The shopping complex (and names that aren’t)
A branding lesson from none other than the strip mall
The strip mall, a self-contained retail oasis and 20th-century Main Street, is a staple of towns across America. A one-stop shop where you can get a haircut, pick up a prescription, get your smoothie fix, and have your taxes prepared all in one run. Multi-level? Sometimes. Parking? No problem. Beauty? In the eye of the beholder.
A strip mall directory can read like a fascinating cross-section of a neighborhood — sometimes full of diverse, long-standing businesses, sometimes anchored by big-box stores, or sometimes scattered with “coming soon” banners. In my neighborhood, strip malls are almost exclusively populated by small local businesses. And there are a lot of them.
The directories, posted near the street for speeding cars to quickly assess, are where strip malls live up to their name: giving each business just a narrow strip of real estate and a millisecond to communicate what’s there.
As someone who names things for a living, I think a lot about first impressions. It’s how all names operate, before passing the torch to the rest of the brand experience. The thing is, a lot of strip mall storefronts rely on that first impression because it’s the only one. Without a massive marketing budget, or years of customer loyalty, it’s hard to imagine putting anything on that store directory that doesn’t say exactly what you provide. You don’t have the benefit of context, because your name lives on a giant list of other names.
As much as I love creative names, and especially seeing them in the wild, it’s sometimes refreshing to take the name out of the equation entirely. What happens when the name is purely functional, and the business isn’t entirely unique?
Some neighborhoods are saturated with similar offerings. Here’s a breakdown of some business types within a three-mile radius of my house alone:
In my neighborhood, it’s clear that hair salons are more common than, say, tech repair shops. But 26 tech repair shops is still a lot for one neighborhood. To zoom in a bit, here’s a sampling of the names in that group:
AJ Computer Repair, Cell & Computer Repair, Cell Hub, Cell Spot, HTX Phone Repair, iFix and Repair, iTech & Repair, Phone Ambulance, Phone Repair, Phone Repair JH, Shatter Cell Phone Repair, The Phone Guys, uBreakiFix…
With so many options that look and sound the same, deciding where to take your business often comes down to convenience (after all, strip malls are built for convenience). But when there’s a service involved, it might come down to experience. Who isn’t driving an extra five minutes if they know it’s the difference between a great haircut and a new hat?
Strip malls, and the names that adorn their directories, are a welcome lesson in substance over style. They’re a reminder of what happens when the focus is on making the product or experience a good one — even if out of necessity. This is, ultimately, the undercurrent of every naming project that we do: a strong name can have great impact, but it’s nothing without a great experience to match. That’s what keeps people coming back, even if it’s a few more stoplights away.
