Tlaquepaque is akin to the fantasy malls of Vegas (the Forum Shops, the Venetian Shops, etc,)--------the individual stores within the mall have false facades with a unified architectural theme. In the case of Tlaquepaque, the theme is that of a Mexican village. Tlaquepaque is unmistakeably phony, yet at the same time it's somehow also undeniably charming. The place was cleverly designed to begin with, and it's been carefully maintained over the years. (Who knows, maybe in a few more years, with the benefit of some more ivy plants, tourists may actually start to believe the place was built by the Spanish in the 18th century.) I'm not a shopping person by any stretch of the imagination-
----I couldn't care less about what stores are located in Tlaquepaque or what sort of merchandise they sell. However, I still enjoyed meandering through the complex and just gawking at the architectural details. And that's the point---------Tlaquepaque is shopping as entertainment. It's well-known in the retail industry that the longer you can keep someone in your mall the more likely they are to buy something. Places like Tlaquepaque are consciously designed to draw people in and keep them hanging around. The first time I saw a fantasy mall I thought I'd seen the future of retail in America. I figured all malls built henceforth would have some sort of theme. However, that doesn't appear to be happening. So, if you live in some benighted locale that's too backward to have a mall that looks like Mexico or Venice, perhaps, if you find yourself in Sedona, you should visit Tlaquepaque to see what you're missing.
