Phipps Plaza is mall that is located in Buckhead, it was created shortly after Lenox Mall which was built in 1959. The first impression that a person will probably have of Phipps Plaza is that it is a more luxurious mall than the usual ones. The quality of Phipps Plaza is all shaped around its location. Since the beginning Buckhead started off as a luxury place to go to. “The area started out as a prime place for summer and country homes for some of Atlanta’s wealthiest. From the beginning, these estates were built on beautiful wooded lots, far removed from the road. Over the years, as Buckhead transformed from just seasonal residences to a year round community, the many neighborhoods were subdivided and established, and many more homes were built” (The History of Buckhead). As the area started to develop more and became a more usual spot then just a vacation place, more buildings started to appear and homes started to be built. Part of these buildings were the two main malls that are now part of Buckhead, Lenox and Phipps Plaza.

 

The first observation I conducted I was located in one of the main entrances of the mall. There is an Italian restaurant called Davio’s, a furniture store called Arhaus, an entrance to Sak’s Fifth Avenue, and a Legoland and AMC movie theater sign. There are also many buildings surrounding the entrance, there is a Carter’s building which is surround by a couple of other buildings and it is called Phipps Tower. From this location, one can also see a bit of the Ritz Carlton hotel. There is a valet parking service located right in front of the entrance to enter the mall. About 3 out of 10 people that go into the mall use the valet parking service. About 1 out of the 3 people that use the valet parking service go into the Davio’s restaurant and the others go into the actual mall. Everyone coming in is mainly an adult, there are very few children that come in. If there is a person with kids it is usually just two children per person or couple.

 

I observed from this spot at around 7:00 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. Since was evening and Buckhead is very well known for its night life, many of the people getting there were mainly heading towards the movie theater of the restaurants. Everyone coming in is mainly in their 20s. There is also not much variety in the race of the people that are coming and going. The people that I have observed are mainly white and black. About ¼ of the people that came were black and the rest was white. Once there was no more people coming I walked around the outside of the mall for a couple of minutes. Most people were mainly at the tavern eating dinner or having drinks. There were not many people walking into stores. The people that were going to restaurants was on their way to their cars.