture. Can you…

★★★★★ · Ahhh, I remember Hillsdale well! · fruitgrower · 2008-12-03

Sure this promo is cheesy and kinda creepy. But I grew up making the occasional trip to Hillsdale a few years after this was made, and it was wonderful. The Bufanos were like old friends--each sitting on a dias surrounded by boxwood hedges. We saw the Mother Mary sculpture whenever we went to the SF airport, too. Wonderfully tactile granite and basalt sculptures, kid-friendly. Hillsdale also put on a great Christmas show. Little magical boothes with clockwork elves skating, making toys, etc. Hard to believe NOW, but that was high-tech stuff back in the day! Stanford Shopping Center was…

★★★★ · Would the Hula dancer please get out of the planter, thank you. · Spuzz · 2005-06-03

Fascinatingly cheap film made to showcase the Hillsdale Shopping Center in San Mateo California. filled with much out of focus shots, bad lettering, and bad profile shots. I just wonder if the shopping center god all it paid for this. Some notes.. Funny how we never get to go into any of the stores except the 'Farmer's Market' which isn't a Farmer's Market, but more or less a standard supermarket. Managers of departments all of a sudden become 'specialists'.. LOVE the overembellishment of the food fair. The film then talks about the special days it has.. LOVE the lettering on thsee (I said…

★★★★ · Nice footage · The_Emperor_Of_Television · 2013-01-17

Shopping center itself looks decent, though perhaps a bit kitsch. As for the film itself, it has some very good footage, particularly near the start of the film, with a nice, good shot of a parking lot filled with colourful 1950s cars.

★★★ · It really pays to advertise · Steve Nordby · 2004-01-19

Before the enclosed indoor shopping mall became standard, 1950's and early 60's suburban sprawl produced these pedestrian outdoor malls all over California. I think most were later converted to enclosed malls. This promotional film looks pretty cookie-cutter, as if made from a "your name here" script. The only thing unique about this mall seems to be the specially commissioned sculptures. Otherwise it's just the promotions and shows that made all these malls look the same. But I do like the spring "fashions for the entire family" show with only 18 to 25 year-old blond females.

★★★ · Back when runway models actually smiled... · Zplomb · 2010-04-15

Why is it all so damn tacky?! Can't imagine growing up in that time period. The huge mechanical statues are scary.