Visiting the mall during off hours can be an interesting people watching experience, as I discovered this morning when I had to make a first-thing visit to the Apple store at Mayfair.

The store opens at 10 a.m, but I got there about an hour early to get a cup of coffee and a primo spot outside the door in order to get dibs on the "Genius Bar."

Instead of a deserted mall, what I found was a hive of activity and inactivity.

For every truck driver unloading produce into the P.F. Chang's, there was a couple sitting on the plush chairs in the mall chatting. For every maintainance worker pushing a cleaning cart, there was a mother strolling with her young kids. Alongside the mall walkers -- expected -- were people on cell phones apparently doing business -- less expected.

In the Barnes and Noble, there appeared to be traveling salespeople conducting business from the cafe. There were also groups of teens milling about doing, well, doing nothing.

There were also people waiting outside stores that weren't open yet. I know why one of them was me, but I wasn't sure what could be so pressing inside the Pottery Barn as to warrant the expectant customers. With five minutes of lifting the gate, the Apple store had more than a dozen people inside, at 10 a.m. on a Wednesday!

In the end, I came to realize, again, the truth of the argument that the mall is the modern American equivalent of the town square. Even when there's no apparent reason to be there, we just can't seem to resist.

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