Neopian Malls: Do They Really Have Good Deals?

Or do they?

Neopian Malls are spreading, as more and more Neopians become savvy on this subject: HTML. Cool graphics, fun backgrounds, and flashy cursors are just what those mall-owners need and have to grab a Neopian's attention when buying items like food, toys, medicine, books, battle, and grooming supplies.

But recent research has shown that Neopians don't actually stumble upon these shops by Shop Wizard; they come across malls while browsing markets like Happy Valley and others throughout Neopia.

But here's how it works: Customers and clients want the best deals always and forever, right? So, the average Neopian is searching for some school books so that he or she will be ready when Neoschool is finally built up. They don't have the time to browse a busy market plaza, but they do have a couple of minutes to spare on the Shop Wizard. Quickly, they type in "notebook" and press "containing my phrase." A mere second later, about five dozen or so screen names pop up, and they all have this notebook you've been looking for. Starting from the lowest amount of Neopoints up to the highest, you begin to search.

The lowest price is around three-hundred, and you buy it. Voila! Now that's what I call smart shopping!

But, there are those that have the time to go out to a busy market plaza and browse the many shops just filled with precious goods... and sadly, the first shops you lay eyes upon are...malls. Big, catchy, flashy malls. This doesn't seem so sad to you when you first see it. Usually your reaction would be "Cool!" or "How did they do that?" "It's amazing!" And so it is. The HTML really brings out beauty.

Okay, so you have time. You need to buy another item for your Shoyru: a back pack. You don't really care what kind of back pack it turns out to be; any one will do, as long as your Neopet approves of it.

As you enter the first, gigantic, holiday mall, you see the sign containing all the goods they sell and provide for you. Happily, you and your Neopet bounce down the aisles to the School Section, where the back packs hopefully will be.

And, what do you know? There they are! About ten or so just stacked up on the shelves, all eagerly waiting for someone to purchase them and bring them home.

"Which one do you want?" you ask your Neopet, but no reply, because your darling Shoyru has already run up to the shelf and has picked out something really cool- that sparkling Green Back Pack you've seen in the press.

Yes, your Neopet definitely wants it, but the price? It's two thousand Neopoints. "That has to be a great deal," you think, but is it? "Ah, well," you think again, "No matter. I have just the right amount of money." And you pay up.

About a week later, you notice a small tear in the back pack. No big, deal, right? Well, the next day after that, something has eaten it all up! The answer: Mites.

Sadly, you discard the back pack and search for a new one, but this time on the Shop Wizard. Again, results come up, but what's this? The Green Back Pack for only five hundred Neopoints? You can't believe what just happened. You could have just saved one thousand, five hundred Neopoints if only that cheap mall hadn't ripped you off.

But, unfortunately, those monstrous compartment stores eclipse everyone's shop in the market. You have to actually search the name of an average shop, with no special graphics or HTML, to find it. It's because all those fancy places have just completely covered the stores with great deals.

And now we get right down to the very end: Great Deals Vs. Great Graphics. Think of it this way: The great deals save you money, and enable you to buy more fantastic items. The great graphics, on the other hand, enable you to buy less things than you would in an average Neopian's shop, and besides, what are graphics going to do to help you in the end? Sure, they're cool and all, but does it really matter what the shop looks like? I think not. Those looks will just fade away in your memory after awhile, leaving you broke and forcing you to go to the Soup Kitchen to feed your Neopets.

And sometimes, the malls can even get a bit annoying. Sometimes the owner of the mall goes a little too overboard. For example: When you enter this example mall, you are engulfed in annoying video game-like music that repeats itself over, over and over again. Second, the cursor keeps freezing and is so cumbersome and large that it is hard to select anything the owner is selling. Third, the background is horrid! It's black with a dark shade of blue around it, and you can't see the price of anything! Fourth and final, the owner has one too many blogs and notices at the top, leaving you to scroll down all of them time and time again just to reach the selection of items on the next page.

Throughout the years, more and more Neopians are beginning to realize the awfulness of compartment malls and stores. There are many guilds willing to stop this rubbish by offering food and toy drives. Just one good thing: Angel Malls. These places aren't like the regular large stores that we have been talking about, but rather, malls for the poor. A place for needy Neopians to shop. A place that has no such thing as cool graphics and blogs, but rather two hundred and forty items all under one hundred Neopoints. Yes, this is great! But we have just one issue: Are the customers and clients really poor? Or are some of them great mall owners, who will take away these items and sell them for more at their place? This has to be prevented, and you can help by joining one of the many guilds that have an Angel Mall sponsor or feature.

So now do you see my point? Are you a smart, what, Shop Wizard shopper, or are you just some Neopian that falls for the malls and their tricks? You're smarter than that, so go get 'em!